RYAN’S DAUGHTER: THE MAKING OF AN IRISH EPIC Book Review — A Beautiful Mess

Posted on by Ryan Davis

It’s a rainy morning in Dingle, Ireland. One very famous Hollywood actor and one rising starlet are standing on a windy, chilly shoreline in their period costumes. They are cold. Still, the hours go by, and the director is nowhere to be found. He’s off scouting a different location, where there might be a spot of brief sunshine, but no one has told the actors. In other words, it’s just another day on the set of Ryan’s Daughter, David Lean’s 1970 romantic epic that was an epic disaster of filmmaking.

RYAN’S DAUGHTER: THE MAKING OF AN IRISH EPIC Book
Photo by Philcomanforterie

This is just one of many of the comically misguided escapades that made up day-to-day life as this film was brought to life, as collected with incredible detail by author Paul Benedict Rowan in his new book. Readers will also hear saucy stories of inter-cast affairs and infidelities, petty grievances, bloated budgets, and days wasted as summer failed to perform on the rainy Irish coast. As explained by Rowan, Ryan’s Daughter was greenlit by Hollywood studios that had no reason to doubt their highly successful director, who was coming off a string of impressive hits like Doctor Zhivago and Lawrence of Arabia. Given essentially carte blanche, David Lean indulged his perfectionism on this miscast story, while his actors impatiently killed time in the Irish countryside and the locals happily cashed their checks.

Fans who enjoy a good making of story will not be disappointed, as Rowan delights with outrageous stories of all-night parties full of drugs and debauchery, with men and women slipping out of each other’s beds at all hours, with the added comic detail of the locals looking on in disbelief.

RYAN’S DAUGHTER: THE MAKING OF AN IRISH EPIC Book
Photo by Bjørn Christian Tørrissen

RYAN’S DAUGHTER: THE MAKING OF AN IRISH EPIC  is Window to Cinema History

But those looking for a bit of schadenfreude may be surprised, as Ryan’s Daughter is not the legendary bomb some may have expected; it has not gone down in cinema history like Heaven’s Gate, Ishtar, or Waterworld have. Indeed, the film was nominated for several Oscars and did decent business at the box office. But its results did not excuse the near yearlong production that went millions over budget, without achieving the artistic success of Lean’s previous work.

Ryan’s Daughter is a window into a world that is almost entirely gone now, and a period in cinema history that bridged the studio epic era with the more progressive “new Hollywood” ushered in by Martin Scorsese and Francis Ford Coppola. No director may ever be given the artistic license that David Lean was granted at the height of his powers and spending some time in that world is a marvel. Even without familiarity with the movie, movie fans with an interest in this era of cinema history are sure to find these wild tales a fun and shocking escape to another time.

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Ryan Davis

About the Author: Ryan Davis

Ryan Davis (@indieartsvoice) is a film publicist and communications professional with over ten years experience in the film industry and arts marketing. She is co-founder and Principal at Smarthouse Creative. Named by Media Inc. as one of Washington State's most influential women in film, TV, and media, Ryan has worked with outlets ranging from CNN and The New York Times, to community newspapers and local radio. She has worked in almost every aspect of the film business--from production and festivals to distribution, exhibition and sales.

Ryan worked for Arab Film Distribution/Typecast Films where she was part of the production and release of the Academy Award-nominated Iraq in Fragments. She has worked for a variety of nonprofit arts groups and organizations, including heading the marketing departments for Northwest Film Forum and Northwest Folklife, and was the assistant director of Couch Fest Films from 2010-2014. Ryan was on the jury for the International Documentary Challenge for 2012-3, and a juror for the 2015 Seattle Shorts Festival. Ryan currently sits on the board of The Grand Cinema in Tacoma, WA.

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