Monday, September 27, 2010

Donal Gilligan RIP

Just the other day I passed a sign for 'Gilligan's' on the roadside on the way home from Roscommon town. I thought of Donal and made a mental note to ask him if he had Roscommon roots the next time I ran into him. It turns out that he had those roots, but it was shocking to learn it from an obituary for a man so young.

I recall Donal almost exactly 21 years ago, helmet on, puttering around on his bike - was it a Honda 50 or a Yamaha? - as we got ready to shoot The School Bus.

It was a paying gig which, in the days before funded schemes and the restitution of the IFB, was pretty unusual on a short film. The shoot was fraught for a variety of reasons, all of them usual enough on a short film.

1989. The country lanes around Roundwood. The Norseman. It seems like several lifetimes ago now. Rest in peace, Donal.

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