17 May, 2006
Cannes, May 16th, 2006 – After five weeks of filming on location in Belfast, Northern Ireland, production on Richard Attenborough’s Closing the Ring has shifted to Toronto, Canada, where filming will continue through June 13. “We enjoyed a very successful shoot in Belfast,” says Attenborough. “The local actors and crews were exceptionally talented and hard-working, and the people of Belfast welcomed us with open hearts. It’s always an extraordinary opportunity for a filmmaker to be able to film in locations rich with history and culture and Belfast did not disappoint. We were sorry to say goodbye, but look forward to continuing our adventure in Toronto.”
Closing the Ring is an epic love story that spans two continents and half a century and tells the story of an American woman who honors a wartime promise of love with a lifetime of heartache until the discovery of a gold ring reawakens her.
In 1941, in Branagan, Michigan, Ethel Ann Roberts captures the hearts of three friends, Teddy Gordon, Jack Etty and Chuck Harris, all young airmen. But Ethel Ann only has eyes for Teddy. Their romance is full of passion, and dreams for the future, until the Japanese attack Pearl Harbor and Branagan’s boys are called to war. After a secret wedding, Teddy leaves with Ethel’s ring, her promise of eternal love – and a pact with Chuck that he will take care of Ethel if Teddy doesn’t make it back.
Two years later, Teddy’s B-17 Bomber crashes into Belfast’s Black Mountain. Ethel buries her pain, marries Chuck and lives with her heartache. When Chuck dies in 1991, a rift grows between Ethel and her daughter, Marie, who knew nothing of her mother’s past. Only Jack, whose love for Ethel has never waned, knows the secret she carries in her heart. And when a young Northern Irish boy in Belfast unearths a gold ring inscribed with Ethel and Teddy’s names, the discovery finally brings Ethel’s past crashing down around her. Marie discovers the truth about her mother’s past, and Jack makes one last attempt to heal the pain of a lifetime. Now Ethel must travel to Northern Ireland – either to end her life, or to begin it again. Closing the Ring stars Oscar®-winner Shirley MacLaine (In Her Shoes, Terms of Endearment), Christopher Plummer (A Beautiful Mind, The Insider), Mischa Barton (television’s The O.C.), Oscar®-nominee Pete Postlethwaite (The Constant Gardener, In the Name of the Father), Oscar®-winner Brenda Fricker (My Left Foot, The Field), and is directed by Oscar®-winner Richard Attenborough (Gandhi), from a screenplay by Peter Woodward.
The film features a supporting cast that includes Neve Campbell (The Company, Scream), Gregory Smith (television’s Everwood), David Alpay (Ararat), Ian McElhinney (The Boxer, Hamlet), and newcomers Stephen Amell, Martin McCann, and Allan Hawco. Closing the Ring is produced by Richard Attenborough and Jo Gilbert (Brylcreem Boys) with co-producer Martin Katz (Hotel Rwanda). The film is a co-production between Closing the Ring Productions and Prospero Pictures with Scion Films, is supported by the National Lottery through the UK Film Council’s Premiere Fund and is a presentation of the Northern Ireland Film and Television Commission in association with ContentFilm International. Bank of Ireland is providing production financing.
The film’s behind-the-scenes team includes long-time Attenborough collaborators cinematographer Roger Pratt and editor Lesley Walker, whose previous outings with Attenborough include Shadowlands and Cry Freedom. The production designer is Tom McCullagh (Mickybo & Me) and the costume designer is Hazel Webb-Crozier (Mickybo & Me).
