Answer Me These Questions Three #1 ANTHONY BYRNE

Anthony Byrne's new film How About You, adapted from Maeve Binchy's short story, is set for release this Friday, 16th November. TToH managed to catch up with Anthony (left) to ask him a few questions...

1. Were you pleased with the reaction to Short Order?
I wasn't very pleased with the reaction to "Short Order". It's hard to be pleased about a film that no one has seen. Within the industry people seem to have responded extremely well and it was important in so far as I got a call from Noel Pearson about "How About You", so in many respects it did what it was supposed to do but I think at some stage in the future it would hopefully find a new audience.

2. What atmosphere do you need to write? Music? Silence?
Look after the script. Music and Atmosphere will look after themselves.

3. You wrote and directed Short Order. What was it like shooting someone else’s material? Did you feel a need to re-jig a few lines?
I loved working from someone else's script, although you have to remember that I spent a year with the screenwriter (Jean Pasley) so it was a very collaborative process but even when you're shooting you have to listen to everyones suggestions and decide whether it's right or wrong. It's not a case of changing lines in defiance of the screenwriter. You only make changes to improve on something.

4. What is Vanessa Redgrave like in person?
Vanessa is a very mercurial woman. On "Short Order" she only worked for a day and we got on very well and we kept in touch over the next year or so and when "How About You" came along I thought she'd be perfect for "Alice" but if you look back over the last number of years you'll see that she has only really played cameo roles in films, most recently "Atonement", so "How About You" is really the first substantial role she's played in some time and I think she was nervous of that and it led to some very tense moments on set and while it was tough at the time to get through it, if you look at the finished film, her performance is incredible so it wasn't a process that was without merit and I would happily work with her again.

5. Short Order had a sense of style not normally seen in Irish film. Was this a deliberate move?
"Short Order" is a very particular kind of film, but I didn't consciously set out to make an 'Irish' film or make it as a different kind of Irish film. I just made the film that I wanted to make. I loved movies like "Pierrot le Fou", "Umbrellas of Cherbourg", "Charade" and many others and "Short Order" was my homage to those movies and I'm very proud of it. The visual style is just something that I know how to do and feel very comfortable with and is present in my short films, most notably "Meeting Che Guevara & the Man from Maybury Hill", but I think you have to treat each film differently and serve the film. Films like "Short Order" are not the kind of films I want to continue making. It just so happened that "Short Order" was my first film so people presume that's what you do. I'd like to work in different genres and if you look at "Short Order" to "How About You" and most recently "Single-Handed" which is a tv drama I just finished, they are all polar opposites from each other and indeed the next film I'm planning on doing with Noel is even more different again, so I would like that to continue.

6. What’s up next?
I just finished a two part TV drama for RTE/Touchpaper tv called "Single-Handed", which we filmed in Connemara and it goes out on New Years Day. It's a straight up rural cop drama and I think we've made a really great piece of TV Drama. I'm really looking forward to getting it out. The script was great, the cast were fantastic. Owen Mc Donnell and Charlene Mc Kenna are amazing young actors and it's a big, cinematic drama that fits on your TV. I'm also working on another film with Noel Pearson called "The Runner", that we hope to do later next year in South Africa and New York.

7. What’s your favourite Irish film?
I'm not sure if some can be classed as "Irish" films but films that are Irish or about Ireland that stand out for me are Odd Man Out - Carol Reed, The Butcher Boy - Neil Jordan, The Wind that shakes the Barley - Ken Loach, Ryan's Daughter - David Lean, Man of Aran - Robert J Flaherty, The Miracle - Neil Jordan, My Left Foot - Jim Sheridan

Check out Anthony's Meeting Che Guevara & the Man from Maybury Hill.