INTERVIEW: Director Brendan Muldowney takes a ‘Pilgrimage’ in 13th-century Ireland

Pilgrimage, the new film from director Brendan Muldowney, follows a group of monks as they carry a special relic across Ireland in 1203. The historical action film is set amidst dangerous times and tribal warfare, which make the monks’ journey anything but pleasant. The film, which is now playing in theaters, on VOD and Digital HD, stars Tom Holland (Spider-Man: Homecoming), Jon Bernthal (The Walking Dead) and Richard Armitage (Captain America: The First Avenger).

“Well, myself and the producer knew the writer, [Jamie Hannigan],” Muldowney said of the project’s early stages. “We knew him for a long time actually. The producer used to live with him, and so we just used to chat. He came to me one day, and he kind of pitched [the story], which was monks traveling across 13th-century Ireland, dragging a relic. And he said there was going to be an ambush, and it hooked me immediately from that. I thought it was incredibly original. I thought it was something that we’ve never shown in Irish cinema before. I thought the locations would be amazing. I liked the idea of the action, and I love themes of religion and existence. So the whole package that he pitched, we kind of just went for immediately.”

Muldowney and company developed the project for five years through many different drafts. This extended time period allowed the creative team to become even better filmmakers, which, in the director’s mind, served the project well.

The casting was quite fortuitous. Bernthal and Armitage were bonafide figures in Hollywood, and Holland’s star was on the rise. Now, after a year of impressive movies and television shows highlighting this trio’s work, Pilgrimage finds itself with an even bigger all-star cast.

“We had a great casting director, Dan Robert, and he put together books from all the agencies,” Muldowney said. “I went through them, and the first one we really focused on was The Novice. I watched Tom Holland in The Impossible and How I Live Now, and I thought he was brilliant. … This is well before he was Spider-Man.”

He added: “Jon Bernthal and Richard Armitage loved the script. They obviously were given it to read. And they came back, and they said, ‘We’d like to be in it.’ … They came, and they were like decent human beings that got really stuck into the job. It was fantastic.”

Hannigan, the writer of Pilgrimage, conducted a lot of research about the time period and its religiosity. Muldowney called him a “very methodical worker” that made the filmmaking much easier. Hannigan even gave Muldowney a list of books to read to reacquaint himself with the 13th century.

“Very early on I decided that authenticity was going to be the keyword for how I would deal with every department,” the director said. “If production design came to me and said, ‘What?’ I’d say, ‘Authenticity.’ I want it dirty and gritty, so that went into the cinematography. And I felt like a social realist handheld feel was going to be the way to do this. I also felt that there was no point competing with the bigger shows out there like Game of Thrones or even bigger films. They have the money, the time, with cranes and stuff. At one stage, I said, ‘I don’t want any tracks. I don’t want any drones, helicopters. I want it to feel like it’s from the 13th century.’ … I was going to try and make it as low key as possible.”

There were also financial realities. Muldowney said they could have used three or four times the budget, but they made the production work with the resources they were given. The dedication paid off, and Muldowney has clear evidence of this. His assistant director went on to shoot an episode of Game of Thrones.

“It was Battle of the Bastards, which is probably one of the best battle sequences I’ve ever seen,” Muldowney said. “He had three weeks to shoot that battle sequence. We had three days to shoot our ambush, so it really shows you the difficulty. But add into that a low budget and a very tight time schedule that you’ve got, and horses, four languages, stunts, fight choreography, and the Irish weather. There were so many things that are always against you, yet when people pull together, that’s when you can work and find the solution to any problem.”

By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com

Pilgrimage, from RLJ Entertainment, is now playing in theaters, on VOD and Digital HD. Brendan Muldowney directs the film, which stars Tom Holland, Richard Armitage and Jon Bernthal.