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TRANSCRIPT
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LOGLINE
The extraordinary true story of a funny, feisty and courageous woman called Christina Noble who overcomes the harsh difficulties of her childhood in Ireland to discover her destiny on the streets of Saigon.
SYNOPSIS
CHRISTINA NOBLE walks through the streets of Saigon in 1989. She has come halfway across the world on the strength of a dream she had almost 20 years ago. In a series of flashbacks, we see Christina’s childhood in the Dublin slums. Her world is shattered at the age of 10 when her mother dies. Her father’s alcoholism plunges the family into further poverty and the children are ultimately separated and sent away to industrial schools. She returns to Dublin when she is 16 only to be betrayed by her father and left homeless. She lives rough in the Phoenix Park for a year and struggles to survive. Following an horrific abduction and gang-rape she is unaware that she has become pregnant until she is taken into care at a convent. She is betrayed once more when her baby is given away for adoption without her knowledge. In order to escape the grim memories of her childhood she leaves Ireland and moves to England with a friend. For a couple of years her life improves and she gets married to a Greek Cypriot called Mario with whom she has three children. However, as Mario’s behaviour descends into chronic infidelity and abuse, Christina begins to have visions and dreams about Vietnam, a country whose location and history she knows very little about. She escapes her husband to raise her children in the safety of a new life. Then, with her children finally grown, a brave middle-aged woman decides to pursue dream. Her dream takes human form on the streets of Saigon when she encounters two young girls, scraping the dirt for any sustenance they can find. She takes them to her hotel and cares for them like they were her own. The two girls lead her to more and more street-children and her destiny unfolds: she will summon the wit, courage and determination that her own survival skills have bestowed, along with an unabashed zest for life and turn those assets into the powerful tools she will use to serve these children known as ‘Bui Doi’ – the dust beneath your feet. With the help of new-found Vietnamese friends, including Madame Linh, who runs an orphanage, Christina strives to plan and fund projects to look after the children. This is the beginning of The Christina Noble Foundation that has built 80 projects across Vietnam and in Mongolia, helping the lives of more than 700,000 children and allowing Christina to redeem her own childhood.
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ABOUT THE FILMMAKERS STEPHEN BRADLEY (Writer/Director/Producer) Stephen wrote and directed his first film Reaper in 1995, which was selected for the Shorts Competition at the Venice Film Festival. In the same year he co-produced the feature film Guiltrip, which was also selected for Venice. Stephen set up Temple Films with producer Ed Guiney and wrote and directed his first feature Sweety Barrett (1998) starring Brendan Gleeson, Liam Cunningham and Andy Serkis. It was chosen in the Official Selection at Toronto Film Festival and for Official Competition in San Sebastian. His second feature was the comedy-horror Boy Eats Girl (2005), which was distributed worldwide and by Lionsgate in the USA. Stephen has also directed three feature documentaries as well as numerous award-winning television programs and stand-up comedy dvds. He is currently developing three screenplays, including The Unknown Soldier with Golden Globe nominee Cillian Murphy attached and comedy The High Five with Domhnall Gleeson. MELANIE GORE-GRIMES (Producer)
Melanie came up through the ranks, learning the film business through the locations department. As a locations assistant, she worked on such of high-profile films as Braveheart and Michael Collins. She moved up to locations manager on Stephen Bradley’s first feature Sweety Barrett in 1998, then served in the same position the following year on Steven Spielberg’s Saving Private Ryan. Gore-Grimes moved up to production manager on the feature I Could Read The Sky (2000) before starting a career producing commercials in Dublin, Milan and London. She worked at Ridley Scott Associates for five years, producing for such acclaimed commercial directors as Laurence Dunmore, Sean Ellis, Sean Mullens and Mehdi Norrowzian.
TREVOR FORREST (Cinematographer) Trevor trained as a fine artist, moved to stills photography and then into cinema. As well as becoming established on the film scene Forrest shoots high-end commercials all over the world. He recently filmed the Irish comedy/horror Grabbers directed by his long-time collaborator Jon Wright, which was selected for the Sundance Film Festival in January 2012. A few months later, his next film, Una Noche, was selected for New York’s Tribeca Festival. Filmed in Cuba with street-children playing various roles, Una Noche won Best Film and Trevor was awarded Best Cinematography. He is presently living and working in New York.
