Interview by Brad Balfour
“Eden”
Written/directed by Robert Walsh
cast: Johnny Elliott, Sarah Carroll, Chris Newman, Kevin O’Brien, Kellie Blaise
Though it’s seems like a lifetime ago, but on Sunday, March 14th, I was spending a pleasant afternoon watching “Eden,” director Robbie Walsh’s film which was making its American debut in this year’s Craic Fest — the 22nd. The ambitious and gregarious filmmaker had reached out to IrishexaminerUsa.com; his unvarnished plea to join him found me at his screening where I discovered this burgeoning talent. After buying a round, we sat down to chat further on his life and career. Staying in touch after his return to the lockdown in Ireland, he again caught my attention, giving me an update on the progress of this film and his latest, “The Letters.”
As Walsh’s bio describes it, the 30-something was born in Dublin, studied acting and film in the Abbey school of Drama while serving in the Irish Defense Forces. This led to roles in independent films funded by The Irish Film Board (“Michael Inside”,”Savage,” “Between the Canals,” “Fur coat and no knickers” and “Joyride”).
He was then hired to be in the International hit television series “Love/Hate” and “Assassins” while appearing in numerous short and feature films, some of which he wrote, produced or directed himself. Walsh’s two shorts, “A day in the life of a pint” and ACES,” were accepted to the Cannes Film Festival in 2009 and 2010 and 2011’s The Valley Film Festival. They have screened at over 100 other festivals around the world and are still running on the international film festival circuit.
“Eden,” Walsh’s debut feature, was accepted into the LA Movie Awards and received the prestigious Honor in International Excellence Award. It was the first Irish film to win an award at this highly respected festival. Walsh filmed his next feature film “SPLIT” which was then screened at the 2017 Portobello Film Festival in London, England. Walsh also enjoys some success in Mixed Martial Arts, having attained the inaugural championship title in the first Irish MMA & Cage Fighting Championship the same year he won an I.D.F. Boxing Championship, while also winning a Silver Medal in the National Submission Wrestling Championships in 2005.
“Eden” follows a homeless man, Adam, through one day of his life living on Dublin’s streets. Audiences share in his experiences and heartbreaking encounters with the different people along the way. Now there’s his latest production, “The Letters” which, as Walsh describes it, “tells the story of three women from different walks of life who have been given mere weeks to live due to the false results of their cervical cancer checks. [The film] aims to be the most socially conscious and artistic film I’ve made following my previous two feature films “Eden” and SPLIT, both of which finished theatrical runs and are now on VOD, It aims to show the struggle of everyday life these victims went through after being told the truth of their diagnosis.”
Q: How much is “Eden” rooted in a real story?
RW: A lot. The experiences Adam goes through in “Eden” are a mixed bag, the idea for the film was certainly born from my own experience after I had left the military and had nowhere to go.
As for what happens to Adam during the film… They were a mix of stories from what I’d witnessed happening to homeless people, to stories I’d been told from people who had formerly been homeless. The character Adam and his background? He and it were based on a relative of mine, who through not fault of his own found himself in a very similar situation with mortgage repayments due to the financial crash and being unemployed.
Q: When did you decide to make this film?
RW: It was 2012 and the homeless crisis was really starting to get bad, all I would hear from people was they were losing jobs and beginning to struggle. Anytime I went into the city center I’d see more people on the street or anytime I’d pick up a paper or go onto social media it was all I read about.
I could really feel it getting worse by the time I came round to doing a reshoot in 2015 to getting it released in 2019 there were riots and major protests against homelessness and mass evictions in Ireland.
Q: Why do it the way you did with its faux documentary feel and episodic nature?
RW I wanted to show the real side to what it was like to be homeless at a point in someone’s life who had been that way for some time. Then just show the mundanity, the boring and slow mental battle of just getting through one day, just trying to get the money to buy tea or coffee or a sandwich. How Adam gets cigarettes and how he interacts with the different personalities he’d meet living on the streets. I tried to make it as voyeuristic as I could so the audience watching feel like they are sitting beside him, walking alongside him and are as uncomfortable as he is. I only had $600-$700 dollars and 4 days to shoot, so I was constantly on the go and my ass was always on the edge of my seat getting it finished.
Q: How hard was it making a film in Ireland and why?
