Michael Collins
Directed by	Neil Jordan
Produced by	Stephen Woolley
Written by	Neil Jordan
Starring	Liam Neeson Aidan Quinn Stephen Rea Alan Rickman Julia Roberts Ian Hart Charles Dance Jean Kennedy Smith Jonathan Rhys Meyers Brendan Gleeson
Music by	Elliot Goldenthal
Cinematography	Chris Menges
Distributed by	Geffen Pictures Warner Bros.
Release date(s)	28 August 1996 (premiere at VFF) 8 October 1996 8 October 1996 11 October 1996 25 October 1996 26 December 1996
Running time	128 min
Language	English
Budget	$28,000,000
IMDb profile

Michael Collins a 1996 biopic about Michael Collins, the Irish patriot and revolutionary who died in the Irish Civil War. Liam Neeson stars as the title character. Also starring are Aidan Quinn (Harry Boland); Stephen Rea (Ned Broy); Alan Rickman (Eamon de Valera); Julia Roberts (Kitty Kiernan), Brendan Gleeson (Liam Tobin); Ian Hart and Charles Dance. It was scripted and directed by Neil Jordan. The soundtrack was written by Elliot Goldenthal. The film was an international co-production between companies in Ireland, the UK and the USA. Image File history File links Michael_collins_dvd. ... Neil Jordan is an Academy Award winning Irish filmmaker and novelist. ... Stephen Woolley, born 2 December 1952 in London is a British film producer and director. ... Neil Jordan is an Academy Award winning Irish filmmaker and novelist. ... William John Liam Neeson OBE (born June 7, 1952) is an Academy Award-nominated Northern Irish actor. ... Aidan Quinn (born March 8, 1959 Rockford, Illinois, USA) is an Irish-American actor. ... Stephen Rea (born October 31, 1946) is an Irish actor. ... Alan Sidney Patrick Rickman (born February 21, 1946) is an acclaimed, award-winning English film, television and stage actor. ... Julia Fiona Roberts (born October 28, 1967) is an American film actress and former fashion model. ... Ian Hart (born 8 October 1964) is an English actor. ... Charles Dance OBE (born October 10, 1946 in Redditch, Worcestershire) is an English actor. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ... Gleeson as Professor Mad-Eye Moody in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. ... Elliot Goldenthal, born on May 2, 1954, in Brooklyn, New York City, is an American composer of contemporary music and has written works for concert hall, theater, dance and film. ... Chris Menges (born September 15, 1940 in Kingston, Herefordshire) is an English cinematographer and film director. ... David Geffen (born February 21, 1943) is an American music producer and gay record executive. ... “WB” redirects here. ... Image File history File links Flag_of_Italy. ... is the 240th day of the year (241st in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1996 (MCMXCVI) was a leap year starting on Monday (link will display full 1996 Gregorian calendar). ... The Venice Film Festival ( ) is the oldest film festival in the world. ... Image File history File links Flag_of_Ireland. ... is the 281st day of the year (282nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1996 (MCMXCVI) was a leap year starting on Monday (link will display full 1996 Gregorian calendar). ... Image File history File links Flag_of_the_United_Kingdom. ... is the 281st day of the year (282nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1996 (MCMXCVI) was a leap year starting on Monday (link will display full 1996 Gregorian calendar). ... Image File history File links This is a lossless scalable vector image. ... is the 284th day of the year (285th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1996 (MCMXCVI) was a leap year starting on Monday (link will display full 1996 Gregorian calendar). ... Image File history File links This is a lossless scalable vector image. ... is the 298th day of the year (299th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1996 (MCMXCVI) was a leap year starting on Monday (link will display full 1996 Gregorian calendar). ... Image File history File links This is a lossless scalable vector image. ... is the 360th day of the year (361st in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1996 (MCMXCVI) was a leap year starting on Monday (link will display full 1996 Gregorian calendar). ... The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ... Year 1996 (MCMXCVI) was a leap year starting on Monday (link will display full 1996 Gregorian calendar). ... A biographical film or biopic is a film about a particular person or group of people, based on events that actually happened. ... Michael John (Mick) Collins (Irish: ; 16 October 1890 – 22 August 1922) was an Irish revolutionary leader, Minister for Finance in the Irish Republic, Director of Intelligence for the IRA, and member of the Irish delegation during the Anglo-Irish Treaty negotiations, both as Chairman of the Provisional Government and Commander... Defence of the fatherland is a commonplace of patriotism: The statue in the courtyard of École polytechnique, Paris, commemorating the students involvement in defending France against the 1814 invasion of the Coalition. ... Revolutionary, when used as a noun, is a person who either advocates or actively engages in some kind of revolution. ... The Irish Civil War (June 28, 1922 – May 24, 1923) was a conflict between supporters and opponents of the Anglo-Irish Treaty of December 6, 1921, which established the Irish Free State, precursor of todays Republic of Ireland. ... William John Liam Neeson OBE (born June 7, 1952) is an Academy Award-nominated Northern Irish actor. ... Aidan Quinn (born March 8, 1959 Rockford, Illinois, USA) is an Irish-American actor. ... Harry Boland Harry Boland (1887–1922) was an Irish nationalist of the early Twentieth Century. ... Stephen Rea (born October 31, 1946) is an Irish actor. ... Colonel Eamon Broy[1] (or Edward Broy, often called Ned Broy) (1887-1972)[2] was successively a member of the Irish Republican Army (IRA), the Irish Army, and the Garda Síochána of the Irish Free State. ... Alan Sidney Patrick Rickman (born February 21, 1946) is an acclaimed, award-winning English film, television and stage actor. ... Eamon de Valera (born Edward George de Valera, sometimes Gaelicised Éamon de Bhailéara; October 14, 1882 – August 29, 1975), was an Irish politician, best known as a leader of Irelands struggle for independence from the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland in the early 20th century, and... Julia Fiona Roberts (born October 28, 1967) is an American film actress and former fashion model. ... Kitty Kiernan Kitty Kiernan (1892-1945) was an Irish woman who was the fianceé of assassinated Irish revolutionary leader and Chairman of the Provisional Government Michael Collins. ... Gleeson as Professor Mad-Eye Moody in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. ... Liam Tobin at the funeral of Michael Collins in 1922 Major General Liam Tobin (born c1894) was an officer in the Irish Army. ... Ian Hart (born 8 October 1964) is an English actor. ... Charles Dance OBE (born October 10, 1946 in Redditch, Worcestershire) is an English actor. ... Neil Jordan is an Academy Award winning Irish filmmaker and novelist. ... Elliot Goldenthal, born on May 2, 1954, in Brooklyn, New York City, is an American composer of contemporary music and has written works for concert hall, theater, dance and film. ... In filmmaking, an international co-production is a film made by production companies from different countries. ...

