Zombies have been roaming the Slieve Bloom mountains – but fear not, they are vegetarian!
Newly-established film company SwanDive Productions recently spent two days in the Glendine woods area of the Slieve Bloom mountains filming Vegetable.
The short film was written by Michéal Fleming who also wrote the script for the highly successful 1916 film Summon her Children, which was also filmed in Laois.
Michéal explained that the idea came about while travelling last year, with his “better half”.
“We were going around Asia and India and decided to stay away from meat and only eat vegetables. We were doing a lot of travelling and 24-hour train journeys and it popped into our heads that we were like zombies, only eating vegetables,” he said.
“The idea came from that but I didn’t get to write anything until a few months later,” he said.
Having filmed his 1916 short in Laois, Michéal was keen to return to his native county for filming. “We wanted to show off what Laois has to offer,” he said.
Photographs by a local photographer from the Swan inspired Michéal to choose a location in the Slieve Blooms.
“The photographs looked really eerie, so it was a perfect location for what I wanted,” he said.
Around 25 crew members and actors were involved in the movie.
“Most of our crew are from Dublin and Cork so they wouldn’t have much knowledge of Laois, apart from Electric Picnic, so it was great to be able to show it off,” Michéal said.
He said the zombies featured in the movie are in an “early stage of transition” and so minimal make-up was used.
He said people will be able to relate to them more.
However, some ladies out walking in the woods did get quite a suprise.
The crew had put up signs alerting people of the shoot, but they came from the opposite side.
“The two ladies heard shouting and growling so they picked up rocks and sticks as they thought there were wild dogs there,” he said.
They ended up having a cup of tea with the crew, after the initial shock.
Editing of the short is now underway in Windmill Lane studios.
Following its release last year, Michéal’s previous short film, Summon her children claimed numerous awards at various film festivals. Its executive producers were Michéal’s father Jim Fleming and Malvina Walsh.
The film has been shown in various countries around the world, including New Zealand, Spain, Australia, England, Nigeria, Belarus, Scotland and India.
Filming took place over four days in The Swan, Killenard, Wolfhill, Stradbally, Timahoe and Abbeyleix. The cast was 30-strong and included former Fair City actor Leah Egan in a starring role.
The short also won prizes at film festivals in Waterford, Minsk and Dublin, as well as being nominated for prizes in Canada.
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