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Blest Souls
''Blest Souls'' is an unfinished epic historical romance film by Michael Cimino. Set in the 1920s during the Irish War of Independence, the film was to follow the life of revolutionary leader Michael Collins, and his secret love affair with Hazel Lavery. It was intended as Cimino's follow-up to ''The Sicilian'' (1987), another period production with biographical elements set in a European country. The first iteration of the screenplay was written by Eoghan Harris but, after disagreements, Cimino brought on Robert Bolt to help develop a new draft. Sean Bean, at the time a relatively unknown stage actor, was set to portray Collins. Controversy regarding a film being made about Collins was generated from the start, and while reports differ as to why it was ultimately cancelled, co-producer Joann Carelli and assistant director Michael Stevenson claimed it was due to threats against the production that were made to Columbia Pictures. Despite this, a film on the subject, entitled '' ...
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Michael Cimino
Michael Antonio Cimino ( , ; February 3, 1939 – July 2, 2016) was an American filmmaker. He achieved fame as the director of ''The Deer Hunter'' (1978), which won five Academy Awards, including Academy Award for Best Picture, Best Picture and Academy Award for Best Director, Best Director. With a background in painting and architecture, Cimino began his career as a commercial director in New York. He moved to Los Angeles in 1971 to take up screenwriting, co-writing ''Silent Running'' (1972) and ''Magnum Force'' (1973). Cimino made his directorial debut with ''Thunderbolt and Lightfoot'' (1974), which became one of the year's highest grossing films. He followed his debut's success with ''The Deer Hunter'', earning him widespread renown. After ''The Deer Hunter'' Cimino was given creative control of his next film, ''Heaven's Gate (film), Heaven's Gate'' (1980). The film was negatively received and became one of the biggest box office bombs of all time. Cimino directed four subs ...
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Michael Collins (Irish Leader)
Michael Collins (; 16 October 1890 – 22 August 1922) was an Irish revolutionary, soldier and politician who was a leading figure in the early-20th century struggle for Irish independence. During the War of Independence he was Director of Intelligence of the Irish Republican Army (IRA) and a government minister of the self-declared Irish Republic. He was then Chairman of the Provisional Government of the Irish Free State from January 1922 and commander-in-chief of the National Army from July until his death in an ambush in August 1922, during the Civil War. Collins was born in Woodfield, County Cork, the youngest of eight children. He moved to London in 1906 to become a clerk in the Post Office Savings Bank at Blythe House. He was a member of the London GAA, through which he became associated with the Irish Republican Brotherhood and the Gaelic League. He returned to Ireland in January 1916 and fought in the Easter Rising. He was taken prisoner and held in the Frongoch ...
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Greenlight
In the context of the film and television industries, to greenlight is to give permission to proceed with a project. It specifically refers to formally approving its production finance and committing to this financing, thereby allowing the project to proceed from the development phase to pre-production and principal photography. The power to greenlight a project is generally reserved to those in a project or financial management role within an organization. The process of taking a project from pitch to green light formed the basis of a successful reality TV show titled '' Project Greenlight''. The term is a reference to the green traffic signal, indicating "go ahead". At the Big Five major film studios in the United States and the mini-majors, greenlight power is generally exercised by committees of the studios' high-level executives. However, the studio president, chairman, or chief executive is usually the person who makes the final judgment call. For the largest film budget ...
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David Puttnam
David Terence Puttnam, Baron Puttnam, CBE, HonFRSA, HonFRPS, MRIA (; born 25 February 1941), is a British-Irish film producer, educator, environmentalist and former member of the House of Lords. His productions include '' Chariots of Fire'', which won the Academy Award for Best Picture, '' The Mission'', '' The Killing Fields'', '' Local Hero'', '' Midnight Express'' and '' Memphis Belle''. In 1982, he received the BAFTA for Outstanding British Contribution to Cinema, and in 2006 he was awarded the BAFTA Fellowship for lifetime achievement from the British Academy of Film and Television Arts. Between 1997 and 2021, Lord Puttnam sat on the Labour benches in the House of Lords. In 2019 he was appointed chair to the select committee on democracy and digital technologies. The committee published its findings in its ''Digital Technology & the Resurrection of Trust'' report in June 2020. Early life David Terence Puttnam was born in Southgate, London, England, the son of Marie ...
