Pat back in The Limelight: Monahan helps bring comedy feature film to life.
Patrick Monahan | Photo: Ellis O'Brien
A comedy production shelved over a decade ago has finally finished filming thanks to help from a trio of top stand-ups.
Show Me The Funny winner Patrick Monahan, Craig Campbell and Edinburgh Comedy Award winner Phil Nichol have all lent a hand in completing low budget film The Limelight, a story about depression, dead parents, a lost job and a relationship breakdown – all initiated by an aging comic’s desire to be a success in the world of stand-up.
The black comedy, based on Glen Maney’s script ‘The Tears of a Clown’, had initially been sold off in 2001. However the production company involved failed to raise the required funding to make The Limelight a success and the film’s script, and rights, were returned to Maney three years later.
And with the help of fellow comedians Monahan, Campbell, Nichol and Big Fat Gypsy Gangster’s Ricky Grover – as well as encouragement from film-maker friends Paul Anthony Long and Stephen Hammal – Maney decided to take a leap of faith and produce The Limelight himself.
“The very first scenes were shot at the Comedy Cafe in London on the 5th February 2006,” says Maney, who directed the film alongside producer John Robson. “I know a lot of people will be asking, ‘What have we produced after all this time?’ Well, hopefully we’ve made a black comedy that is capable of reaching cult status within the comedy community.”
The film, which premiered at the London Independent Film Festival in April, was shot over a five year period in Glasgow, London and on the Isle of Wight.
Maney added: “We’ve had to film when the funds and the cast were available, and it’s taken five long years for this project to reach a conclusion; but we’re so happy we’ve got it all together in the end.”
The Limelight is on sale now via the film’s official website: thelimelightmovie.com. Watch the extended trailer here:
