Sony Pictures Classics has swooped on Irish drama The Miracle Club, starring Laura Linney, Maggie Smith, Kathy Bates and Agnes O’Casey, picking up rights for the U.S, Latin America and a number of territories in South East Asia and Eastern Europe.
Directed by Emmy nominee Thaddeus O’Sullivan (Vera, Call the Midwife) and produced by Chris Curling, Joshua Maurer and Larry Bass, the film was shot in Dublin last year and is now in post-production.
In The Miracle Club, there’s just one tantalizing dream for the women of Ballygar, a village in outer Dublin, to taste freedom and escape the gauntlet of domestic life: to win a pilgrimage to the sacred French town of Lourdes, that place of miracles that is a magnet for millions of visitors every year. With a little benevolent interference from their local priest, close friends Lily, Eileen and Dolly, who are funny, messy, flawed, and vocal, get their ticket to go on the humorous, blissful, and exhilarating journey of a lifetime.
Having never even left Dublin — let alone Ireland — the journey provides the heroines the chance to reflect on their own lives, with each of the women in search of their own personal miracles. But when they are joined by Chrissie, recently returned from a decades-long exile in America, bitter truths are exposed. It is only then, through the power of love and friendship, that deep wounds from the past are healed.
“What really enthralled me about the story is how three strong characters confront one another and then, by embracing truth, they understand that the miracle they have all been looking for is right in front of them: in the strength of their friendships and unshakeable togetherness,” said O’Sullivan. “What we have achieved together is to make an emotional movie that is truly joyous, uplifting, and aspirational.”
Embankment Films, which arranged production financing with Curling’s Zephyr Films through Ireland’s BCP and Ingenious Media, brokered the U.S. deal, as well as earlier pre-sales for a bundle of international territories, including Lionsgate for the U.K. and Transmission for Australia. It previously worked with Sony Pictures Classics on films including The Son, The Father, and The Wife.
“Maggie Smith, Kathy Bates and Laura Linney in peak form, having it out with each other in director Thaddeus O’Sullivan’s moving and humorous journey to Lourdes, promises a rich, rewarding experience for audiences everywhere,” added Sony Pictures Classics, which has previously distributed several films starring the three leading ladies.
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