Pixie director Barnaby Thompson and writer Preston Thompson on their Irish spaghetti western

What started as a germ of an idea from a road trip around Ireland reaches cinemas this Friday in the form of comedy/thriller Pixie.

The story, which starts off with a drugs heist in the Irish border country but soon escalates into something more complicated – and with revenge running through it like a stick of rock – was the brainchild of writer Preston Thompson. Although, talking to The Peoples Movies’ Freda Cooper, he recalls that his initial pitch didn’t go down that well with his dad, film director Barnaby. Not that he was deterred and, after writing a script, he showed it to his dad, who immediately changed his mind.

The film takes its influences from a number of sources, from westerns – Barnaby’s favourite western is Butch Cassidy And The Sundance Kid – to the perennial humour of TV’s Father Ted. Out of a cast which mixes familiar faces with new talent, one of the stand-out turns comes from Alec Baldwin who plays a drug dealing priest, a role that he signed up for without even seeing the script. Over a drink at a party, he was instantly sold on the idea of playing a deadly gangster priest – and the result is a scene stealing performance.

Pixie is released in cinemas on Friday, 23 October. Read our review of the film here.

About the Author

Freda Cooper

Editor

Freda is a Senior Writer at The People's Movies. A lifelong movie fan and a film critic for over ten years, Freda’s natural habitat is the darkened rooms frequented by fellow cineastes. She can also be found asking questions of some of the biggest names in the business – from Cate Blanchett to Daniel Craig or Mike Leigh to Pete Docter – or crafting reviews for a number of sites and publications, including The People’s Movies. And listeners to BBC Local Radio can catch her views on the latest releases. She always – and probably always will – cite The Third Man as her favourite film of all time. Her top ten? That’s a moveable feast …..

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