RW: It was hard as we had very little support from any of the funding sources while making it but I was blessed with an incredible crew and very talented cast (most of whom I’ve continued to work with on my other two features) We also managed to pick filming on the coldest of days that year and everybody got the flu, but we filmed in my local town swords the I knew so well. We didn’t take long walking or driving from location to location, that’s when we would film Adam walking doing mundane things, walking between location shots.
The film has gone on and been a real underdog and fighter. In 2019, it got a theatrical release in Ireland and we gave all box office to a homeless charity, then it got world wide streaming distribution. And in 2020, it had its New York theatrical premiere at Craic-Fest to some very positive feedback. I just recently got news it will have its TV premiere in NorthAmerica but I think the hardest part for me was seeing the story of “Eden” slowly become a reality and worse than I ever could have expected. Alas with what is happening today the homeless crisis is just one of many that is getting worse and with no real end in sight.
Q: Tell me about the casting — who these actors were and what are they doing now?
RW: I tend to cast people I’ve worked with before, be it from studying acting or acting opposite them in something (whether it be film, TV, or a commercial). I was originally going to try playing the lead myself but coming up to filming realized I wasn’t suited; the DOP suggested Johnny Elliott whom I’d seen perform scenes in an acting class and who I really liked. We met and he was perfect for Adam, everything you see Adam do on screen when he’s alone was all Johnny Elliott. He even threw the ice cold water over his face and head when nobody expected him to. Unfortunately, we had no towel on hand to give him after he’d done it, that was Day One [laughs].
He’s gone on to do many films and TV since, we’ve even acted in a TV show together called “Assassins” but we were on different episodes.He is the lead in my short film “A Day in The Life of A Pint” and had a small cameo in my second feature “Split,” as a gang boss.
Sarah Carroll had auditioned for me when I was trying to get an earlier film off the ground; I found her incredible from the minute she walked in the door, and offered her the role but she was booked to perform in a Dracula musical. Years later, when I was putting “Eden” together, I asked if she was available for a few hours; she turned up and did her scenes — the scene in which she’s upset talking to Adam was done in one take. She has since made films with Sean Penn and was nominated for an IFTA as best supporting actress. She is now the lead in my new film “The Letters” which is set against the backdrop of the Cervical Test scandal in Ireland. Her performance is heartbreaking and beautiful.
Chris Newman who played the posh obnoxious guy was an actor I’d worked with on a TV show called Love/Hate, he also lived near me in my home town. He turned up on the day and did his piece, in the original scene we stole his shoes and it was raining so his feet got soaking wet. Three years later I had to reshoot his scene because of sound issues, at that stage he’d been the lead on a hit show called “Red Rock” and had a string of films together but he turned up and reshot. We didn’t take his shoes this time.
Kevin O’Brien was a friend of mine and was starting out in acting he’d played a role in my short film “Aces” as a gambler, we need to film 1 more day to get more footage to make “Eden” the feature length film it needed to be and I asked Kevin at the last minute to play a guy on the downward slope to where ADAM currently was in the film. He improved the entire scene and I shot it from one angle until the very end of the scene when Adam speaks to him for the 1st time. It’s my favorite scene in the film.
Kellie Blaise who played the scared girl at the bus stop is one of my oldest friends and she had appeared in my short films ACES & FISHING, whenever she comes home from LA she’s very much in demand so I got her for half a day and we got the scene at the bus stop, then she went straight to shot a pilot and then the recording studio on the same day.
And then of course that was me playing the cab driver, I wasn’t going to make a feature film and not appear in it.
Q: With regards to locations — was it hard to shoot on the streets doing such gritty scenes?
RW: Sometimes it was, it was a total guerrilla shoot, when walking on swords main street you’d get people looking at the camera or walking into shot. I knowthe area like the back of my hand so I knew the alleyways and more remote areas where we wouldn’t get disturbed too much when filming, swords is a very old medieval town and I wanted to show how lovely parts where but how neglected and rundown other parts where. For the most part we were left alone. A lot of where I filmed “Split” is in swords and surrounding areas Portmarnock and Howth. I also shot my short films there.
Q: What makes you want to make films there are easier things to do in life?
RW: I love films, I suppose there are Easier things to do in life, I’m sure, but far less enjoyable or satisfying I think. I’ve had jobs some would consider easy, with no real challenges and would require you to just sit and let life go by. But there are also much harder things to do in life that I chose not to do, through lake of resources, opportunity, fear or mainly my own limitations. But I love film so I’ll see how far I can go.