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MAGS ARNOLD (Editor) Mags has just completed her fifth film in a row with director Michael Winterbottom, The King Of Soho staring Steve Coogan and Stephen Fry. Their first collaboration was The Killer Inside Me starring Casey Affleck, Kate Hudson and Jessica Alba. They also worked together on the BAFTA-winning comedy The Trip starring Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon, the 2011 drama Trishna starring Freida Pinto and last year’s Everyday starring Shirley Henderson. Both of the latter were nominees for Best Film at the London Film Festival. Mags began her career as first assistant editor on Stephen Frears’ comedy hit High Fidelity and subsequently on Captain Corelli’s Mandolin directed by John Madden. Mags has also had a long collaboration with director Marc Evans with whom she worked on such films as Snowcake with Alan Rickman and Sigourney Weaver and the hit horror film My Little Eye. She has also edited the documentaries In Prison My Whole Life which was nominated for the 2008 Sundance Grand Jury Prize and most recently, Mission to Lars. CRISTINA CASALI (Production Designer) Cristina was nominated for a BAFTA in 2009 for her work on Channel Four’s Red Riding. She followed that by designing Armando Iannucci’s satire of British/American politics In The Loop, which was nominated for an Oscar and won multiple BAFTAS. Cristina also designed The Oxford Murders directed by Alex de la Iglesia, starring Elijah Wood and John Hurt, and more recently I Am Slave directed by Gabriel Range, which was filmed in Kenya. GILES MARTIN (Composer/Music Producer) Giles is the two-time Grammy winning Producer of The Beatles’ Love Show in Las Vegas and the subsequent multi-platinum-selling album. He worked as a Music Supervisor on Martin Scorsese’s Emmy-winning George Harrison documentary Living In The Material World. Giles has also produced Hayley Westenra 's multi-platinum album Pure, the UK’s fastest-selling classical album of all time. He is based at Abbey Road Studios and most recently produced Paul McCartney’s hit album NEW, as well as re-mixing The Beatles’ film Hard Day’s Night at Twickenham Studios where it was originally shot.
BEN FOSTER (Composer/Arranger) Ben is a composer who has written extensively for Television, most notably the first three seasons of Torchwood for the BBC, which earned him 3 BAFTA nominations for best music. He is also known as an orchestral arranger for Film and Television. Recent credits include films The Grey, Prometheus and 7 consecutive series of Doctor Who for the BBC. As a conductor, he has recorded or performed live with orchestras all over the world including the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, London Symphony Orchestra and BBC National Orchestra of Wales. Recent highlights include a world tour with Peter Gabriel, music for the closing ceremony of the 2012 Olympics for composer David Arnold and new songs for Sir Paul McCartney.
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ABOUT THE PRODUCTION
Noble began production in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam on the 10th of January 2013. For cast and crew it was the beginning of a journey through three decades and three countries: From the dour 1950’s Dublin of Christina Noble’s childhood, to Birmingham in the late 1960’s where she tried to create a new life, to the culture shock that was Vietnam in 1989. For writer-producer-director Stephen Bradley, it was a long awaited moment when five years of research and script writing, location scouting and casting, came together in front of camera. “I first came to Saigon at the beginning of 2011 when I was writing the screenplay,” he recalls. “I made sure to stay out of the touristic places - District One or the business district - to stay close to what Christina experienced when she first arrived.” What the Irish-born filmmaker found was, in some ways, not an entirely alien culture. “It’s interesting that the people here are very like the Irish: they have a great sense of humour, they like to have fun but are quite serious at the same time. They’ve been massively affected by their history but they’ve got over what they call the ‘American war’ and they’re all about moving forward economically, socially and thrusting into a new world. All that was fascinating to me.” Months of scouting locations around Ho Chi Minh City, where half of the filming would take place, presented cinematic riches and challenges. The architecture and environment had been greatly altered since 1989, the year Christina Noble first came to Vietnam. “We began filming at one of my favourite locations - which was one of the few that we had to completely recreate,” the director recalls. “It was in one of those old style wood-panelled lobbies at a French colonial hotel. All of those hotels have been changed and modernised but our designer Christina Casali did a great job transforming the lobby of the renovated Saigon Grand to more closely resemble one that our protagonist might have walked through the doors of when she first arrived here in 1989.”
