Interview: James McArdle & Darren Thornton on Their Touching, Heartwarming New Film Four Mothers

After its world premiere at the BFI London Film Festival in October 2024, Four Mothers is coming out in UK cinemas on the 4th of April 2025. The film is a charming comedy with some especially emotional moments that make it both a hilarious and heartwarming product in the same beat.

Four Mothers is an Irish comedy film co-written and directed by Darren Thornton. The film is an English-language adaptation of a 2008 Italian film called Mid-August Lunch. In this newest adaptation set in Ireland, the film follows Edward (James McArdle), a talented but struggling novelist, who is caring for his mother, Alma (Fionnula Flanagan) while also trying to pursue his career as an author. When his friends decide to leave the country, he is forced to take care of their mothers too and finds himself with four elderly women who struggle to get along. As the eccentric group goes on a chaotic trip to Dublin over the weekend, Edward will have to make important decisions both for his personal and professional life.

In this interview, Darren Thornton and James McArdle talked about the film and their collaboration. They also discussed how they worked on creating the perfect balance between the humour of the movie and the more emotional moments that we see on the screen, a lot of which ended up relying on both the scriptwriting and the casting, which proved to be a lot more challenging than Thornton had initially imagined. The director also explained how he was inspired to work on this film by the original Italian but also by his own experience.

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Check out our full interview:

Four Mothers is in UK cinemas on April 4th.

About the Author

Clotilde Chinnici

Author

Clotilde’s love for film began at a very young age with the Disney cartoons she would watch over and over. However, her passion for films truly sparked with franchises like Hunger Games and Harry Potter. After graduating with a BA in Film from King’s College London, Clotilde started working in film production and entertainment journalism while developing a deeper understanding of film movements and trends. Although most of her time is occupied by watching films, writing and talking about them to anyone who will listen, Clotilde enjoys reading and baking in her free time.

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