S6E1: Discovering the Truth in Lies We Tell
Launching Season Six, we go behind the scenes of the woman-strong Irish film Lies We Tell, a brooding tale of angels and demons, light and shadow, manners and mores, family secrets and family crimes, which The Guardian called “a tightly laced, elegantly cut gothic period drama.”
A total rethinking of Irish writer Sheridan Le Fanu’s 1864 novel Uncle Silas, the film centers on Maud Ruthyn, brilliantly portrayed by the rising young star Agnes O’Casey, great-granddaughter of the playwright, Sean O'Casey, who is trapped in the sprawling family estate Knowl (filmed at Ardgillan Castle in County Dublin) and by “the law being made and enforced by men.”
The Guardian called her delivery “as sharp as a steak knife” and Screen International wrote, “A singular performance by Agnes O’Casey gives the pretty period piece a serrated edge.”
Our episode starts with a prelude from Maedhbh Fiona Mc Cullagh, director of Washington, DC’s Solas Nua Capital Irish Film Festival, which kicks off on Feb. 29th with Lies We Tell. Then Director Lisa Mulcahy and screenwriter Elisabeth Gooch talk about how they transformed a century-and-a-half-old Gothic period drama into a compelling woman-centered story relevant to today. We learn why Elizabeth found the 1864 Maude so annoying and Lisa talks about the budget pressures that led to the film’s signature candle-lit ambiance, creating what Film Journal called “a tale of flawlessness and immersive beauty.”
Then you’ll meet Agnes O’Casey and hear about her UK upbringing, her Trinity College Dublin theatre training, her embrace of the Sean O’Casey lineage, her TV breakthrough in Ridley Road, her recent roles in films with the likes of Maggie Smith, Kathy Bates, Laura Linney, Stephen Rea, and a Cillian Murphy film yet to be released, and the challenges of being on camera in almost every scene of Lies We Tell.
Join us to meet the makers and learn the backstory of the brilliant, woman-forwards Lies We Tell.
Links:
Lies We Tell
Agnes O’Casey
Lisa Mulcahy
Elisabeth Gooch
Maedhbh Fiona Mc Cullagh
00:00 - Introduction
03:52 - Maedhbh Mc Cullagh Introduces CIFF
06:27 - Introducing Lisa Mulchay and Elisabeth Gooch
06:33 - Lisa: Candlelight and Lies We Tell
09:22 - Elisabeth: Recreating Gothic Victorian Ireland
13:15 - Lisa: On Capturing Sheridan Le Fanu Tone
14:54 - Setting Lies We Tell in Ireland
19:27 - Law, Menace and Character Layers
22:40 - Economic Oppression and Powerlessness
24:58 - Reclaiming Power and the House
28:14 - Elisabeth: A Subversive Take
30:26 - Lisa: On Lead Actor: Agnes O'Casey
34:37 - Introducing Agnes O'Casey
35:13 - Playing Body Number 3
37:36 - Choosing the O'Casey Name
41:16 - Drama School in Ireland
46:22 - Ridley Road and Dueling Identities
48:57 - The Miracle Club
52:12 - Preparing for Lies We Tell
55:35 - Every Scene Intensity
59:53 - Working with David Wilmot
01:02:12 - Working with Candles
01:04:22 - What's Next For Agnes
01:07:29 - John and Martin Recap
01:08:00 - Credits
Agnes O'Casey
Actor
Agnes O'Casey is from London and the eldest of three sisters. She is of Irish and a quarter Jewish descent and is descended from playwright Seán O'Casey who is her great-grandfather.
After appearing in the music video for "Holy Show" by the Pillow Queens in 2020 and the Druid Theatre Company production of The Seagull in 2021, O'Casey made her television debut in the 1960s-set BBC One drama Ridley Road, starring as the lead character Vivien Epstein. This was followed by a supporting role as Emilie in the Starz adaptation of Dangerous Liaisons the next year.
In 2023, O'Casey made her feature film debut in The Miracle Club directed by Thaddeus O'Sullivan followed by Lies We Tell. Her upcoming projects include SMall Things Like These and Wolf Hall
Lisa Mulcahy
Director
Lies We Tell is Lisa Mulcahy's 4th feature film. Recent work inclides, 4-part BBC/PBS/STUDIO CANAL drama, RIDLEY ROAD, written by Sarah Solemani, based on the book by Jo Bloom, and being produced by Red Productions. Prior to that she directed the final 2 episodes of YEARS AND YEARS for BBC/HBO, written by Russell T Davies. She was lead director on series 1 of BLOOD, a psychological thriller for Virgin Media One/Channel 5 for which she was nominated as Best Director in the 2020 IFTA awards.
The series won the IFTA for the Best TV Drama at the 2020 awards. In 2017 she completed UNDERCLIFFE (aka WASTELAND), a contemporary feature film shot in Bradford. Her episodes of HOLBY CITY were broadcast in May 2017 and previous to that, she directed all five episodes of THE MOONSTONE, a period drama based on the Wilkie Collins book, for BBC 1, which was broadcast in in 2016. She co-wrote and directed the children’s feature film THE LEGEND OF LONGWOOD released in 2015. The film sold to many territories worldwide and in April 2016, won the Celtic Media Award for Best Children’s Programme. It was also runner up at the Giffoni Film Festival.
In November 2015, she won an IFTA for Best Director for her work on RED ROCK, the critically acclaimed Irish series which sold to Amazon and the BBC. She was nominated again, for Season 2, in 2016. After RIDLEY ROAD, Lisa will direct UNCLE SILAS, a feature film, written by Elisabeth Gooch. A subversive take on J.S. LeFanu’s gothic sensation novel Uncle Silas, it is being produced by Ruth Carter of Blue Ink Films under the Screen… Read More
Elisabeth Gooch
Elisabeth Gooch is originally American but has been living in Ireland for around 20 years. By training, Elisabeth is a medieval historian, having attended Swarthmore College; University of Chicago; and in the UK, York and also St. Andrews.
Lies We Tell, is Elisabeth's first realized screenplay having inadvertently gotten involved in the film business. While working as a chef in an Irish country house, she was introduced to someone who wanted a book adapted to a screenplay. That didn't work out, but the notion had been introduced and was ultimately realized by an encounter with Director Lisa Mulcahy and the opportunity to adapt Sheridan Le Fanu's Uncle Silas to the screen. Elisabeth proudly lays claim to her subversive take on the original novel, creating a heroine with far more will than the character orginally populating the pages of Uncle Silas.
Maedhbh Mc Cullagh
Director of Capital Irish Film Festival
Maedhbh is a multidisciplinary cultural producer, arts programmer, and creative consultant from Ireland. For more than two decades she has been producing and managing artistic programs, presentations, productions, and special events for international festivals and cultural organizations, in Europe and the US, including appointments as the Associate Director of Irish Screen America, Managing Director of the contemporary interdisciplinary Abrons Arts Center, independent freelance producer at The Trailblazery, The Civilians Theater Company, Performance Space NY, The Foundry Theatre, the Alliance of Resident Theatres NY, Program Manager of the international Dublin Fringe Festival and Associate Producer of the award-winning Aurora Nova international program of physical theatre, dance and cross-disciplinary performance at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.
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