Transvision camp

During a recent shoot in Rhode Island, esteemed Irish actress Fionnula Flanagan found herself being pursued by four teenaged Fiddy wannabes. Though disciples of racial profiling might suppose otherwise, the guys were not after her purse. Nor, surprisingly, had they recognised this distinguished lady from her extensive work as a Joyce interpreter in films such as Ulysses and James Joyce’s Women.

Instead they began pounding their hearts, shouting ‘yo, you are my mama’ at her – a tribute to her role in Four Brothers, last year’s hip-hop reworking of The Sons Of Katie Elder.
Months later, in town for the Jameson Dublin International Film Festival, Ms. Flanagan is still visibly tickled by her unlikely gangsta mama status.
“It was lovely”, she laughs. “It’s definitely a very different audience for me.”
It’s not, however, the first sub-culture Ms. Flanagan has acquainted herself with. Though the Dublin born actress has, over five decades, shared to big screen with everyone from Nicole Kidman (in The Others) to the Ewoks (The Ewok Adventure), amassed television credits in countless shows (Gunsmoke, Columbo, Murder She Wrote, Law And Order, Nip/Tuck) , inevitably, her occasional forays into the Star Trek franchise (taking roles in The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, and most recently Enterprise) have inspired the greatest levels of devotion.
“It always takes me a moment to catch on,” she tells me. “A stranger will walk right up to you on the street and say something that sounds vaguely familiar. Then I realise it’s a Trekker quoting a line of dialogue back at me. Their dedication is just remarkable.”
Currently you can catch Fionnula in the Oscar nominated transsexual drama Transamerica, where she essays Felicity Huffman’s shrill and shocked Midwestern mom.
“I think it is why it is an important movie,” she explains. “It’s not about swinging liberals. It’s about more mainstream people. And show me the parent, who, if their kid comes home who says ‘mom, I am going to have a sex change operation’, will respond ‘darling how wonderful, I am right behind you’. Most parents will feel conflicted in that situation. Most will fear for their child and fear for this choice they are making. My character Elizabeth is loud and prissy and she wears turquoise and an orange tan but her disapproval comes from love. She just doesn’t know how to cope with her feelings or talk about them in a calm way.”
Unsurprisingly, given her glittering career, Ms. Flanagan is not quite ready to quit LA for her native shores.
“I still have a 97 year-old aunt here so I come back about seven times a year. But my husband is the chief psychiatrist in the Betty Ford Centre, and my stepsons live in LA so I’d have to leave too much behind. Anyway, I’m not sure I could cope with the property prices here. There must be about 19 people to every flat.”