Chrissie recalls ‘special’ Banshees film experience

One local woman will be avidly watching the upcoming Oscars ceremony, with more than a hint of pride having featured in the hit movie 'The Banshees of Inisherin' film as an extra.

Drum native Chrissie Killian, who lives in Coosan, featured in scenes shot in Purteen Harbour after spending several days filming on Achill island in the autumn of 2021.

Chrissie, who is the current Chairperson of Athlone Little Theatre, and an renowned local actor herself, happened to be down in Achill in July of that year and saw the poster looking for extras for the Martin McDonagh film, and being a big fan of his work, she jumped at the chance.

Asked this week how it feels to have appeared in an Oscar nominated film, Chrissie modestly laughs saying that “appeared would be an overexaggeration”.

“I was mostly in scenes with Kerry Condon, Gary Lydon and Colin Farrell. Colin Farrell was so nice, he was great fun and he was having the craic with us (extras). He'd be coming along doing a scene and he'd wink at ya and we just said we'll wink back at him.

“We were carrying on like this for a while and next thing he said ‘Ye are playing hard to get, I'm not going to do it anymore’.

“He was just having great fun with us. They were all lovely, really, really nice,” she says, describing the entire experience as really positive and great fun.

When Chrissie got the all important call that she had been selected, she was asked to come for a fitting over several hours, and she says they were meticulous with costuming for the feature set in 1920s.

“They gave us layers and layers to try on, and even the undergarments were of the period and they matched up colours and outers and brought in a supervisor to see was it the right look.

“Then they sent us to hairdressing and makeup. We were told we didn't need any makeup – we were haggy enough – we looked like banshees,” she heartily laughs.

What followed was very early starts of 4.30am on the days of filming at the end of September, 2021, before heading to costumes, hair and makeup and then at first light the extras went to the harbour to wait for their scenes to be shot.

“You just had to walk around or stand around and talk. They rehearsed everything about ten or twelve times,” the Drum native remembers.

“The strange thing was there were about 80 of us extras, men and women, and when we were dressed up in the period costume, all the men went to one side of the room and all the women went to the other side of the room just like it was back in the old days.

“The men spoke to the men and the women spoke to the women and we got into character even though we were only extras,” she smiles.

“It was great fun and I made some great friends out of it and we're still in contact on WhatApp and we're supporting each other.”

Initially, Chrissie saw the film, which was released last October to great acclaim, for the first time in Athlone and then travelled to Castlebar to see it again at a special screening for the extras which featured special messages from director Martin McDonagh, and one of the stars, Colin Farrell.

To see the painstaking filming process in action, how they rehearsed things, worked with animals and the weather was really interesting, Chrissie says, before adding that in one scene they had not one rainbow but two over the harbour.

“They stayed for ages and they just kept filming and filming. You just couldn't buy scenery like that, and to have that activity going on in that location was something very special,” she adds.

“You couldn't plan for something like that, and I think it took the foresight of Martin McDonagh and his team to say yes, let's take a gamble on the weather in the West of Ireland and do this.”

But it paid off handsomely according to the Coosan resident, who is absolutely delighted how the finished film turned out and believes it will be a massive boost to Achill in the future.

“I think it's a fabulous film. For the first time I saw it I liked it, the second time I cried my eyes out with the human heartbreak that's in it. It's more like a drama on film than a classic blockbuster film. I think the emotion and suffering portrayed in a comic, off-hand way is so powerful, and I think that makes it such a powerful film.

While she believes the film will pick up a few Oscars, she doesn't see it getting any of the main ones like Best Picture because it is “too complex for the Hollywood palette”.

“I'd be overjoyed if they did, but it's a bit like the 'Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri,' it was too complex for American tastes,” she maintains, joking that there will be plenty of Oscars parties among the extras and a few fake Oscar statuettes on mantelpieces for the glittering occasion on March 13 at midnight our time, just after she comes off stage from her nightly turn as Madge in Brian Friel's 'Philadelphia, Here I Come!, running from March 9 to 16 next in Athlone Little Theatre.

Asked if she would like to be an extra in another film, Chrissie quips that if there is a Liam Neeson film anywhere she'd be on for that!