Irish Eye on Hollywood:
Boxer-Actor John Duddy’s Festival Raves

Making the rounds and earning raves at film festivals is Irish boxer John Duddy’s acting debut Emerald City. The film, written by Northern Irish native Colin Broderick and produced by Irish Downton Abbey star Brendan Coyle, looks at more recent Irish immigrant laborers in New York City.

As the Derry Journal newspaper noted: “The identity of the Irish worker in New York finds itself at an historical crossroads in Broderick’s first feature film. A crew of Irish construction workers, aged in their late thirties / early forties, still trying to work hard and party hard, are starting to discover the reality of a life spent dodging adult responsibility. These likeable, but no longer fresh-faced, rogues, who left Ireland in an era of closeted oppression and sectarian violence, have spent their adult lives self-medicating in a foreign city. It’s time for a change and someone in the crew might have just the right idea.”

Aside from Duddy, Emerald City features Irish actors John Keating and Eden Brolin. ♦