In Ireland, the film was extremely successful, becoming the second most successful movie in Irish box-office history and the most successful Irish-made film of all time.^{[citation needed]} The film received generally positive reviews, but was criticized for its historical inaccuracies.^{[citation needed]}

With a budget estimated at between $35 to $40 million, receiving 10% to 12% of its budget from the Irish Film Board, the film was one of the most expensive films ever produced in Ireland. While still filming, the breakdown of the IRA ceasefire caused the film's release to be delayed from June to December which caused Warner Brothers executive Rob Friedman to pressure the director to reshoot the ending which focused on the love story between Collins and Kiernan in an attempt to downplay the breakdown of Anglo-Irish Treaty negotions.

Historical inaccuracies

Although based on historical events, the film contains numerous alterations and fictionalizations:

• In the scene in which Dáil Éireann is meeting in secret, Collins is referred to as the Minister for Intelligence. In fact, he was the Dáil Minister for Finance and the Director of Intelligence for the IRA; the roles had no formal link, and neither position had control over the other.
• Harry Boland did not die in the manner suggested by the film. His last words in the film - "Have they got Mick Collins yet?" - are however, based on a well-known tradition.
• In the film, Collins heads the delegation to London that negotiates the Anglo-Irish Treaty; in reality, it was led by Arthur Griffith, with Collins as his deputy.
• The character of Edward "Ned" Broy of the Dublin Metropolitan Police is a composite of many different police officers. The real Broy was a member of G Division, an intelligence branch of the Dublin Metropolitan Police, based not in Dublin Castle - as in the film - but in Marlborough Street. Michael Collins' main agent in Dublin Castle was David Neligan. Like Broy, he too survived the conflict and later headed the Irish Special Branch.
• In the film, Broy is murdered by the British after his arrest in Vaughan's hotel; in fact, Broy survived the Irish War of Independence and the Civil War, becoming Commissioner of the Garda Síochána a decade later, and living till old age.
• In the film Collins is told that Frank Thornton was shot in West Cork, a week before his own trip to Cork. Thornton however was wounded in an ambush outside Clonmel County Tipperary, a day before Collins himself was killed.
• In the film, Collins is shot and killed when he travels to Cork in order to meet Éamon de Valera, who, the film implies, bore some responsibility for his death, given that the assassin had been with de Valera that day. In fact, there is no clear evidence for this, despite de Valera's presence in the area the night before Collins' assassination. The film's treatment of de Valera was criticised by his supporters as unfair.^{[citation needed]}The film is ambiguous, only showing the assassin asking De Valera if he has a message for Collins, it then cuts to the assassin returning to meet Collins and telling him where De Valera will meet him the next day.
• The film depicts a carload of hardline northern unionist detectives sent to "deal" with Collins and the IRA being blown up in Dublin Castle. In fact, no killings of police took place in Dublin Castle and car-bombs were unknown at the time. Some commentators have contended that the filmmakers were trying to draw a connection between the Irish War of Independence and the later Troubles, when car-bombs were common.
• In the movie, the surrender at the end of the Easter Rising appears to take place outside the General Post Office in Dublin, whereas it actually took place on Moore Street.
• Collins says "I would have followed him through hell..." in reference to De Valera; in reality, he was referring to James Connolly, comparing him to Pádraig Pearse:

"Of Pearse and Connolly I admire the latter most. Connolly was a realist, Pearse the direct opposite . . . I would have followed him [Connolly] through hell had such action been necessary. But I honestly doubt very much if I would have followed Pearse — not without some thought anyway." ^[1]

• A statement in the film that the Irish Free State was formed at the beginning of 1922, following the Dáil's approval of the Treaty, has since appeared as fact on various websites,^{[citation needed]} even though the Irish Free State did not come into being until December 1922.

