'My hope is that audiences will experience the loving vibrant power of these women and that it truly takes a village to raise a family.' Screenwriter and actor Jimmy Smallhorne introduces his new movie The Miracle Club, a heartfelt story of friendship, family, and forgiveness featuring a powerhouse cast, which opens in Irish cinemas this weekend.
She balanced on a dangerously unstable stool hanging cheap wallpaper while the long ash from a cigarette hanging from the side of her mouth, wobbled in synchronicity with the stool, but never fell off. A pair of knickers on her head to protect her from the freshly painted ceiling she had just done. The cosy stew for ten was quietly brewing as potatoes bubbled company. The smell of fresh ironing competed with the pagan scent of turf burning heat into our hearts. This was our home. My ma and in that wondrous moment in 1971, as I looked at this woman doing so much with so little, the seeds of The Miracle Club were rooted in my mind.
The street I grew up on in Ballyfermot was full of mothers just like my own - the backbone of our security and nurturing growing up in an Ireland of sectarian war, economic depression and church infused fear. In an Ireland where every child was considered a gift from God, women raised families of six, eight, ten and in one case, twenty-two children, on a budget and means that would make the wedding feast of Cana seem like an afternoon tea party.
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Listen: Miracle Club director Thaddeus O'Sullivan talks to RTÉ Arena
At the centre of their lives – the source of their never ending optimism - was their unquenchable faith in their Universal Mother, Mary. In every home she hung in every hallway. At our mothers' command, we placed our fingers in the font of Lourdes water and carried the blessing and safety of Mary and our mothers as we went into the world of trouble and worry.
Even then as a child, I knew what I was witnessing was magical, and as my sister related to me how she laughed when I told her all those years ago, that when I grew up, I would get Bette Davis and Joan Crawford to come to Ireland and play the women on my street. I knew they were stars and only stars could play them.
Many years later, I had the great fortune to work with Joan Allen on a film. We became good friends and when I returned to New York where I had emigrated to, we continued our friendship. It was during our long conversations that I told her about this script I had written which at that time was called Pushers Needed. It was about the remarkable women of my town, but it was also about working class women everywhere and the universal values of family, faith and emotional vibrancy that seemed to evolve no matter where in Ballyfermot, Brooklyn or Brixton.
I had sent the characters to Lourdes, to see could I pull back the layers of motherhood to reveal their individuality before they had committed their lives to raising children. Here in Lourdes, at their sacred bosom, their deep inner pain and loss; left in the regenerative healing power of the Pyrenees melting ice that flows all the way down to the baths of Lourdes.
Joan asked me who I wanted to play the characters. Embarrassed at my own ambition, I said Maggie Smith as she had the grace and wisdom of my mother as my mother grew older. Kathy Bates exemplified the strength of Mrs Furley and Mrs Savage, the two neighbours who had the greatest influence on me. Miraculously, Joan’s agent represented both actors and within days, she had the script in Maggie and Kathy’s hands and an enthusiastic commitment soon followed. With Laura Linney as Chrissie, the character who represents the rebel who follow their own Northern Star, I am honoured and humbled that my dream of having Hollywood actors play my mother’s neighbours has come to pass. It is indeed a miracle.
The project has taken lots of twists, turns and premature dawns but throughout, the dogged determination of producer Josh Maurer had kept the flame alive. Together with an extraordinary team here in Ireland of John Gleeson, Chris Curling and director Thaddeus O’ Sullivan, the film was finally made in the summer of 2022.
My hope is that audiences will experience the loving vibrant power of these women and that it truly takes a village to raise a family.
The Miracle Club is in cinemas nationwide from October 13th
