Joanne Lesley Gilbert (7 June 1955 – 15 September 2018) was an English film producer and

casting director In the performing arts industry such as theatre, film, or television, casting, or a casting call, is a pre-production process for selecting a certain type of actor, dancer, singer, or extra to land the role of a character in a script, screenp ...

based in Holywood, near

Belfast Belfast (, , , ; from ) is the capital city and principal port of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan and connected to the open sea through Belfast Lough and the North Channel (Great Britain and Ireland), North Channel ...

, Northern Ireland, and ran Real Holywood Productions.

Career

Producing

At the time of her death, Jo Gilbert was in pre-production with the movie ''The Ribbon'' with Ed Burns and starring Julia Stiles, and was producing the 40-part documentary series '' Great West End Theatres'' for Great Productions. In their review of the series, the ''British Theatre Guide'' said "This film is as close as one can get to standing on the stage taking an ovation. This series is beautifully filmed and gets the balance exactly right between classy camera work, history, reminiscence and gossip." She produced the film '' Closing the Ring'', the last film directed by

Richard Attenborough Richard Samuel Attenborough, Baron Attenborough (; 29 August 192324 August 2014) was an English actor, film director, and Film producer, producer. Attenborough was the president of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) and the British Acade ...

, which was shot in and around

and released in 2007. Her previous film credits as associate producer are '' Puckoon'' (2002), directed by Terence Ryan; '' Darkness Falls'' (1999) directed by Gerry Lively; '' The Brylcreem Boys'' (1998) directed and produced by Terence Ryan and '' The Mystery of Edwin Drood'' (1993). She was also instrumental in originally creating the Paint Hall Film Studios in Belfast, now known as the Titanic Studios, in the Titanic Quarter, Belfast.

Casting Director

As Casting Director, her credits included '' The Jungle Book 2'' (2003); '' The Second Jungle Book: Mowgli & Baloo'' (1997) and '' The Harpist'' (1997). As a casting director working on the 1997 film '' The Brylcreem Boys'' for the Producer/Director Terence Ryan, they were the first film to choose the

Isle of Man The Isle of Man ( , also ), or Mann ( ), is a self-governing British Crown Dependency in the Irish Sea, between Great Britain and Ireland. As head of state, Charles III holds the title Lord of Mann and is represented by a Lieutenant Govern ...

as a location since the 1936 film '' No Limit'' starring

George Formby George Formby, (born George Hoy Booth; 26 May 1904 – 6 March 1961), was an English actor, singer-songwriter and comedian who became known to a worldwide audience through his films of the 1930s and 1940s. On stage, screen and record he ...

. Ryan based his movie there and used various locations on the island to stand-in for Ireland. Gilbert appeared in an episode of UK television serialised fly on the wall documentary 'Airline', having missed an Easyjet flight to Belfast in which she attempted to use her vocation as a method of intimidating and bullying airport staff. On 15 September 2018, she died of a brain tumour. .

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Gilbert, Jo 1955 births 2018 deaths 20th-century English businesspeople 21st-century English businesspeople British women casting directors English film producers Mass media people from Leicester Sinden family