Neil Jordan defended his film by saying that it could not provide an entirely accurate account of events, given that it was a two-hour film that had to be understandable to an international audience who would not know the minutiae of Irish history.^{[citation needed]} His critics, however, alleged that the scale of the fiction introduced, the use of real names for 'composite characters' who, like Broy, did not die as suggested, and in particular the misrepresentation of de Valera, the manner of Collins' death, and the introduction of the car bomb, undermined the film's trustworthiness.^{[citation needed]} This article is about the current Irish body. ... Intelligence (abbreviated or ) is the process and the result of gathering information and analyzing it to answer questions or obtain advance warnings needed to plan for the future. ... The Minister for Finance is the senior minister at the Department of Finance (An Roinn Airgeadais) in the Irish Government. ... This article is about the historical army of the Irish Republic (1919–1922) which fought in the Irish War of Independence 1919–21, and the Irish Civil War 1922–23. ... Harry Boland Harry Boland (1887–1922) was an Irish nationalist of the early Twentieth Century. ... This article is about the capital of England and the United Kingdom. ... Signature page of the Anglo-Irish Treaty The Anglo-Irish Treaty, officially called the Articles of Agreement for a Treaty Between Great Britain and Ireland, was a treaty between the Government of the United Kingdom and representatives of the extra-judicial Irish Republic that concluded the Irish War of Independence. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Colonel Eamon Broy[1] (or Edward Broy, often called Ned Broy) (1887-1972)[2] was successively a member of the Irish Republican Army (IRA), the Irish Army, and the Garda Síochána of the Irish Free State. ... The Dublin Metropolitan Police was formed in 1836, after twenty years of attempts to create an effective policing force in Ireland Rural policing in Ireland began when Chief Secretary for Ireland, Robert Peel created the Peace Preservation Force in 1816. ... David Neligan (Born 1899, Died 1983), known by his soubriquet The Spy in the Castle, was an important figure involved in the Irish War of Independence 1919-1921, and subsequently became first Director of Intelligence for the National Army during the Irish Civil War (June 28, 1922 – May 24, 1923... An Irish War of Independence memorial in Dublin The Anglo-Irish War (also known as the Irish War of Independence) was a guerrilla campaign mounted against the British government in Ireland by the Irish Republican Army under the proclaimed legitimacy of the First Dáil, the extra-legal Irish parliament... The Irish Civil War (June 28, 1922 – May 24, 1923) was a conflict between supporters and opponents of the Anglo-Irish Treaty of December 6, 1921, which established the Irish Free State, precursor of todays Republic of Ireland. ... Garda Síochána na hÉireann (pronounced ; Irish for Peace Guard of Ireland, often rendered[1] as The Guardians of the Peace of Ireland) is the police force of the Republic of Ireland. ... Statistics Province: Munster County Town: Cork Code: C (CK proposed) Area: 7,457 km² Population (2006) 480,909 (including City of Cork); 361,766 (without Cork City) Website: www. ... Éamon de Valera (born with the name Edward George de Valera, IPA: [1][2]) (14 October 1882 – 29 August 1975) was one of the dominant political figures in 20th century Ireland. ... In the context of Irish politics, Unionists are people in Northern Ireland, who wish to see the continuation of the Act of Union 1800, as amended by the Government of Ireland Act 1920, under which Northern Ireland, created in that latter Act, remains part of the United Kingdom of Great... Dublin