Film Ireland chats to Jack Thornton, Director & Co-Writer of Love Lane United, which is currently in the final stages of the sound mix in Raygun Post-Production.
The film is described as a raw, boots-on-the-ground comedy about a group of friends in their mid-20s, living in Love Lane, Dublin, with absolutely no direction in life other than drinking and partying. After his best friend emigrates, the lead character Benny, played by Gordon Quigley, begins a doomed romance with his housemate Laura, played by Laura Prendergast, and forms a Sunday League Football team with his friends, all in an effort to avoid moving forward in life.
Since we last spoke in 2019, how has your vision for Love Lane United evolved from the proof of concept short to the completed feature film?
Since we last spoke, myself and my co-writer Cahal McQuillan have worked on many versions of the script as we developed Love Lane United into a feature film. The story evolved from a simple idea of friends partying and having fun, then into a more serious look at how that lifestyle can breed feelings of being adrift and having no direction.
The feature builds upon the original short film, which was rudimentary in terms of the tone and feel. As we developed the script, what we found interesting was how more sentimental and heartfelt elements were starting to unfold as we explored the different paths that Benny and Laura could take.
We kept the tone and feel light-hearted in a lot of places but found ourselves drawn more and more to this lack of fulfilment that was plaguing our main characters: we wanted to tackle that feeling both in the romance between Benny and Laura and also in the formation of the football team, and use these things as a sort of tool to show these people trying to find their path in life.
In searching for fulfillment, sometimes the characters fail and learn from that failure, but sometimes they try and succeed. We wanted to show that little triumph that can come when we find something meaningful in our lives.
You describe the film as a “raw, boots-on-the-ground comedy”. What was important to you about capturing that tone and how did you go about it and how does that manifest itself in the film?
A huge part of this film is Dublin City itself. When writing the script, myself and Cahal often talked about how Dublin is one of the main characters in the film too. So a big part of what I was trying to capture in the shoot was the feel of the city.
We’re always with the characters – at their level while they walk along the street or when they enter shops and bars over the course of the film. The audience is right there with them in the city – I didn’t want to use any drones or cranes that’d bring us up and out of the streets of Dublin. I wanted to show the more gritty vibe of Dublin and have our story and characters exist within that, be it in grimy shops or nightclubs or just in their very run-down flat.
A very important thing to me when making this film was that a viewer would recognise themselves or someone they know in the characters, and be able to experience the film in a more subjective way, rather than placing them in a more distanced, objective point of view.
What inspired you to explore the central theme of finding a direction/path in life?
A lot of this film is inspired by the experiences of both myself, Cahal and a lot of our friends during our time in our early to mid-20s, living in Dublin and doing dead-end jobs.
Myself and Cahal actually lived in a really run-down apartment on Love Lane and hosted many late-night parties there! We had a lot of people in our lives that were all moving at totally different paces. Some were emigrating, some were starting Masters degrees or graduate programmes, and some were just floating along and partying!
One of the main things that puts Benny on the path to actively try to avoid moving forward with his life is the emigration of his best friend. Seeing this person make positive steps in his life causes Benny to rethink what he’s been doing for the past few years. Rather than rectifying this, he doubles down and tries to prolong his stagnation by forming the football team and keeping the group together in this phase of their lives. In a lot of ways it seems that a lot of young people come out of college and are not really sure what they want to do with their lives and we wanted to capture that in this story.
What were some of the biggest creative or production challenges you faced during the making of the feature, and how did you overcome them?
This film was made on a shoestring budget so there were plenty of challenges in putting it all together! From shooting in a storm to filming football matches, we had to really come together as a team to overcome all the curve balls.
The final match in the film is a pretty ambitious sequence and we had scheduled just two days to get everything we needed for it, but of course the weather in Ireland is so unpredictable. We got to the location for the first day and it was torrential rain and the following day had a forecast for a beautiful sunny day, so it wouldn’t cut together in the edit. We had to cancel the day and come back the next morning to get everything we needed. It was a do or die moment in the shoot and I’m almost certain that we got 146 setups shot in one day! We miraculously got back on schedule and got everything we needed in the can!
You’re now in the final stages of the sound mix at Raygun. How has post-production shaped or enhanced the story in ways you maybe didn’t expect?
They say you make three films when putting a film together, one in the writing phase, one in the production phase and then the final version in post. The edit went on for a long time, re-working it and fine-tuning it to get it to be the best it could be.
The relationships between the characters really began to take shape when we put the footage together and we could see the wonderful chemistry between our group of actors. I came to the realisation that having a fun set really helps the actors in making their relationships believable and that is evident on screen.
We had such talented people working on the post-production of this film. Leandro Arouca in Raygun did the colour grade and his work has breathed so much life into the images. Charlie Danneels created an original score for the film which helps set the tone and feel of the story of these characters.
Now with the sound design and mix being carried out by Colm O’Rourke and Andy Kirwan, I am excited to see how it enhances the film. Especially the football scenes where we can really hone in on certain key moments to heighten the drama.
Looking ahead, what are your hopes for Love Lane United, in terms of festivals, distribution, or audience reception?
We intend to submit to festivals this year and then share the film to a wider audience. I genuinely believe that this film will connect with and touch the hearts of many people. Whether it be those who are currently living through this directionless phase of life, or those who have made it through and can now look back on it with nostalgia. If we can get audiences to recognise themselves in the characters and have a few laughs along the way, then we’ll have done our job as storytellers perfectly!
