Ger Thompson and Eileen Mc Carthy met while attending a three year theatre studies course at Inchicore College Dublin. They worked on various productions together and individually, writing, acting and directing. They went to Australia for a year where Ger proposed and wedding plans, secure jobs, house and babies were on the menu. They moved to Co. Waterford where they managed to build a home, have 2 children and create a very happy home life. In October 2009 Ger was made redundant as a site foreman. With no prospect of work and depression setting in, his wife Eileen took him aside while out walking in the woods and asked him what he would love to do in an ideal world. His response, “I’d love to make a film”. She said “Ok, let’s do it.”
“Flower”, a celebration of being different, a loveable imperfect man, a dying father, an estranged beleaguered brother, unrequited love and the realisation that Nobody’s Perfect.
A well known character in the city of Dublin, Flower is a loveable imperfect man who lives with and cares for his dying father. He becomes the victim of street bullying which marks the beginning of many traumatic changes including unrequited love, an estranged beleaguered brother and a move to the countryside. The brothers soon realise they need to start looking at things in a new light and change is not all that bad. This film is a celebration of being different, an intimate glimpse into the life of Flower the man, and the realisation that Nobody’s Perfect.From that moment on, they both came alive as they knew they were beginning to live their dream and not just thinking about it. Ger’s modest redundancy was to be used to finance the project. It may have been a rush of blood to the head, or a crazy idea but together they created deadlines for themselves, constantly living and breathing the film to be titled “Flower”. Pages of scripts adorned their bedroom wall trying to piece their story together. They decided on Easter to shoot the film and set about bringing together everything they believed they needed to shoot the film. PETER THOMPSON, Gers brother was the first to be contacted. Peter started his career at a young age reviewing video games for the Evening Herald. He went on to study Film and Communications and worked as a multimedia designer.
Meetings, phone calls, deep discussions were all keeping the ball moving. The tight schedules were drawn up. Always at the back of their minds was money, how to get the best they can for nothing. There was no doubt that the acting had to be believable and unfortunately or fortunately as the case maybe, there was no time for rehearsals, yet Ger had everyone well briefed on what he was looking for. The day was nearing, the story board completed, the many loose ends tied up, the children were sent to their Nanas, the car was packed with props, costumes, catering, scripts, hired equipment and a couple filled with anticipation yet wondering what were they getting themselves into. Underneath it all there was a belief in “Flower” and a trust in all involved. They knew they had something special with “Flower”, with their distinctive, unconventional, stylised personal vision and there were no mountains they weren’t going to climb to get it made.
Through their determination, and complete belief in the project they overcame all obstacles, educated themselves as much as possible and filming began on Saturday 27th of March at Ranelagh Village Market. They had two days there with catering out of the boot of the car. Sunday evening they shot some scenes in the car park at Three Rock Rathfarnham. For the next three days they were filming indoors at Donard Co. Wicklow-lucky them, it snowed! On Thursday 1st of April they were filming at a shop in Ranelagh and then onto Three Rock again. Friday morning at the canal, the rain began to fall –it was probably a good thing as exhaustion had set in. They got the shots they needed from the canal on Saturday morning and then travelled down to Co.Waterford to Ger and Eileens house for the rest of the filming. On Saturday 10th of April filming finished at Emo Court Co.Laois. THE THOMPSON BROTHERS worked closely to ensure the believable moments and subtlety within each scene were captured in the natural, realistic style they envisaged with their 1 camera and a tripod from Lidl. Eileen ensured the tight schedule was adhered to while over viewing the smooth running of the project and getting the maximum out of their limitations.
The next stage took a lot longer to complete. No money and no jobs, they applied to the Irish Film Board for completion funding but were unsuccessful. No financiers, no funding, no experienced producers, no recognised people in the industry have collaborated with this project. They soon learned they were completely on their own with polite rejections and who do you think you are reactions. They knew no one could back them with no renowned previous experience but they also knew what they had and were capable of and never stopped believing.Ger had to set up his own business Gerry’s Handyman Services for survival to try and put the bread and butter on the table. With an ever increasing black market work was difficult to come by while he craved to continue his creative work. Eileen supported his new business adventure but also had to deal with the death of her father.
Peter ended up living in a hostel for nearly a year and eventually got some work but his contract soon ran out. “Flower”, was always at the back of their minds. Ger wrote the songs for the film and applied for the Waterford County Council Tyrone Gutherie Arts Bursary, which he won. This gave them a lift and in January 2012 Peter moved in with Eileen and Ger to begin the edit in their upstairs room. Unable to afford the oil for the heating Eileen, Ger and Peter sat with hot water bottles and blankets around them trawling through the footage. THE THOMPSON BROTHERS were back on track. FRANCIS SCATTERGOOD was contacted to help with the soundtrack. He recorded the songs at Eileen and Ger’s, and worked on the original instrumentals. On Monday March 12th 2012 the completed film was on a DVD ready to be sent out for submission to the Film Festivals.This is a unique project that was born out of the love for creativity that had been buried within by the so called boom years. Now finally alive again and expressing themselves through a medium that they want to continue exploring, they’ve rejected the words depression/recession and found their way out by doing what excites them. No there aren’t any big names in this film, but there are people with sincere passion and talent, who gave heart and soul with a belief in “FLOWER” and a trust in each other.
They maybe unknowns but their ability and the quality of work speak for itself.
Ger Thompson & Peter Thompson
Ever since I was a young boy I have had a fascination with well known street characters. I remember my father telling me a story of a Dublin character in the fifties and sixties called Bang Bang who re-enacted cowboy gun battles using a large church key for a gun. It was at that moment I imagined making myself invisible and following him home to get a fly on the wall look at his private life. Whether we admit it or not I think we all make assumptions about these characters be it consciously or subconsciously. Although I created the character FLOWER from my imagination I am pretty sure that most people know or know of a Flower type character. The idea was to go on a journey with FLOWER, to follow him home so to speak and to get a look at the private life of the man and not the character and to challenge assumptions. With all this in mind Peter and I made the decision to shoot the film as intimately as possible using mostly close up framing to capture the subtlety within each scene. We wanted this film to be more about what is not said.Link to film festival http://www.undergroundcinema-
scroll down to end to find "Flower".
Link to Flower website http://www.flowerthemovie.com/
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