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It was both a boon and a challenge to begin filming in Vietnam. It was inspirational, as this was where Christina found her calling and her redemption, but it was also a baptism of fire for the production to be shooting in a country where only one other major Western feature, The Quiet American, had been shot in the last twenty years. The producers considered Thailand and Cambodia as back-up locations but they were always committed to Vietnam. “We couldn’t speak to many other
producers who’d filmed here so it was hard to get any information,”confirms producer Melanie Gore-Grimes, a longtime friend and associate of Stephen Bradley who brought her into the process two years prior to production. “But we were determined to pursue it for the integrity of the script and finally we found a strong local producer, Ngoc Luu of Star Films, who we started working with to help us get it done.” It took six months to get official permission to film. Gore-Grimes believes this was granted because of Christina’s reputation in the country. “She’s achieved enormous recognition from the government for what she’s done here and I think they wanted to encourage the film.” Nonetheless it was challenging on many different levels: working with a multi-national crew, negotiating sets around the hectic streets of Ho Chi Minh City buzzing with thousands of motorbikes, bringing the whole look back to 1989. As Gore-Grimes puts it, “there was some confusion and a little ‘Lost in Translation’ here but there was so much good will on behalf of everyone that it all worked out.” For a medium-budget film in a city as chaotic as Ho Chi Minh, the production had to think on their feet and be clever in capturing the city while filtering out more jarring modern realities. For Stephen Bradley and his cinematographer, Trevor Forrest, the key was to bring as much of the energy of the city into the film as possible without compromising the integrity of the story or the period. “Often we were shooting in real life places that haven’t been art directed too much, so the city is giving us a texture and breadth we couldn’t otherwise have provided on our budget,” says Bradley. The production moved from riverside slums to trashed urban apartment blocks; airy cathedrals to bustling markets and night-time street hustle where Bradley found what he needed. “It was a challenge for the art department to bring it all back to 1989, but I hope that the busy streets, the extraordinary energy and culture shock that is Saigon finds its way into the film,” he says, then adds with a wry smile. “The only real issues have been control of atmosphere, traffic and situation. And I am happy to say that I have been able to leave most of that to my assistant directors to deal with.” Gore-Grimes recalls daily shoots in the city, “We’d be trying to place 100 extras in their conical straw hats and old style motorbikes and the occasional period car amongst this chaos. The assistant directors did their best to close the road where they could but there were always strays. Sometimes they took to closing off the road with barrier tape and then there would be people on motorbikes who’d just pelt up onto the pavements and dash through our sets. We’d have a wonderful period scene and then one stray
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biker in a helmet would drive through it. “In some cases, they added to the excitement of it all. More than anything, filming on the streets gave us energy and colour.” Cinematographer Trevor Forrest was in his element filming in Ho Chi Minh City. It was his feel for the rough streets of Cuba in his award-winning film Una Noche that first brought him to the attention of the producers. “I loved it. There was this atmosphere, the heat, the textures all around you. The main issue was knowing that anything could happen at any time. We were constantly adapting and going with the flow. Vietnam has given us more than we could have ever planned for.” Bradley and Forrest learned the art of being flexible in the face of constantly changing conditions. This was the first time the two had worked together and knew each other solely by reputation. But their vision for the film was an immediate match. “It’s a scary thing finding a cinematographer because ultimately you are only going to know how you’re going to get on when you’re in the heat of the battle,” says Bradley. “We were very well prepared going into Vietnam, we’d talked through the script and Trevor read various versions as I was re-writing. But we’ve discovered that we’re both able to change our ideas very quickly and adapt to the craziness around us.” At Han Phan market – one of Saigon’s most frenetic street markets – production had set up a crucial scene where Christina starts to find her way in the city, chatting up the locals and using her humour to transcend cultural barriers. However, the presence of the film crew was causing a disturbance so it wasn’t working. They retreated behind the walls of a college to re-group and decided it would only work with a skeleton crew who’d shoot guerrilla style amidst the crowd. Forrest was also able to find a way up to a balcony overlooking the market providing coverage that would have needed 500 extras and lorry loads of props to recreate. Bradley and Forrest agreed early on to shoot on film despite difficulties they might encounter getting the film back to London labs safely. It gave them the opportunity to use different