New Netflix TV series was filmed in Cork

WEST Cork’s beauty is unparalleled, yet it remains a hidden gem in the world of film and television.

No longer. This untouched beauty is set to captivate a global audience as the new dark comedy thriller Bodkin debuts on Netflix this week.

With actors Siobhán Cullen and Will Forte in the lead, much of the cast comprises local actors, including The Young Offenders star Chris Walley, who plays Sean, a young man with plenty of secrets to hide.

Sean isn’t the only one with secrets; everyone from the local garda to an entrepreneur has a skeleton or two, which is what leads a group of podcasters to the town of Bodkin in the hope of solving the mysterious disappearance of some locals more than 20 years ago.

Union Hall is the location for the fictionalised Bodkin, and Cullen, who plays a hard-as-nails journalist, Dove, says locals were so welcoming when the Bodkin crew came to town.

“We took over Union Hall. They were so kind and welcoming,” said Cullen. “I’m sure it was slightly inconvenient when we’d have to ask people to stop driving down a road because we were shooting a scene, but they were all so good about it.

It was such a treat to get to shoot down there. It is so stunning. It felt like we were on our holidays. It was magical.

U.S actor Will Forte is a regular on Irish shores - Bodkin is his third Irish production. In 2013, he appeared in the Irish-based Run & Jump, and in 2019, he starred in the paranormal comedy Extra Ordinary with Cobh comedian and writer Maeve Higgins.

“While we were shooting in Union Hall, we stayed in Glandore,” said Forte, “We did a little filming in Dublin, and at the end of the day, everyone went home and did their thing, but in Union Hall and Glandore, everyone was away from home, staying in the same vicinity and meeting up for dinner. It was a really wonderful experience.”

The duo are in sync as they reminisce about the many West Cork dining spots where they spent time with the cast and crew, notably The Dock Wall in Union Hall and Haye’s Bar in Glandore.

Forte plays Gilbert, an American who had a hit podcast and hopes to strike it lucky again with this latest true crime venture.

The more he investigates the missing people in West Cork, the stranger and more dangerous things get for him, yet Gilbert remains eternally optimistic. Forte says this optimism was part of the draw.

There were a million draws to do this. One was that the scripts were so fun and well written; I really enjoyed the character and felt connected to him.

“In my real life, I’m overly optimistic, so I felt hooked into that.

“I got to come to Ireland again. I’ve worked here three times now, and it was the millionth time I had come over to bum around Ireland on holiday. Everything was screaming, go do this.”

Cullen, who recently won an IFTA Rising Star Award, was drawn in by the chance to play a layered character. Dove is a tricky person, but there is more to her than her prickly outward approach to life.

“On the page, especially in the first few episodes, she’s not the most likeable or warm character, but you get a greater understanding of her as the series goes on, and you get an insight into why she is the way she is,” said Cullen.

“It is fun to play a person who has layers. I hope [audiences] begin to empathise with her.”

The show, which is executive produced by Barack and Michelle Obama through their production company, Higher Ground, isn’t afraid to go to dark places, but it is always through a comedic lens.

By intention or happenstance, Cullen is becoming the Irish queen of dark comedy, having starred in both The Dry and playing the lead in the hit RTÉ dark comedy Obituary.

What is about the Irish knack for making things dark and twisted, yet very funny? Cullen thinks it comes naturally.

“I think the Irish do particularly well with dark humour. Irish writers have a natural tendency towards the genre, and Irish performers just get it. It is a universal thing, but there’s something specific about the Irish delivery of dark humour.”

Meanwhile, Forte, a long-time comedy actor, says he was excited to try the dark comedy genre.

“I love watching dark comedies and it was really fun to be a part of this because it didn’t seem so far away from what I had done before, but it was also this new thing that I was getting to try out.”

Bodkin is set in the days before Halloween, and the town is gearing up for the Samhain festival. Forte admits that while he was familiar with Halloween, Samhain was a new concept. “I was the person who would have said Sam Hain when I saw the word,” he said.

The script contains a considerable amount of cursing, particularly by Cullen’s character, Dove. However, as Cullen points out, cursing is part of how we communicate as Irish people, and it was liberating just to let go and curse freely on set.

“It’s really freeing. It’s part of how we communicate. I don’t want to go around cursing children or anything, but there’s freedom in how Dove says what she wants. That was really fun to play.”

Bodkin landed on Netflix on May 9.