Edenderry 'Pure Mule' playwright to shoot Elvis impersonator film in Offaly

Edenderry playwright Eugene O'Brien is set to shoot a new film in Offaly based on two brothers – a monk and an Elvis impersonator.

Set to be filmed in September of this year, Eugene describes the film as “a road movie that moves about three miles an hour”.

“They're on a canal barge together. They're kind of full of trauma and they have to confront various things,” he said, speaking to Oliver Callan on RTE Radio 1.

“It's funny and it's dramatic, and there's a kind of twist. I'm really excited about it.”

It comes as the playwright prepares to return to Ireland for a second run of his play titled 'Heaven' – a show which first debuted in Ireland in 2022 at the Dublin Theatre Festival.

Since its launch, Eugene has toured the play across the globe in cities such as New York, London, and Edinburgh to glowing reviews.

The Edenderry native recalled bringing his first play 'Eden' to London's West End in 2002 to a much less enthusiastic audience.

“It died a death. There was a critical mauling,” he said. “I think it was because there had been a lot of Irish monologues at the time. But we went to Edinburgh with 'Heaven' and suddenly the same people who reviewed 'Eden' and hated it just absolutely loved 'Heaven'.”

It was 'Eden' that inspired Eugene's hit series 'Pure Mule' – which centred around life in small town Ireland.

“We took the structure for 'Pure Mule' from 'Eden'. The Holy Trinity, as we used to call it, the Friday, Saturday, and Sunday,” Eugene said.

“It was going to be 8 episodes of 40 minutes on Channel 4, but then they dropped out and we were left floundering. Thankfully Mary Callery from RTE came in but it had to be 6 hour long [episodes].

“It was one of those shows that just worked. There was no nonsense, everything was joyful. We went down to Banagher, we shot for 12 weeks - and the response was amazing.”