film stocks for each different time period. “For the Vietnam piece, we’re using Kodak 5219, which is the same stock that was used for ‘Argo’,” Forrest explains. “It gives this punchy, strong, tele-visual version of the 1980’s that brings you into that decade immediately.” Designer Christina Casali worked in subtle ways to bring in the more muted atmosphere of 1989. “There is so much modernity in today’s Saigon that we couldn’t strip everything away. So we took out the colours – the reds and the neon – and that helped a lot. Then we had some huge Eighties propaganda posters that we were able to use as screens to block out modern facades or street traffic. But, really it was all about finding locations where we could use the atmosphere of the city as much as possible.” The art department built the tiny corrugated iron hut where Mister Ban, an early recipient of Noble’s kindness, lives with his family of six children including his youngest, a severely
handicapped daughter. “You have to find places that give you a little bit more,’ says Casali, ‘and that place was perfect – and heart-breaking at the same time. Through the window – or hole in the wall – you can see the oily Saigon river flowing behind you and life carrying on despite everything.” In this important scene, we see the poverty through the eyes of Irish oil magnate Gerry Shaw, played by Brendan Coyle, as Noble
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‘kidnaps’ him during his lunch break and persuades him to come and see what she faces every day. Christina takes Gerry from his glossy office into the ragged shantytown that hugs the banks of the dark river, where he sees the deprivation and hardship of children surviving on the streets. Shooting his scenes in Ho Chi Minh just days before returning to the UK to film a third season of Downton Abbey, Coyle is moved both by Noble’s story and by the street life in Vietnam. “Gerry is an amalgamation of different western donors that Christina charmed relentlessly into giving her money,” explains Coyle. “At this point she’s pretty desperate. She’s at the stage where she’s basically just handing out rice and helping out a few families so she just drags him along one day and he really gets to see a side of the city that men like that wouldn’t have seen, don’t see and deliberately avoid seeing by living in expatriate enclaves. Shaw is fascinated and impressed by Christina from the moment that she ambushes him outside the exclusive Saigon Members Club and persuades him to listen to her story over a drink. She, as they say in the script, ‘puts the Irish on him’ which means that she charms him.” “That is something that I can believe having met the real Christina,” Coyle continues. “She’s a force of nature. Relentlessly, month after month after month she was banging on doors trying to raise funds to create a clinic and an accommodation shelter of First World standards in a Third World country just recovering from one of the most brutal wars of the 20th Century. It’s phenomenal what she’s been able to achieve. When you go to the Foundation and see the children when they first arrive, it can be quite harrowing but then they you see how they develop nutritionally, emotionally, intellectually, it’s fantastic. So it’s just this great story that Stephen managed to condense into this brilliantly structured script. It is a great film to be involved with on so many levels.” Coyle has known Stephen Bradley since his early days in Dublin and he played opposite Deirdre O’Kane in the popular TV comedy Paths to Freedom, so he was part of the Irish family on this film. “I’ve long wanted to work with Stephen because I am a great admirer of his work but it hasn’t come together until now. As an actor, you start to know pretty quickly what’s a good script, what’s a great one – and what isn’t. By page four or five, I knew this was a great script: it’s full of humour, it’s full of life and it’s a story about the triumph of the human spirit over adversity. I knew immediately that I wanted to be in it. And, well, being here actually filming in Vietnam… everything has just aligned.” Mark Huberman, who plays another Western businessman in the city who comes across the Noble effect in a rather different way, was also deeply affected by the script, the story and the place. “As an actor you obviously want to work, tell stories, play parts and be different people,” he says. “Then once or twice in your career there’s a story that comes along that is more than just a job, or a part, it’s more than anything. And the incredible thing is that we got to film in Vietnam. It spoils you for other work because the city is the set, the country is the world that you’re in. From the moment you wake up in the morning you are in the story.” Deirdre O’Kane has been living this story for five years. The Irish comedienne first heard about Christina Noble when she read her book Bridge Across My Sorrows but it didn’t occur to her that the story could be made into a film until she met Christina five years ago when hosting The Tooth Fairy Ball for the Christina Noble Children’s Foundation. “The book is hard going and I didn’t think that people would be able to relate to that kind of hardship happening to one person,” she says. “Then I met her and the penny dropped: she’s feisty and she’s a fighter but she’s also funny as hell. I’d been looking for a project and I suddenly realised that there was only one person that I wanted to make a film about and that was Christina Noble.”
