“I wish we could’ve made it longer,” confesses Omagh-born director Nathaniel McCullagh of his latest short film Far Away, starring An Irish Goodbye’s Seamus O’Hara.
“The challenge for me as a director and writer is to try and keep things simple and spend more time developing the details,” he laughs.
“I’m really proud of what we’ve done and the way we’ve told this story, but I think as a creative you always want to add more.”
Inspired by the Irish epic Táin Bó Cúailnge, or The Cattle Raid of Cooley, and filmed on the Ards Peninsula, Far Away explores the fragile relationship between rural cattle farmer Joe (Seamus O’Hara) and his daughter Aoife (Ella Rose Sands).
When Aoife’s mother abandons them, Joe seeks solace at the bottom of a pint glass whilst Aoife grows dependent on her loving grandfather Declan (James Doran) and the stories he tells her.
However, when Declan dies after suffering a sudden heart attack and Joe discovers his prize bull is a reactor for bovine tuberculosis the already strained relationship between him and his daughter begins to rapidly deteriorate as they struggle to cope with their respective losses.
“In the film Aoife’s favourite story is the Cattle Raid of Cooley and it was our writer Zoe Lewis’s idea to base her journey on that of Queen Meaeve’s from the story,” Nathaniel explains.
“It deals with a lot of the same themes such as pride, greed, pain and jealousy but the relationship or I suppose lack of one between Joe and Aoife is at the heart of the story - I always try and tell stories that have some element of redemption.
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“Joe is a troubled man, dealing inadequately with the multiple challenges his life presents, there’s a lot of anger in him but he’s not inherently evil.
“And I think that comes across in the film due to Seamus O’Hara’s fantastic skill set, he loved the role and the depth it had, and he was just exceptional.”
However, given Seamus’s reputation and repertoire when it comes to playing baddies like terrorist Séamus McKenna in Liam Neeson’s In the Land of Saints and Sinners and more recently loyalist gang leader Lee Thompson in BBC’s police drama Blue Lights, Nathaniel admits he was “a little bit scared of him” whilst on set.
“He’s a really interesting actor because he’s quite softly spoken but he’s got this intensity about him - he has this one specific look that makes him quite scary.
“But even when he plays a really bad guy like he did in Blue Lights you can still see the humanity in the character which can be a really hard thing to portray.”
However, Seamus wasn’t the only actor with primetime TV experience as Hercules the bull - whose real name is Cooley - has previously appeared on Game Of Thrones.
“He is the most docile beast I’ve ever met so I’m not entirely sure what he did when he was on Game of Thrones to be honest,” laughs Nathaniel.
“Initially I had wanted something similar to the bulls you hear about in the The Cattle Raid of Cooley - snorting, angry, ready to charge - but he just walked around the yard, he was so calm.
“But of course ultimately you want something safe, and he was very well behaved so upon reflection I think it all worked out for the best.”
Seamus O’Hara is a really interesting actor because he’s quite softly spoken but he’s got this intensity about him - he has this one specific look that makes him quite scary. But even when he plays a really bad guy like he did in Blue Lights you can still see the humanity in the character which can be a really hard thing to portray
— Nathaniel McCullagh
In addition to working with a talented troupe of actors and animals the film also provided an opportunity for Nathaniel to connect with his Northern Irish roots.
“The story felt very real to me because of my own family background,” he describes.
“My father was a cattle dealer and my mother was a vet and in the film there’s an outbreak of bovine TB which both my parents had experience with during their careers.
“So for me, it was quite a personal journey, not only because I’m from Northern Ireland - I was born in Omagh but I’ve always lived in England - but also to explore what my father and his father went through when things weren’t good on the farm.
“Some films that people make are quite cathartic and introspective and in a funny way it was like that for me too.”
So far, the film has seen Seamus nominated for Best Male Actor in a Lead Role at the 2023 Richard Harris International Festival and composer Patrick Kirst win the award for Best Original Score at the 2024 London Kino Festival. Far Away has also been selected for various different film festivals over the next year.
“One of the best feelings in relation to film-making it when you’re sitting in the dark and the film comes on and it sounds good, looks good and the story works and you see other people watching and being moved by it,” Nathaniel describes.
“The genuineness of the comments and the response we’ve received so far has been so lovely, reassuring and satisfying and I just feel so privileged to have had the opportunity to work with such a fantastic crew.
“The four days we spent filming were for me, the four most exciting days work wise in the last 10 years, they were amazing.”
Far Away is currently available to buy or rent online.
“If you want to see a film that captures real, raw life then this is it, it explores the fragility of relationships particularly when they’re put under emotional and financial stress,” says Nathaniel.
“It gives you a window into a world that very few people really get to see but depicts feelings that everyone has experienced at one point or another. We’ve packed a lot into 15 minutes.”
