Trivia / Michael Collins

• Dawson Casting: Liam Neeson was in his forties playing Michael Collins from his late twenties to early thirties.
• Distanced from Current Events: During filming, the IRA ceasefire ended when a bomb was exploded in London's Canary Wharf. As a result, the ending was re-shot to focus more on the love story between Michael Collins and Kitty Kiernan - and downplay the breakdown of Anglo-Irish Treaty negotiations.
• Fake Irish:
  • American Julia Roberts as Kitty Kiernan, British Ian Hart as Joe O'Reilly, American Aidan Quinn as Harry Boland. Though Quinn could be considered a subversion as although he was born and raised in Chicago, his parents are both from Ireland, making him a dual citizen, and he spent parts of his childhood in Dublin and Offaly.
  • Alan Rickman as Éamon De Valera is a curious case. He was half-Irish, half-Spanish and born in New York City. Word of God even said that the character was better played by a non-Irish actor to get a more rounded performance.
  • Liam Neeson is also Northern Irish, playing the Cork native Michael Collins.
• Production Posse: Neil Jordan regular Stephen Rea - who he worked with in The Company of Wolves, The Crying Game, and Interview with the Vampire - plays Ned Broy. Ian Hart plays Joe O'Reilly, the first of many collaborations with Neil Jordan (The Butcher Boy, The End of The Affair, Breakfast on Pluto).
• Real-Life Relative: Aengus O'Malley, great-grandnephew of the real Michael Collins, plays a student in the scene at Marsh library.
• Same Content, Different Rating: Due to the film's historical significance, the Irish film board gave the film a PG rating despite its violent content. The video release was given a 12 rating (the UK/Irish equivalent to PG-13).
• Saved from Development Hell: The film had been tossed around since The '60s, with Richard Harris expressing interest in playing Michael Collins in a biopic. Robert Redford was also briefly inspired to do the film in The '80s and went to Dublin to research for it. Kevin Costner had likewise been interested.
• What Could Have Been:
  • Michael Cimino was attached to direct the film for a while, and Gabriel Byrne was his choice for the lead.
  • Mary-Louise Parker was on the verge of signing on to play Kitty when Neil Jordan heard that Julia Roberts was interested in the role.
  • The film was going to be released with a 15 rating in Ireland. But the censors decided to release it with a PG, despite the violence, for its historical significance.

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