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O’Kane went about acquiring the rights to her books and worked closely with her husband Stephen Bradley on developing the script. “For the last two years we’ve talked about Christina every single day and slowly, slowly the cogs have fallen into place one by one. We’ve talked about it constantly so being on set has just been another step, an extension of that conversation. Stephen knows this film in his head from start to finish, shot by shot. He is incredibly meticulous and thorough. He knows what he wants, what he needs.” O’Kane has read the script countless times, for weeks she had the documentary Mama Tina by Stephen Jeffers playing on her iPod so she woke up to Christina’s voice every morning. And she came out to Vietnam with Christina for a week to spend time with her on the ground. “We spent 24 hours a day together here and I sat in on meetings that she had with government officials and visited people in the slums with her. I went from one end of her life to the other because she spends time with both government ministers as well as with street kids. She’s a politician as well as everything else. My performance cemented in that week. I knew the rhythm of her voice; I knew the changes and intonations. After that week I felt confident that I could bring her to the screen.” “We have an amazing shorthand on set,” says Bradley. “Deirdre knows what I’m thinking and can react very fast to that. In Vietnam she’s been in every scene shooting non-stop for four solid weeks, which is something actors rarely get to do. Usually it’s so piecemeal. She understands Christina’s journey so well, instinctively, because she’s been with it for so long.” “From the moment she puts on her blonde wig, Deirdre becomes this completely different person,” says Gore-Grimes. “To me she was Christina; she sounded like Christina; she thought like Christina. She was so perfect.” At the Saint Francis Xavier Church in Cholon – from where former President Ngo Dinh Diem and his brother were taken before being assassinated in 1963 – Deirdre is in contemplative mood. She is filming a scene where Christina, at her wits end, is appealing to God to lend a hand. “It’s been quite a journey,” says O’Kane. “It was on my 40th birthday when the words ‘The only person I want to make a film about is Christina Noble’ popped out of my mouth. Four years later we arrived in Vietnam. I was forty-four – the same age as Christina was when she first arrived. There’s been a synchronicity to it all that’s been really special. “My biggest challenge as an actor is serving her story. I want this film to be huge for reasons that for the first time in my life are not selfish. She is a huge person; she has lived this huge life. So for me the challenge is: Can I give it the same energy that she has? Have I got enough in me to serve her story? That’s it.’
