My Left Foot 4

you want to go to Hollywood and work for a studio,
that’s a different thing altogether. But we just keep doing
it. Because we are masochists!
fii
But for someone who had the perseverance and drive, could they
still do it?
N
Its very hard. They should go and learn a bit about the
theatre first, see how it works. I know it’s a
contradiction in terms – it’s different but some of the
basic rules are the same. John Huston used to say all
you needed was the script. That was half of the battle,
the cast was the other half. The director just kept the
cattle on the road and stopped them from going into the
ditch. The scripts are everything and that takes
sometimes 2 years to develop. And it eats up a lot of
money and patience. Oh, I sound like a martyr here.
There’s no courses for producers, producers are made.
It’s a lot about instinct. That’s why you can get it so right
and so wrong.
fii
Would you prefer theatre or film?
N
At the moment I prefer film – because that’s what I’m
working on!
Explorations for students
1 According to Noel Pearson, what is
the film about? 
2 Does this relate to his motivation for
making the film?
3 How does he describe the
experience of producing this and
working in the industry in general?
4 Can you suggest any similarities
between this and the other films that
he talks about? 
5 What impression do his comments
and those of Brenda Fricker and 
Hugh O Conor give you about the
experience of making 
My Left Foot?
Does this come across in the film