‘My Banshee co-star should win an Oscar’ (...and no – Pat’s NOT talking about Colin)
COMEDIAN and actor Pat Shortt has tipped the ‘absolutely incredible’ actress Kerry Condon for an Oscar nod, after working alongside her in Martin McDonagh’s The Banshees of Inisherin.
Shortt was speaking ahead of a screening of the hotly anticipated film – which also stars Colin Farrell, Brendan Gleeson and Barry Keoghan – at the Newport Beach Film Festival in California last night.
‘Funny, a lot of people don’t know much about Kerry,’ he said of the actress from Thurles, Co. Tipperary.
‘She’s actually been in LA for years and she’s done Better Call Saul and a lot of big stuff out there, and a lot of Broadway stuff.’
Some more of 39-year-old Condon’s recent major credits include the voice of AI character F.R.I.D.A.Y. in five Marvel films, and a part in McDonagh’s last film, the Oscarnominated Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri.
She plays the sister of Colin Farrell’s character in Banshees and, like the Dubliner, also made her screen debut in Ballykissangel.
‘She’s absolutely incredible,’ Shortt continued. ‘I’ve been watching her career for years, so when I heard she was in it, I was really excited. And sure enough, there’s all sorts of talk about her in this that she’s going to get the [Oscar] nod, and rightly so.’
The film, a dark comedy about two feuding pals on a remote island during the Civil War, has received widespread acclaim.
McDonagh won best screenplay at the prestigious Venice International Film Festival last month, while Farrell scooped best actor – setting tongues wagging about a potential first-ever Oscar nomination for the Dubliner.
Shortt called it ‘amazing’ working with Farrell for the first time, and ‘very exciting’ working with Gleeson again, having previously shared the screen with him in The Guard (2011).
And it wasn’t only the two big hitters – whose last odd couple pairing was in McDonagh’s 2008 hit In Bruges – who reunited on-screen.
For the first time in 22 years, Shortt and old D’Unbelievables partner Jon Kenny play a double act.
‘[McDonagh] really wanted the two of us back working together on film, which was lovely,’ said Shortt. ‘And it was great. It was a great vibe on set, I have to say. It was really cool.
There is more gratification in store for the multi-talented Shortt tonight: his directorial debut Warts And All will be screened at Newport Beach.