New filmThe Banshees of Inisherin is already garnering rave reviews, including The Independent’s own five-star write-up calling it “a beautiful work to behold”.
Seeing the trailer and production shots, featuring sweeping emerald landscapes, craggy coastline and stone-built cottages under glowering skies, many viewers are wondering where this Irish tale was captured.
If you’re googling “Inisherin”, however, you’ll be disappointed – the titular location is a fictional island director Martin McDonagh envisaged off the west coast of Ireland.
But the island of Ireland did provide the rural backdrop for the film, which stars Brendan Gleeson and Colin Farrell as two lifelong friends who fall out, and is in cinemas now.
Writer and director McDonagh – best known for In Bruges andThree Billboard Outside Ebbing, Missouri – selected atmospheric and wild stretches of islands off the west coast of Ireland for the story.
Here’s everything you need to know if you feel inspired to visit the real-life backdrops yourself.
Where was The Banshees of Inisherin filmed?
The movie was filmed partly in Inishmore, one of the Aran Islands off the west coast of Ireland, near Galway, and partly in Achill Island near Mulranny in County Mayo.
Inishmore is the largest of the Aran Islands, which can be reached by a 40-minute ferry from Rossaveal in County Galway, or a 90-minute seasonal ferry from Doolin, a gateway to Ireland’s picturesque Cliffs of Moher as well as the Arans.
The Aran isles’ population of around 1,200 people primarily speak Irish, and Inishmore itself is inextricably linked with Ireland’s folklore and mythology. They’re famous for their distinctive “Aran sweaters”, a cable-knit style of jumper traditional to the area.
Achill Island, further north, is the largest of the Irish isles and is accessible by road from coastal Co. Mayo via the Michael Davitt Bridge.
As well as having some of Ireland’s best beaches, Achill was shortlisted as one of the five best places to holiday in Ireland by the Irish Times.
Which exact locations does the movie feature?
On Inishmore, the prehistoric hill fort of Dun Aonghasa provides one backdrop for the film. Meanwhile, the cottage that Colin Farrell’s character shares with his sister (played by Kerry Condon) was built especially for the film in the island’s town of Gort Na gCapall.
Production designer Martin Tildesley told Conde Nast Traveler: “Martin basically chose the view that he wanted, so that if he shot through the open door it would have this very particular framing of the sea. We went to the coastline and took a few steps back and there was the view that he wanted.”
On Achill, the famously beautiful Keem Bay or Keem Strand, a beach that had made many of the ‘world’s best beaches’ lists, features in one scene.
Tildesley told CNT: “The idea was that they would be on this beautiful beach overlooking a vast and misty body of water, but that mainland Ireland really wasn’t that far away.”
The mountainous landscape on the island provides the scenery for certain scenes. A fisherman’s cottage on the island was converted into Colm’s (Brendan Gleeson) cottage, with a bright yellow and red interior adding character.
Tildesley told reporters that the production team made every effort to use local craftspeople and builders on the various constructed bits of set.
Does the J.J. Devine Pub actually exist?
Sadly, no. Much of the action in the film centres around the fictional J.J. Devine Pub, which was built and dismantled as a set especially for the production on Achill Island.
