Culture
15 May 18

Kevin Godley movie chronicling Orson Welles' early years in Dublin in the works

British rock musician and video director Kevin Godley is to make his feature film debut with The Gate, a film that looks at Orson Welles’ early acting career at the Gate Theatre, Dublin.

According to Screen International, the film will shoot in Ireland and will tell the story of how Welles, as a teenager, made his acting debut at the Gate Theatre in Dublin in 1931.

The story starts in 1985, just as Barbara Leaming’s biography about Welles is being published. The filmmaker, close to death, is haunted by memories of his lost youth in Ireland.
The film is expected to have a predominantly Irish cast and to shoot on the West Coast of Ireland and in Dublin. The producers are looking to work closely with the Gate Theatre.

As well as writing and directing, Godley will also oversee the film's music. “For me, Ireland was Welles’ personal Rosebud,” Godley told Screen International. “His own lost innocence was buried under a contradictory lifetime of achievement and diminishing returns so I want the audience to feel that loss from the beginning.”

The project has, in part, received development funding from the Irish Film Board.

In the past, Godley has directed pop promos for bands ranging from U2 to Elbow. He also has a new album, Muscle Memory, shortly to be released through Pledge Music.