Dan Ireland, ‘Whole Wide World’ Director Who Co-Founded
Seattle Film Festival, Dies at 57
By Carmel Dagan
April 15, 2016
Dan Ireland, who co-founded the Seattle Film Festival,
served as an acquisitions exec at Vestron Pictures and directed films including
“The Whole Wide World” (1996) and “Jolene” (2008), starring Jessica Chastain,
died Thursday at his home in Los Angeles. He was 57.
Chastain tweeted in memory of him.
“The sweetest angel left us. Called his voicemail just to
hear his voice once more. I’ll miss you baby,” she wrote.
His directorial debut, “The Whole Wide World,” starring a
young Vincent D’Onofrio and Renée Zellweger in her first film, was a biopic of
Texas-born pulp fiction writer Robert E. Howard, who created Conan the
Barbarian in the early years of the 20th century, and the woman in his life,
played by Zellweger.
Ireland was nominated for the grand jury prize — dramatic
— for the film at the 1996 Sundance Film Festival.
“The Velocity of Gary” two years later starred D’Onofrio
along with Salma Hayek and Thomas Jane in a portrait of the hustlers, drag
queens, prostitutes and other denizens of Times Square.
Roger Ebert was more enthused by Ireland’s first effort:
“That one, about a man who sat in his room in Texas and wrote about Conan the
Barbarian, was quietly, sadly gripping; in ‘The Velocity of Gary,’ there is
never quite the feeling that these people occupy a real world.”
Romantic comedy “Passionada” (2002), starring Jason
Isaacs, Sofia Milos and Emmy Rossum, and set in the fishing town of New
Bedford, Mass., depicted the romance between a proud Portuguese widow with a
daughter (Rossum) and a British man played by Isaacs. Rossum’s teenager wants
to be a gambler and is aware that Isaacs’ Charlie Beck is a professional
gambler himself, and not in the fishing business as he pretends to be, so she
blackmails him into teaching her his tricks.
The New York Times said: “The movie, directed by Dan
Ireland, oozes a warm-blooded bonhomie in the mode of ‘Moonstruck’ and ‘My Big
Fat Greek Wedding’ that makes you want to like it in spite of itself.”
Ireland’s “Mrs. Palfrey at the Claremont” (2005) starred
Joan Plowright as a woman who flees from her life in Scotland and checks into
London’s Claremont hotel, which sports a bunch of regulars. One day she takes a
tumble on the street and meets a struggling writer who becomes a friend (Rupert
Friend).
Ebert said: “The movie is a delight, in ways both
expected and rare.”
“Jolene” (2008) was Ireland’s last completed film, though
he had several others in the works. Starring Jessica Chastain, it was based on
E.L. Doctorow’s story “Jolene: A Life” and followed the life of a teenage
orphan who moves from place to place across the country over a period of years.
The New York Times said: “Ms. Chastain digs deep.
Surrendering to her character’s smoky voice-over and disastrous judgment, the
actress finds pockets of soul in a role that’s part Jessica Rabbit, part
Marilyn Monroe.”
Born in Vancouver, Ireland moved down to Seattle to
co-found with Darryl Macdonald the Seattle International Film Festival, which
they ran from 1975 to 1986. They also opened an arthouse, the Egyptian, in
Seattle.
During his tenure he and Macdonald booked for the
festival the world premieres of Joel and Ethan Coen’s “Blood Simple,” Richard
Rush’s “The Stunt Man,” Irwin Kirshner’s “The Empire Strikes Back,” Ridley
Scott’s “Alien,” Tobe Hooper’s “Poltergeist,” Marek Kanevska’s “Another
Country” and Carl Franklin’s “One False Move”; as well as the U.S. premieres of
George Miller’s “The Road Warrior,” Alan Rudolph’s “Choose Me,” Hector
Babenco’s “Kiss of the Spider Woman,” Akira Kurosawa’s “Ran,” and three of Paul
Verhoeven’s early Dutch films: “Soldier of Orange,” “Spetters” and “The Fourth
Man.”
Ireland’s relationship with Verhoeven was key to securing
distribution for his World War II film “Soldier of Orange.”
Ireland moved to Los Angeles in 1986 to lead film
acquisition for Vestron Pictures. During his three years there, he exec
produced or spearheaded projects including John Huston’s final film, “The
Dead,” Bernard Rose’s “Paperhouse,” and three Ken Russell films: “Salome’s Last
Dance,” “Lair of the White Worm” and his adaptation of D.H. Lawrence’s “The
Rainbow.”
Other notable films Ireland acquired while at Vestron
include the Terry Jones sex comedy “Personal Services,” Julien Temple’s “Earth
Girls Are Easy” and Yurek Bogayevicz’s “Anna,” starring Sally Kirkland, who
received a best actress Academy Award nomination for her performance.
After leaving Vestron Pictures, Ireland produced (with
Ronaldo Vasconcellos) another Ken Russell film, “Whore,” starring Theresa
Russell, and director Carl Colpaert’s “The Crew” at Cineville.
In 1995, Ireland decided to direct films for himself,
starting on a high note with “The Whole Wide World.”
Ireland worked with Zellweger again on her first effort
as an executive producer on the 2008 TV movie “Living Proof,” the true story of
oncologist Dennis Slamon (played by Harry Connick Jr.), who helped discover the
cancer drug Herceptin. Neil Meron and Craig Zadan produced the film.
IRELAND, Dan (Daniel Ireland)
Born:
5/11/1958, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Died: 4/14/2016,
Los Angeles, California, U.S.A.
Dan Ireland’s
western – executive producer:
Sundown: The Vampire in Retreat - 1989
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