''Divine Rapture'' is an uncompleted 1995 American-Irish film with

Marlon Brando Marlon Brando Jr. (April 3, 1924 – July 1, 2004) was an American actor. Widely regarded as one of the greatest cinema actors of the 20th century,''Movies in American History: An Encyclopedia''

Johnny Depp John Christopher Depp II (born June 9, 1963) is an American actor and musician. He is the recipient of List of awards and nominations received by Johnny Depp, multiple accolades, including a Golden Globe Award as well as nominations for ...

Debra Winger Debra Lynn Winger (born May 16, 1955) is an American actress. She starred in the films '' An Officer and a Gentleman'' (1982), '' Terms of Endearment'' (1983), and '' Shadowlands'' (1993), each of which earned her a nomination for the Academy Awa ...

, and

John Hurt Sir John Vincent Hurt (22 January 1940 – 28 January 2017) was an English actor. Regarded as one of the finest actors of his time and known for the "most distinctive voice in Cinema of the United Kingdom, Britain", he was described by David Ly ...

Background

''Divine Rapture'' is the story of a set of miracles in a small 1950s Irish community. The town of Ballycotton in

County Cork County Cork () is the largest and the southernmost Counties of Ireland, county of Republic of Ireland, Ireland, named after the city of Cork (city), Cork, the state's second-largest city. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster ...

, where filming took place in the summer of 1995, expected to generate significant revenue from the project. Two weeks into production, however, filming stopped abruptly as the finances of the

production company A production company, production house or production studio is a studio that creates works in the fields of performing arts, new media art, film, television show, television, radio, comics, interactive arts, video games, websites, music, and video ...

, CineFin, collapsed. Most cast and crew were unpaid, along with local suppliers of accommodation, catering and other services. Only 24 minutes of actual film footage had been shot.Barter, Pavel (26 November 2009)
Brando, Depp, the missing millions and Divine Rapture, the lost movie.
''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

Documentary

In 2009, Hot Shot Films produced the documentary ''Ballybrando'', recounting the story with interviews of cast, crew and production team including producer Barry Navidi, who had worked for six years to get ''Divine Rapture'' made. The documentary also includes scenes from the film. A headstone stands in Ballycotton's Main Street erected by local potter Stephen Pearce marking the event. It reads "Divine Rapture, born 10th July 1995, died 23rd July 1995, RIP". ''Ballybrando'' ends with the news that Navidi is reworking the script under a new title, ''Holy Mackerel'', and that he hopes to film it in Ireland.Riegel, Ralph (2 November 2009)
Ballybrando' recalls greatest Irish film never made.
''

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 n ...

''Murphy, Claire (12 December 2009)
Revealed ... secrets of the Irish Brando movie that collapsed after just 10 days.
'' The Herald''

References

1990s unfinished films 1990s American films 1990s Irish films {{Ireland-film-stub