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The Deer Hunter
''The Deer Hunter'' is a 1978 American epic war drama film co-written and directed by Michael Cimino about a trio of Slavic-American steelworkers whose lives are upended by fighting in the Vietnam War. The soldiers are played by Robert De Niro, Christopher Walken and John Savage, with John Cazale (in his final role), Meryl Streep and George Dzundza in supporting roles. The story takes place in Clairton, Pennsylvania (a working-class town on the Monongahela River south of Pittsburgh) and in Vietnam. The film is based in part on an unproduced screenplay called ''The Man Who Came to Play'' by Louis A. Garfinkle and Quinn K. Redeker about Las Vegas and Russian roulette. Producer Michael Deeley, who bought the script, hired Cimino, who, with Deric Washburn, rewrote the script, taking the Russian roulette element and placing it in the Vietnam War. The film went over budget and over schedule, costing $15 million. Its production company EMI Films released it in other territories, ...
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Irish Examiner
The ''Irish Examiner'', formerly ''The Cork Examiner'' and then ''The Examiner'', is an Republic of Ireland, Irish national daily newspaper which primarily circulates in the Munster region surrounding its base in Cork (city), Cork, though it is available throughout the country. History 19th and early 20th centuries The paper was founded by John Maguire (MP), John Francis Maguire under the title ''The Cork Examiner'' in 1841 in support of the Catholic Emancipation and tenant rights work of Daniel O'Connell. Historical copies of ''The Cork Examiner'', dating back to 1841, are available to search and view in digitised form at the Irish Newspaper Archives website and British Newspaper Archive. During the Irish War of Independence and Irish Civil War, the ''Cork Examiner'' (along with other nationalist newspapers) was subject to censorship and suppression. At the time of the Spanish Civil War, the ''Cork Examiner'' reportedly took a strongly pro-Francisco Franco, Franco tone in its ...
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The Irish Times
''The Irish Times'' is an Irish daily broadsheet newspaper and online digital publication. It was launched on 29 March 1859. The editor is Ruadhán Mac Cormaic. It is published every day except Sundays. ''The Irish Times'' is Ireland's leading newspaper. It is considered a newspaper of record for Ireland. Though formed as a Protestant Irish nationalist paper, within two decades and under new owners, it became a supporter of unionism in Ireland. In the 21st century, it presents itself politically as "liberal and progressive", as well as being centre-right on economic issues. The editorship of the newspaper from 1859 until 1986 was controlled by the Anglo-Irish Protestant minority, only gaining its first nominal Irish Catholic editor 127 years into its existence. The paper's notable columnists have included writer and arts commentator Fintan O'Toole and satirist Miriam Lord. The late Taoiseach Garret FitzGerald was once a columnist. Michael O'Regan was the Leinster Ho ...
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Robert Redford
Charles Robert Redford Jr. (born August 18, 1936) is an American actor and filmmaker. He has received numerous accolades such as an Academy Award, a BAFTA Award, and two Golden Globe Awards, as well as the Cecil B. DeMille Award in 1994, the Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award in 1996, the Academy Honorary Award in 2002, the Kennedy Center Honors in 2005, the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2016, and the Honorary César in 2019. He was named by ''Time'' as one of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2014. Appearing onstage in the late 1950s, Redford's television career began in 1960, with appearances on ''Alfred Hitchcock Presents'' in 1961 and '' The Twilight Zone'' in 1962. His greatest Broadway success was as the stuffy newlywed husband in Neil Simon's '' Barefoot in the Park'' (1963). Redford made his film debut in '' War Hunt'' (1962). He gained success as a leading man in films such as '' Barefoot in the Park'' (1967), ''Butch Cassidy and the Su ...
