Offspring of Spielberg and Neeson to visit Omagh for new film

There’s exciting news for local movie lovers on the horizon, as a feature film that is to be based and shot in Omagh – and which features the sons of none other than Hollywood’s Steven Spielberg and Liam Neeson! – will begin production in April this year.

This week, the UH can exclusively reveal that the full-length, music-themed comedic road trip, titled ‘The Spin’, will star such renowned names as Owen Colgan, Bronagh Waugh, Sawyer Spielberg and Micheál Richardson.

This will be writer and director, Colin Broderick’s third movie, following ‘Emerald City’, and his most recent work, ‘A Bend in the River’, which was nominated for two IFTA’s in 2021.

With a musical feel, laced with hilarity, the film is based on a story by Omagh man, Mark McCausland, author of the UH’s ‘Boneyard’ column, who is also set to compose a music score for the film.

The film will follow ‘Elvis’ and ‘Dermot’, the owners of a small record shop in Omagh.

With business not going too well, their landlady, ‘Sadie’, has had enough of their lame excuses and unpaid rent, and has a more profitable idea for the space they occupy.

Desperate, the boys go on a last resort road trip to Cork to retrieve the ‘Holy Grail’ of albums, an album that could solve all their financial problems – if only things would go according to plan.

Playing the role of Elvis is Owen Colgan, who no stranger to the screen, having made a name for himself playing the hilarious ‘Buzz McDonnell’ in the RTE cult classic, ‘Hardy Bucks’, since 2008.

Originally a small YouTube series, ‘Hardy Bucks’ went on to achieve great things, with four seasons on RTE, and a 2013 film distributed by Universal Pictures, which saw the lads hit the road for a hilarious adventure as they made their way to Poland to support Ireland in the European Championship.

Other names among the cast include Micheal Richardson, who most recently starred alongside his father, Liam Neeson in ‘Made in Italy’. Richardson will take on the role of Elvis’ sidekick and business partner, Dermot.

‘Musical cameos’

Bronagh Waugh, whose previous work includes The Fall, Ridley and Derry Girls will play the boys’ unhinged landlady, Sadie, and Sawyer Speilberg – whose father, ‘Steven’, you may be familiar with – is fresh off shooting the epic new miniseries, ‘Masters of the Air’, and will play ‘Big Dave’.

American actress, Raye Levine, who has just wrapped on her latest feature ‘Merry Good Enough’ will play the role of Dallas.

Things are also looking promising behind the scenes with the award-winning Sebastian Cort as director of photography.

Cort has just recently wrapped up as cinematographer on the new Liam Gallagher documentary ‘Knebworth 22′ which saw the legendary Oasis frontman perform two nights at the spectacular Knebworth grounds where Oasis’ career originally peaked in 1996.

With a promising cast, the film is also set to feature a few ‘musical cameos’ who are yet to be announced, so you can be sure we will be guaranteed a few more familiar faces along the way.

Produced by Dr Eddie McCaffrey – an Omagh native, and senior lecturer: BA Film Production, at Middlesex University – the movie promises to be an entertaining musical adventure that will include ‘a little love, a little heartbreak, and a whole lot of laughs’.