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ABOUT THE CAST DEIRDRE O’KANE (Christina Noble) Deirdre most recently finished filming the third series of Moone Boy, playing Debra Moone opposite Peter McDonald and Chris O’Dowd - who also co-wrote the series for Steve Coogan’s Baby Cow productions and Sky TV. Moone Boy won the International Emmy for Best Comedy in November 2013. One of Ireland’s best known stand-up comedians, O’Kane hosted and co-wrote the 10-part series The Lounge for RTE/BBC. She has also released two DVDs of her stand-up performances through EMI. The multi-talented actress has starred in many Irish television series including the successful Paths To Freedom in which she played Brendan Coyle’s long-suffering wife, Helen. She previously starred in the RTE episodic comedy Fergus's Wedding. Among her feature film credits is the BAFTA-winning Festival for Channel Four as well as Intermission with Cillian Murphy, Colin Farrell and Kelly McDonald. BRENDAN COYLE (Gerry Shaw)
Brendan plays the popular character John Bates in the international television hit Downton Abbey (ITV). Brendan has received EMMY and BAFTA nominations for his role in the series which begins filming its fifth season in spring 2014. Coyle also recently co-starred in James McTeigue’s thriller The Raven opposite John Cusack and Brendan Gleeson. He has a wide range of award-winning film and television credits and won the New York Theatre World Award for Outstanding Broadway Debut in The Weir. His
first leading role in a film was in the indie drama Ailsa, which was co-produced by Stephen Bradley. Since then, Brendan has been featured in such films as John Maybury’s The Jacket with Adrien Brody, Keira Knightley and Daniel Craig, the action-comedy Perrier’s Bounty with Cillian Murphy, and the Irish thriller Mapmaker, among others. Additional television credits include co-starring in the BBC series Lark Rise to Candleford and starring in the episodic comedy Starlings. LIAM CUNNINGHAM (Thomas) Liam is currently starring in the multiple EMMY-winning series Game Of Thrones (HBO), which filmed its fourth season in 2013. Cunningham played opposite Michael Fassbender in Hunger directed by Steve McQueen, earning an Irish Film and Television Award and nominations for the British Independent Film Award and London Film Critic’s Award as Best Supporting Actor. He and Fassbender subsequently reunited twice more: in the period drama Centurian, in which Fassbender starred for director Neil Marshall, and again in 2012, in the BAFTA-winning short film Pitch Black Heist, which Liam also executive produced. Liam most recently appeared in Safe House with Denzel Washington and the feature films Ladygrey and Let us Prey both of which are in post-production. The Dublin native took home his first IFTA as Best Supporting Actor in Ken Loach’s The Wind That Shakes The Barley, which won the Palm D’Or at the Cannes Film Festival. His many other credits include Steven Spielberg’s Academy Award-nominated War Horse, the box office hit Clash of the Titans, the children’s favourite The Little Princess and Irish box-office record holder The Guard. He first worked with Stephen Bradley in the director’s first feature film, Sweety Barrett. He will next be seen co-starring with John Cusack in the thriller The Numbers Station. On television, Liam co-starred in the Golden Globe award-winning feature RKO 281, the BBC comedy-drama Final Demand, the Hallmark Entertainment adventure Stranded and the BBC crime mini-series Messiah: The Promise. He has also had recurring roles in the series Outcasts and The Clinic.
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RUTH NEGGA (Joan)
Ruth won an Irish Film and Television Award as Best Actress in 2012 for her starring role as singer Shirley Bassey in the BBC television movie Shirley. She is a six-time IFTA nominee, including a nomination last year as Best Supporting Actress in the television series Misfits. Ruth’s previous IFTA nominations were: Best Leading Actress for the horror feature Isolation, Best Supporting Actress for the movie Breakfast on Pluto, Best Supporting Actress in the television series Secret State, and two nominations in the same year (2011) for the series Love/Hate.
She starred opposite Samuel L. Jackson in the 2012 thriller The Samaritan and featured opposite Brad Pitt in World War Z. She will also soon be seen co-starring in John Ridley’s All Is By My Side, a biographical drama about young Jimi Hendrix. In 2003, she was nominated for the Laurence Olivier Theatre Award as Most Promising Newcomer for her performance in Duck. In 2006, she was chosen as the Irish Shooting Star for the Berlin Film Festival. She has recently had recurring roles in the television series Secret State for Channel Four and Love/Hate for RTE. Ruth is currently to be seen in Agents of the S.H.I.E.L.D. and is filming The Money, directed by Justin Chadwick. SARAH GREENE (Middle Christina) Sarah trained at the Gaiety School of Acting and immediately found success on the Dublin stage. She won acclaim in a sold-out run at the Abbey National Theatre of Ireland playing the title role in Alice In Funderland in 2012. Straight after filming Noble Sarah played opposite Daniel Radcliffe in the hit West-end stage version of The Cripple of Inishmaan by Martin McDonagh. Sarah played the lead in her first theatrical film, the romantic drama Love And Savagery, before appearing in the 2011 box office hit The Guard opposite Brendan Gleeson and also featuring Liam Cunningham. She has just finished shooting series two of Vikings for the History Channel. GLORIA CRAMER CURTIS (Young Christina)
Gloria makes her motion picture debut in Noble. The eight-year-old has an identical twin sister, Adrianna, with whom she has always enjoyed role-play and ever since they can remember, the girls have been writing scenarios and acting them out. Both girls attend drama classes with Kathryn Coffey, Stage 51, who also serves as their agent. Gloria’s hobbies include singing, dancing, writing, swimming and drama. She attends St Colmcille’s Senior National School, Knocklyon, Ireland, where she is a member of the school choir.
