Following the Steps of Giants
by Tess Healy Maguire

ON SUNDAY LAST (4th Sept. 2011) Sean Creagh, Cork filmmaker and head of Craze Productions, asked me to join him in Youghal to kick off his new film series.  Starting with John Huston’s film Moby Dick, he plans to revisit places where cinematic classics have been shot in Ireland.

Combining clips from the original films, staged re-enactments, anecdotes and historical trivia, he offers a fresh perspective on both the films and the towns involved.  As I live only a few miles away, I couldn’t resist joining him.  Though the wind and rain tried to sweep us into the sea, we made our way to the Clock Gate for some background shots.  Looking at this beautiful old building, it’s easy to forget it was once used as a prison.

A carved stone slab reminds us that here the hangman plied his trade.  The nearby Paddy Linehan’s pub served as the base for John Huston, the cast and crew of Moby Dick when the film was shot in 1954.  Paintings on the walls and small plaques mark the event.  Gregory Peck played the iconic Captain Ahab.  Such was the popularity of this Oscar winning actor that people would take the train from Cork to Youghal in the hope of catching a glimpse of the man at work.  Hollywood royalty or not, if Mr Peck wanted to call home, he had to join the queue at the pub to take his turn on the one phone available.  Every morning director Huston would go to the pub and plan the day’s shooting.

One of the film’s most memorable scenes, the women waving good bye to their men, was shot just a few feet away in Youghal harbour.  Audiences viewing the finished product cannot imagine how long it can take to capture the few minutes or seconds that appear on the screen.  Our re-enactments were pared down to a handful of actors simply dressed, placed in the spots where cinema legends had used crowds, cameras and cranes to create the illusion of New Bedford whalers.  For this type of “guerrilla filmmaking”, the huge multiple cameras and boom microphones are replaced by a pair of handheld digital cameras and a tiny sound recorder.  Lighting is whatever nature provides so the changeable seaside weather provides an extra challenge.

Despite the sunshine, the cutting wind gave our performances the shivers Herman Melville’s New England coast demanded.  We held our positions and shot the scene.  Our Captain Ahab, Cork actor Raymond Brothers, balanced carefully on his fake peg leg on the edge of the pier.  The gusting wind fought hard to take our captain off to sea.  There were no screens, green or blue, to keep us from the bracing breeze or provide a way to drop in the computer wizardry now standard in feature films.  Of course with films of any size, you shoot the scene from as many angles as you can with and without the actors.  Shots and recordings must be taken of backgrounds and any natural sounds needed.

After all that, you re-shoot because the car horn drowned out the dialogue, the rain returned, an inquisitive dog visited or any of the varied, unpredictable little incidents that turn a minutes work into an hour.  Passersby paused to watch, take photos and share stories.  When told what we were filming, a young boy informed us that his grandad worked on the original.  Despite the hurry-up-and-wait of filming, we managed to get all the outdoor shots done before losing the light.  All the varies pieces will be whittled and woven together during the editing process to create the final short film.

Chilled and tired, Sean and the rest of the cast retired to the pub to try to capture a last bit of the legend before catching a Cork-bound bus.  I crept home to wrap myself around a large mug of tea.  Moby Dick will be followed by a trip to Cong to find The Quiet Man.  Hopefully I’ll defrost before the film debuts on YouTube.

Click on image to enlarge -Pictures: Youghalonline