Ireland has long been home to many major Hollywood productions, but an upcoming comedy series goes a little meta, turning the focus on the chaos that ensues when an actual big-budget Hollywood TV show comes to a small Irish town.
“Small Town Big Story,” from Sky Studios and Playground, was written and directed by Chris O’Dowd and stars Christina Hendricks and Paddy Considine.
The six-part series — due to premiere in the U.K. and Ireland next year and now heading to Mipcom — is set in the fictional town of Drumbán, a rural village of misfits on the border of Ireland. But when a major Hollywood film rolls into town, it throws the spotlight on a secret that’s been kept hidden since the eve of the millennium.
Hendricks stars as a local girl done good as a hot-shot TV producer, while Considine is the pillar of the town’s community. As the show gears up to be shopped to international buyers in Cannes, Variety can reveal that O’Dowd also has a cameo role. Meanwhile, other new casting additions including “The Wire” and “Da 5 Bloods” star Clarke Peters and “Us” star Tim Heidecker, who also featured alongside O’Dowd on “Bridesmaids.”
Speaking to Variety, O’Dowd discusses how “Small Town Big Story” is the “cultural cousin” of “Moone Boy,” the Irish sitcom he created that ran from 2012-2015, and the joy of reuniting with same team on and off the camera.
What was the inspiration for this show, and was it so you could poke fun at both Hollywood and Ireland in one go?
There was certainly a truth to that, but maybe it was more about examining my own relationship with both places. I wrote this in the utter fucking pits of lockdown, which is why I think it took an almost cosmic turn and became something quite out of your head. I was in lockdown in Canada, where we were shooting another movie, when the opportunity to write something came along. It’s the only time I’ve ever felt in my life where I wasn’t really in control. I was just struggling to keep awake to write down all of these thoughts flowing through me. It was great craic.
And how did you get Christina Hendricks on board? Was this the first time you’d worked with her?
This was the first time I’d worked with her, but I was a huge fan. Myself and my wife were big, big “Mad Men” fans. We were casting this and she had popped into my head as somebody who would be great, but I thought, well, we’ll never get her, and I don’t know her. And then I was on a job somewhere, and I was talking to my wife on the phone, and she said, “You’ll never believe who was in the kitchen this morning.” It was Christina Hendricks. They had this fashion connection. And so we ended up having a dinner, and I pitched her the show.
Christina Hendricks on the set of “Small Town Big Story”
Bernard Walsh
And you shot it in your hometown of Boyle, right?
Yeah, we shot some of it in Boyle, but we shot most of it in Wicklow, south of Dublin, because so many of the crew live there.
You also shot “Moone Boy” in Boyle. That was about an imaginative child and this is about someone who has made a success of themselves in the entertainment industy. Is this sort of like a spiritual successor to “Moone Boy”?
I think they certainly feel like cultural cousins. And I think that the comedic style in both is slightly similar. This show is more grown up. But we’ve even got the guy who plays Moone Boy — David Rawle — in this show, playing Paddy Considine’s son. He’s such a lovely fella. But it is interesting, I suppose, because it brings me to “Moone Boy” all of the time when I’m watching it, because he’s so much the face of that. It’s also got so many of the same people involved. It was cool to see all of these people who were very young when we were making “Moone Boy.” Back then, we all seemed to be in our 30s, and they’re all now in our 40s after 10 years of doing big American projects. And they’re fucking incredible — the most talented crew I’ve ever worked with.
I understand the big news is that you’re also starring in this, or at least have a cameo role?
That’s exciting news for everybody! I play Jack E. McCarthy, who is the writer of “I Am Celt,” the fictional show at the center of the story.
Paddy Considine in “Small Town Big Story”
So, just to confirm, this is a story about someone from Ireland who became a bit of a big deal in Hollywood, and returns to their hometown. You wrote and directed it and you’re playing the writer. And you shot it in your hometown. Can you get any more meta?
Ha! Definitely there were moments where I feel I could actually lean into that much further. Also with David there as well, it feels like we’re playing very much with the changing sands of identity. And that’s a huge theme in the show.
