'We knew we were on to a winner with Fran', says Cork director

Fran The Man, a new Irish comedy set in the world of football, opens in cinemas this week.

The mockumentary is a feature-length version of a web series that debuted on YouTube before being developed as a television series for Setanta Sports and TV3 in 2009.

The film is directed by Stephen Bradley, who used to live in Glanmire - and is well-known as the director of Noble, based on the Christina Noble story and, more recently, Last One Laughing, hosted by our own Graham Norton.

Bradley was living in London with his wife, the actor and comedian Deirdre O’Kane, who stars in Fran The Man, when the TV show debuted. He was unaware of this until the film’s producer, Collie McCarthy, presented him with the script.

“Deirdre and I moved to London when it came out, so it wasn’t on our radar at all, and by the time we came back to [Ireland] it wasn’t on air anymore,” explains Stephen.

“Collie McCarthy sent me the script at the beginning of the second lockdown. He worked on it for three years with the writer Richie Conroy. They also sent me the DVDs, so I could see where Richie’s head was going and how brilliant Darragh Humphreys, who plays Fran, is. I wanted to be attached straight away.”

Bradley believes that, for comedy to be effective, a strong script, actors with comic timing, and an editor who understands how comedy works are essential. Fortunately, he had all three for this project.

“Richie is such a great comedy writer who knows how to walk that line of keeping it straight enough and giving the storyline enough heart, then great comic actors come along, and they take it up three more levels.

“But then the other important part of it is the editing, and I have a brilliant editor called Stevie Vickers, who has great comic timing.

“Having been married to a comedian for a long time and being in comedy circles, I’ve learned many tricks.”

Although Bradley collaborated with Conroy on the script, he credits Conroy with the heavy lifting.

“Richie and I became friends very quickly. We would sit in a coffee shop for a day and review the script. I would suggest putting a line here or there, and he was very generous because it is always about making the film as good as possible.

“Richie did all the lifting on the writing side, though; he is a great writer.”

The director says it was essential to get to know Humphreys, who plays Fran and already had a working relationship with Conroy from their time on the series.

“I made sure to get to know Dara on my own. Four or five months before we started shooting, he and I would go for pints and have chats.

“Dara is brilliant, and he brings so much to Fran. He’s surrounded by well-known actors in the film, like Ardal O’Hanlon, Amy Huberman, and Deirdre, and he holds his own.

“It is a real credit to him that in test screenings, everybody said Fran was their favourite character.”

Ardal O’Hanlon was the first actor attached to the script after Humphreys, and Bradley says he always knew he wanted to cast Huberman and O’Kane, but says that it was important to cast comedians like Michael Fry and Peter McGann, who are from a new generation of Irish comics.

“It’s lovely to bring new talent into the fold. They’re brilliant comedians, so it makes sense.

“When it comes to promoting the film, they all row in. It’s a different generation that uses social media for their comedy and brings a generation that we don’t necessarily have back access to.”

Is it difficult to detach at home when two people in the same household work on the same film? Bradley says that he and O’Kane try to keep things separate.

“We don’t allow each other to become obsessed because otherwise, it would be a 24-hour conversation. It’s always there in the ether, and we might ask a question about one aspect of it, but generally, we try not to let it consume us.”

The film-maker lived in Glanmire for much of his childhood and has fond memories of his time there.

“I’ve so many good memories and love Cork.

“I have filmed several comedy specials in the Everyman Theatre, and Deirdre plays in Cork regularly and loves it.

“I used to live in Glanmire. It changed massively. It was a little village in those days, but Cork is always somewhere I am glad to get back to.”

In 1998, a young Cillian Murphy made his film debut in Sweety Barrett, written and directed by Bradley, but did he realise he had a future Oscar winner in his film?

“I knew he was something special. I was working with Ed Guiney at the time, and he had seen Disco Pigs on stage and was already planning on making the film, so he was already talking about Cillian and talking to him about the film version of the play.

“From those conversations, I knew we wanted to cast Cillian in Sweety Barrett.”

Bradley hopes audiences will support his new film and enjoy its feel-good nature.

“I hope audiences have a lot of laughs, but the story has many layers. It’s a who-done-it and a love story.

“Many people say they are emotional by the end of it, but the feeling they get from it will be wanting to tell everyone around them to go and see it immediately.”

Fran The Man is in cinemas from April 11, cert: 12a.