Inspired by the film Mid-August Lunch by Gianni Di Gregorio, brothers Darren and Colin Thornton have added a uniquely Irish twist to the original Italian story. The plot follows Edward (James McArdle), a successful writer and the sole caregiver for his 81-year-old mother, Alma (Fionnula Flanagan). When his friends—played by Rory O’Neill, Gordon Hickey, and Gearóid Farrelly—decide to escape to a Pride Festival in Gran Canaria, they leave their mothers in Edward’s care without his agreement. This bittersweet comedy about gay sons and their mothers is set to arrive in cinemas in April. We spoke with Darren Thornton, who also directed the film, about the real-life inspiration behind Four Mothers.
How did you first come across the Italian film which influenced Four Mothers?
There’s an Italian film called Mid-August Lunch by great writer Gianni Di Gregorio. It is a chamber piece set in the apartment he shares with his mother. The film’s premise is that acquaintances leave their older mothers in his care for a long weekend. We used it as a jumping-off point and then went in different directions. Our adaptation is from the point of view of middle-aged gay sons, who, because they were unmarried, were becoming the sole caregivers of their older parents. It came to us from an English producer, Jack Sidey, who had optioned the rights to the Italian film. He had seen our first film, A Date with Mad Mary, and asked if we could watch Mid-August Lunch to develop an idea for making an English-language version.
You have quite a personal connection to the story. Can you tell me about that?
When the original film came to us, we were living a version of that story ourselves because our Mum had become unwell, and we were spending a lot more time back home with her and taking care of her. My Mum has quite a big family and a lot of sisters, so all the sisters were there as well, and a lot of her friends. There was a community of women in the house, chatting together, so the film really resonated with us. The idea of older women in this very confined space, forced to be with each other and chatting, having various good experiences and arguments, felt like something that was right for us. We knew we could write it from a fresh perspective.
It sounds like destiny was at work.
It was such strange timing. We’re plugged into all kinds of cinema and rarely miss things. Mid-August Lunch is a very celebrated Italian film, well-known all over the world, but we’d somehow missed it. Typically, things like this don’t fall in our laps. We usually have to find our projects. It was so serendipitous that it just happened to land when it did. It was so familiar that we knew we had to do something with it.
You cast the Scottish actor James McArdle as your main character, Edward. His accent is flawless, but were you ever worried that he might not have been up to the challenge?
It was hard to find Edward. Our producer, Jack, had seen James in a production of Angels in America, and he suggested him. I went down a rabbit hole on YouTube, looking at all his interviews online. I found this Michael Winterbottom film that he had been in where James was a roadie who had this love story with a journalist. James was incredibly natural and charismatic but also quite vulnerable. I had a strong instinct when I saw James, and I knew he would be our guy. When we met, we had a long talk, and we realized he had a lot in common with Edward at that time. You are always trying to find somebody at a point in their life right now that’s similar, that the emotionality of what’s happening to the character is similar to what their experience is, and that was the case with James. And it turned out to be great. He is such a consummate professional and so detailed in his preparation that I always knew he would get the accent, which wouldn’t be a challenge. It was a real pleasure working with him.
I love that, despite Edward’s struggles with his situation, his love for his mother, Alma, remains a central theme. Was this aspect something that James brought to the role himself, or did you encourage him to emphasise it?
In the beginning, I stipulated that James and Fionnoula would have time together before the filming started. It was about more than rehearsals but having them together in a room and going for dinner with each other. The nights before we started shooting, the cast, Colin, and myself went to the cinema. Little things like that really help everybody connect; it develops familiarity by osmosis, and when they get to set, there’s comfort and intimacy between them. Fionnoula and James were so fond of one another and all that came easily to them.
Fionnula’s character, Alma, can no longer speak, but she communicates using an audio app on a tablet. She is such a brilliant actress that she conveys a great deal of emotion in her role without using her voice. Did Fionnula find it challenging to perform without speaking?
She found it very hard, and she would tell you herself she hated that she couldn’t speak. Our mom did not have a voice at the end of her life and was forced to use an iPad. It was devastating for her, for all of us. She was one of the great talkers and loved to chat. And so, because Mum was quite a warm person, this voice is so cold, robotic, and dead sounding that the mixture of the two is weirdly incongruous. It feels all wrong. It was important for us to have it in the film. Fionnula’s character, Alma, is very emotional but always uses this robotic voice to communicate her feelings, resulting in drama and funny moments. During the shoot, Fionnula hated the iPad. It would freeze, stop, and knock itself off. She was using it live in the scene, so it was the cause of a lot of frustration but also some great outtakes.
Was watching Alma’s health struggles cathartic, or did you find it upsetting?
It was both. It was definitely cathartic. There is a scene toward the end where it is nighttime, and Edward is sitting up in bed with his Mum, which is very much like what Colin and I would have sometimes done. The bedding is similar to Mum’s. The trinkets and the little bits and pieces she had on her locker are the same as it was. I remember the night we were shooting that scene; it was quite emotional. There were moments when we realized how personal and painful it was. And then it was also cathartic. Certainly, when we were writing the script, we got some revenge on the iPad. This thing that had caused so much pain at one point, to be able to use it as a device for comedy was really satisfying.
Dermot, Colm, and Bill attended the Maspalomas Pride Festival, and there is footage from the event. Did you go to Gran Canaria to film it?
We initially had planned to use another festival, but then we realized it was a younger gay scene and Maspalomas is more for middle-aged and older gay men. Rory wasn’t there; we had to shoot him during his holidays in a different part of Spain. I flew out with Gordon, Gearóid, and my brother Colin, and we just shot all the scenes with an iPhone during the festival. We got so much hilarious material, but very little ended up in the film. I would love to put some outtakes together for the DVD release.
We have many great Irish LGBTQ+ films for younger audiences, but our filmmaking culture doesn’t focus on older gay men. Was that one of the reasons for making the film?
My brother Colin is a gay man, and I spend a lot of time with gay men my age. It’s a vibrant, funny community you don’t see in terms of TV and movies. A big part of the appeal was to dig into that subculture. The key to the whole thing for me and Colin was to be able to explore the dynamics between mothers and their gay sons, which I think is a very specific kind of relationship. The relationship between mothers and sons is very different from that between mothers and daughters. And the relationship between mothers and gay sons is very, very different to the relationship between mothers and straight sons or daughters. There’s just something very close, and sometimes it can be almost so close. Over familiarity can breed contempt in some ways, but it’s also so rich and so loving, particularly for gay men who are middle-aged and raised in a different time. Older men of that generation were not necessarily the greatest communicators, so the sons often became de facto emotional supports for women who were living with men who were a mystery to them or weren’t really communicating. I think that shaped the relationships that developed a rich, unusual dynamic we were keen to explore. It is universal in terms of seeing our parents getting older and becoming unwell and how the world can view them as almost invisible.
What would you like audiences to take away from the film?
It would be so great if people went with their mums. It’s the kind of thing I would love to have brought my Mum to see. I used to love watching movies with my Mum. It was just something that we had always done since we were kids. I love the idea of folks going to see it with their mums and having a conversation and, most importantly, having a really, really good time.
Interview by Cara O’Doherty
FOUR MOTHERS is at cinemas from April 4th