Castle. ... Combatants Irish Republic United Kingdom Commanders Michael Collins Richard Mulcahy Cathal Brugha Important local IRA leaders Henry Hugh Tudor Strength Irish Republican Army c. ... The Troubles is a term used to describe two periods of violence in Ireland during the twentieth century. ... Combatants Irish Volunteers, Irish Citizen Army, Irish Republican Brotherhood British Army Royal Irish Constabulary Commanders Patrick Pearse, James Connolly Brigadier-General Lowe General Sir John Maxwell Strength 1250 in Dublin, c. ... The term General Post Office is or has been used by a number of postal and telecommunications governmental administrations worldwide, including: United Kingdom until 1969, see Post Office UK. After 1981 see Royal Mail for a continuing history of the British Post Office. ... Dublin city centre at night WGS-84 (GPS) Coordinates: , Statistics Province: Leinster County: Dáil Éireann: Dublin Central, Dublin North Central, Dublin North East, Dublin North West, Dublin South Central, Dublin South East European Parliament: Dublin Dialling Code: +353 1 Postal District(s): D1-24, D6W Area: 114. ... James Connolly (Irish: ; June 5, 1868 – May 12, 1916) was an Irish socialist leader. ... Patrick Pearse Patrick Henry Pearse (known as Pádraig Pearse or by his Irish name Pádraig Anraí Mac Piarais) (November 10, 1879 – May 3, 1916) was a teacher, poet, writer and political activist who led the Irish Easter Rising in 1916. ... Territory of the Irish Free State Capital Dublin Language(s) Irish, English Government Constitutional monarchy Monarch  - 1922–1936 George V  - 1936–1936 George VI President of the Executive Council  - 1922–1932 W.T. Cosgrave  - 1932–1937 Eamon de Valera Legislature Oireachtas  - Upper house Seanad Éireann  - Lower house Dáil Éireann... Neil Jordan is an Academy Award winning Irish filmmaker and novelist. ... The History of Ireland began with the first known human settlement in Ireland around 8000 BC, when hunter-gatherers arrived from Britain and continental Europe, probably via a land bridge. ... For other uses, see Car bomb (disambiguation). ...

A documentary on the DVD release of the film discusses its fictional aspects.

Soundtrack

The score was written by acclaimed composer Elliot Goldenthal. Elliot Goldenthals score for Michael Collins, nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Dramatic Score, is at once sweeping and epic and, as with previous collaberations with Neil Jordan, fits the film comfortably. ... Elliot Goldenthal, born on May 2, 1954, in Brooklyn, New York City, is an American composer of contemporary music and has written works for concert hall, theater, dance and film. ...

Ratings

The Irish Film Censor initially intended to give the film an over-15 Certificate, but later decided that it should be released with a PG certificate because of its historical importance. The censor issued a press statement defending his decision, claiming the film was a landmark in Irish cinema and that "because of the subject matter, parents should have the option of making their own decision as to whether their children should see the film or not".^{[citation needed]} The video release was, however, given a 12 certificate. Although the Republic of Ireland does not currently exercise much (almost none) censorship in practice, the state has wide-ranging laws which allow censorship, and has specific laws covering films, advertisements, newspapers and magazines, as well as terrorism and pornography. ...

References

1. ^ Collins to Kevin O'Brien, Frongoch, 6 October 1916, quoted in Tim Pat Coogan, Michael Collins, Hutchinson, 1990.

is the 279th day of the year (280th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ...

External links

• Michael Collins at the Internet Movie Database
• Michael Collins, official website at Warner Brothers