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Gabriel Byrne
Gabriel James Byrne (born 12 May 1950) is an Irish actor. He has received a Golden Globe Award as well as nominations for a Grammy Award, two Primetime Emmy Awards and two Tony Awards. Byrne was awarded the Irish Film and Television Academy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2018 and was listed at number 17 on ''The Irish Times'' list of Ireland's greatest film actors in 2020. In 2009 ''The Guardian'' named him one of the best actors never to have received an Academy Award nomination. Byrne's acting career began at the Focus Theatre in Dublin before he joined London's Royal Court Theatre in 1974. His screen debut came in the Irish drama serial '' The Riordans'' and the spin-off show ''Bracken''. He went on to star in such films as '' Defence of the Realm'' (1986), '' Lionheart'' (1987), '' Miller's Crossing'' (1990), '' Little Women'' (1994), ''Dead Man'' (1995), '' The Usual Suspects'' (1995), '' The Man in the Iron Mask'' (1998), '' Enemy of the State'' (1998), '' Vanity Fair'' ...
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Liam Neeson
William John Neeson (born 7 June 1952) is an actor from Northern Ireland. He has received List of awards and nominations received by Liam Neeson, several accolades, including nominations for an Academy Award, a British Academy Film Award, BAFTA Award, three Golden Globe Awards, and two Tony Awards. In 2020, he was placed seventh on ''The Irish Times'' list of Ireland's 50 Greatest Film Actors. Neeson was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 2000. Neeson made his film debut in 1978 with ''The Pilgrim's Progress#Dramatizations, music, and film, Pilgrim's Progress'' followed by early roles in ''Excalibur (film), Excalibur'' (1981), ''The Bounty (1984 film), The Bounty'' (1984), ''The Mission (1986 film), The Mission'' (1986), ''The Dead Pool'' (1988), and ''Husbands and Wives'' (1992). He rose to prominence portraying Oskar Schindler in Steven Spielberg's Holocaust drama film, drama ''Schindler's List'' (1993) for which he earned an Academy Award for Best ...
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Mickey Rourke
Philip Andre "Mickey" Rourke Jr. ( ; born September 16, 1952) is an American actor and former professional Boxing, boxer who has appeared primarily as a leading actor, leading man in drama, action, and thriller films. In a Mickey Rourke filmography, film career spanning more than forty years, his accolades include a Golden Globe Awards, Golden Globe Award and a British Academy Film Awards, BAFTA, in addition to Screen Actors Guild Awards, Screen Actors Guild and Academy Awards, Academy Award nominations. Films in which he has appeared in have grossed over $1.9 billion worldwide. Rourke began his career in the film 1941 (film), 1941 (1979), directed by Steven Spielberg. He played small roles in ''Heaven's Gate (film), Heaven's Gate'' (1980) and ''Body Heat'' (1981) before going on to win acclaim and a National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Supporting Actor, National Society of Film Critics Award for his role in ''Diner (1982 film), Diner'' (1982). He subsequently establis ...
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Irish Revolutionary Period
The revolutionary period in Irish history was the period in the 1910s and early 1920s when Irish nationalist opinion shifted from the Home Rule-supporting Irish Parliamentary Party to the republican Sinn Féin movement. There were several waves of civil unrest linked to Ulster loyalism, trade unionism, and physical force republicanism, leading to the Irish War of Independence, the Partition of Ireland, the creation of the Irish Free State, and the Irish Civil War. Some modern historians define the revolutionary period as the period from the introduction of the Third Home Rule Bill to the end of the Civil War (1912/1913 to 1923), or sometimes more narrowly as the period from the Easter Rising to the end of the War of Independence or the Civil War (1916 to 1921/1923). The early years of the Free State, when it was governed by the pro-Treaty party Cumann na nGaedheal, have been described by at least one historian as a counter-revolution. Overview Home Rule seemed c ...
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