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MARK HUBERMAN (David Somers)
Mark began his acting career while still studying Natural Science at Trinity College Dublin, getting a role in his first ever film audition for Peter Sheridan’s adaptation of the Brendan Behan book Borstal Boy. During filming he flew to London and read for Band of Brothers. Seven auditions later he was offered the part of Lester Hashey and moved to London to film the series for six months. Mark has subsequently worked in film and television projects in both England and Ireland, including the award-winning Irish television series Pure Mule, five seasons on The Clinic and guest-starring appearances in Moone Boy.
His film work has included roles in the literary adaptations of James Joyce’s Ulysses, Bloom, and John Banville`s The Sea. He has also worked in comedy films such as Stephen Bradley’s Boy Eats Girl and more recently, Lenny Abrahamson’s Frank. His theatre credits include A View from the Bridge in Dublin’s Gate theatre and Over the River and Through the Woods at the Andrews Lane Theatre. NHU QUYNH NGUYEN (Madame Linh) Nhu Quynh made her Western feature film debut in the Academy Award-winning French film Indochine, starring Catherine Deneuve. Her followup feature was the crime drama Cyclo directed by Tran Anh Hung, which won the 1995 Golden Lion Award at the Venice Film Festival. Nhu Quynh’s other international film credits include, starring in Tran Anh Hung’s Vertical Ray of the Sun and co-starring in the Canadian drama The Chinese Botanist’s Daughter. DAVID MUMENI (Mario Pistolas)
David was born and raised in London. His father is originally from Iran, and his mother the Isle of Wight. He trained as an actor for three years at Drama Centre London and has since worked for Cheek by Jowl and renowned theatre director Declan Donnelan. David has also appeared in TV shows such as Whitechapel, Fresh Meat and Cuckoo, as well as the smash-hit feature The Inbetweeners. As a writer he was awarded a place on the ‘Write to Shine’ program run by Shine Television & The National Youth Theatre. He went on to write Our Days of Rage at The Old Vic Tunnels, which was a Time
Out Critics Choice selection. Mumeni’s stage appearances include, ‘Tis Pity She’s A Whore (Cheek by Jowl/ Barbican & International Tour), 24Hour Plays (Old Vic), Product Placement (Nabokov), La Strada (ENO), Tits/Teeth, Victory Street, Eating Ice Cream on Gaza Beach (all at Soho Theatre/NYT) and TEN (Royal Court).
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Credits
Written & Directed by STEPHEN BRADLEY
Producers
STEPHEN BRADLEY MELANIE GORE-GRIMES
Executive Producer MICHAEL J HUNT
Line Producers
NICK LAWS NGOC LUU
Cinematographer
TREVOR FORREST
Editor MAGS ARNOLD
Composers
BEN FOSTER GILES MARTIN
Production Designer
CRISTINA CASALI
Costume Designer CHARLOTTE WALTER
Casting by
MAUREEN HUGHES
Art Directors REBECCA MILTON KATIE TUXFORD
JOE WITHERS
Production Managers MATTHEW JENKINS
PHUONG TRAN
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CAST
Christina Noble Middle Christina Young Christina
Gerry Shaw Thomas
Joan Madame Linh David Somers
Mario Trung
DEIRDRE O’KANE SARAH GREENE GLORIA CRAMER CURTIS BRENDAN COYLE LIAM CUNNINGHAM RUTH NEGGA NHU QUYNH NGUYEN MARK HUBERMAN DAVID MUMENI KINH QUOC NGUYEN