‘We’ve made it the hard way’ - Reid

Castleblayney’s Pete Reid is helping bring a new Irish gangster film to the big screen.

Originally from the townland of Croghan, Annyalla, Pete now lives in London with his wife Emsy, where he works as a regional manager on the Thames Water framework, overseeing major infrastructure projects across a vast area stretching from Oxford to Kent, including London.

Away from his demanding day job, he has taken on a very different role as executive producer of In A Small Town, an independent feature film set in 1970s Ireland.

Alongside Emsy, Pete is also well known within the Irish diaspora in Britain as an administrator of the popular London Irish Facebook group, which has more than 40,000 members. Those connections helped bring him into contact with filmmaker Jules C. Devins, ultimately leading to his involvement with the film.

“I showed him my work, he showed me his script and we both loved each other’s ideas,” Pete explained. “He asked me to help connect the film with the Irish community in London and from there things just developed.”

Written and directed by Devins, In A Small Town follows main character Brendan O’Rourke, a feared enforcer who has spent years on the wrong side of the law in London. When his estranged son dies, he returns to the small west of Ireland town he left behind to bury him, only to discover the death was no accident.

What follows is a story of revenge, but according to the filmmakers it is also a story about emigration, family and the pull of home.

“This film is about an Irishman who left home for London and has to face what he left behind,” Pete said. “That’s a story plenty of families around Castleblayney and across Monaghan will recognise.”

While filming began in London, Ireland provides the backdrop for much of the movie’s most important scenes. Cast and crew are travelling to the west of Ireland this week for four final days of filming, from Friday 13 to Monday 16 November, with locations including Benbulben mountain, Sligo Town and Mannin Cross, Connemara.

“There’s some incredible locations,” Pete said. “We’re using an old disused railway station in Connemara and some spectacular scenery along the west coast. We’re really trying to capture Ireland on screen.”

The production has relied heavily on support from the Irish community in Britain, with pubs, homes and even vintage vehicles being made available to recreate 1970s Ireland.

“We’ve made it the hard way, on a modest budget, with people from the Irish community in London opening their pubs and homes to us,” Pete said. “Now we’re bringing it home to the west of Ireland to finish it.”

The cast is headed by John Kelly as Brendan O’Rourke and includes well-known British crime-film actor Terry Stone, famous for the Rise of the Footsoldier series, and former heavyweight boxer Big Joe Egan, who famously trained alongside Mike Tyson.

Pete also appears on screen in a small role as a character named Deco Byrne.

“I’m executive producer on this one, but I have a small role at the start of the movie as well,” he said. “My main focus has been helping bring the whole thing together and supporting the production.”

Filming in London is now almost complete and the filmmakers hope to have the movie edited and ready for release by spring, with plans to submit it to international film festivals before securing cinema distribution.

The ambition does not stop there. Pete has already begun writing an as yet unnamed prequel exploring how Brendan O’Rourke first left Ireland for London.

“This film tells one part of Brendan’s story. The next movie will explain why he left Ireland in the first place and how he ended up in London.” Pete will also produce the prequel.

Looking ahead, Pete hopes audiences at home will get behind the project: “It would mean the world to me to have people back home follow the journey,” he said. “I’d love to bring it to a cinema near Castleblayney once it’s done.”