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LOGLINE

The extraordinary true story of a funny, feisty and courageous woman called Christina Noble who overcomes the harsh difficulties of her childhood in Ireland to discover her destiny on the streets of Saigon.

SYNOPSIS

CHRISTINA NOBLE walks through the streets of Saigon in 1989. She has come halfway across the world on the strength of a dream she had almost 20 years ago. In  a  series  of  flashbacks,  we  see  Christina’s  childhood in the Dublin slums. Her world is shattered at the age of 10 when her mother   dies.   Her   father’s   alcoholism  plunges the family into further poverty and the children are ultimately separated and sent away to industrial schools. She returns to Dublin when she is 16 only to be betrayed by her father and left homeless. She lives rough in the Phoenix Park for a year and struggles to survive. Following an horrific abduction and gang-rape she is unaware that she has become pregnant until she is taken into care at a convent. She is betrayed once more when her baby is given away for adoption without her knowledge. In order to escape the grim memories of her childhood she leaves Ireland and moves to England with a friend. For a couple of years her life improves and she gets married to a Greek Cypriot called Mario with   whom   she   has   three   children.   However,   as  Mario’s behaviour descends into chronic infidelity and abuse, Christina begins to have visions and dreams about Vietnam, a country whose location and history she knows very little about. She escapes her husband to raise her children in the safety of a new life. Then, with her children finally grown, a brave middle-aged woman decides to pursue dream. Her dream takes human form on the streets of Saigon when she encounters two young girls, scraping the dirt for any sustenance they can find. She takes them to her hotel and cares for them like they were her own. The two girls lead her to more and more street-children and her destiny unfolds: she will summon the wit, courage and determination that her own survival skills have bestowed, along with an unabashed zest for life and turn those assets into the powerful tools she will use to serve these children known  as   ‘Bui  Doi’   – the dust beneath your feet. With the help of new-found Vietnamese friends, including Madame Linh, who runs an orphanage, Christina strives to plan and fund projects to look after the children. This is the beginning of The Christina Noble Foundation that has built 80 projects across Vietnam and in Mongolia, helping the lives of more than 700,000 children and allowing Christina to redeem her own childhood.

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ABOUT THE FILMMAKERS STEPHEN BRADLEY (Writer/Director/Producer) Stephen wrote and directed his first film Reaper in 1995, which was selected for the Shorts Competition at the Venice Film Festival. In the same year he co-produced the feature film Guiltrip, which was also selected for Venice. Stephen set up Temple Films with producer Ed Guiney and wrote and directed his first feature Sweety Barrett (1998) starring Brendan Gleeson, Liam Cunningham and Andy Serkis. It was chosen in the Official Selection at Toronto Film Festival and for Official Competition in San Sebastian. His second feature was the comedy-horror Boy Eats Girl (2005), which was distributed worldwide and by Lionsgate in the USA. Stephen has also directed three feature documentaries as well as numerous award-winning television programs and stand-up comedy dvds. He is currently developing three screenplays, including The Unknown Soldier with Golden Globe nominee Cillian Murphy attached and comedy The High Five with Domhnall Gleeson. MELANIE GORE-GRIMES (Producer)

Melanie came up through the ranks, learning the film business through the locations department. As a locations assistant, she worked on such of high-profile films as Braveheart and Michael Collins. She moved up to  locations  manager  on  Stephen  Bradley’s  first  feature Sweety Barrett in 1998, then served in the same position the  following  year  on  Steven  Spielberg’s  Saving Private Ryan. Gore-Grimes moved up to production manager on the feature I Could Read The Sky (2000) before starting a career producing commercials in Dublin, Milan and London. She worked at Ridley Scott Associates for five years, producing for such acclaimed commercial directors as Laurence Dunmore, Sean Ellis, Sean Mullens and Mehdi Norrowzian.

TREVOR FORREST (Cinematographer) Trevor trained as a fine artist, moved to stills photography and then into cinema. As well as becoming established on the film scene Forrest shoots high-end commercials all over the world. He recently filmed the Irish comedy/horror Grabbers directed by his long-time collaborator Jon Wright, which was selected for the Sundance Film Festival in January 2012. A few months later, his next film, Una Noche,  was  selected  for  New  York’s  Tribeca  Festival. Filmed in Cuba with street-children playing various roles, Una Noche won Best Film and Trevor was awarded Best Cinematography. He is presently living and working in New York.

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MAGS ARNOLD (Editor) Mags has just completed her fifth film in a row with director Michael Winterbottom, The King Of Soho staring Steve Coogan and Stephen Fry. Their first collaboration was The Killer Inside Me starring Casey Affleck, Kate Hudson and Jessica Alba. They also worked together on the BAFTA-winning comedy The Trip starring Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon, the 2011 drama Trishna starring  Freida  Pinto  and  last  year’s  Everyday starring Shirley Henderson. Both of the latter were nominees for Best Film at the London Film Festival. Mags began her career as first assistant editor on Stephen Frears’  comedy  hit  High Fidelity and subsequently on Captain  Corelli’s  Mandolin directed by John Madden. Mags has also had a long collaboration with director Marc Evans with whom she worked on such films as Snowcake with Alan Rickman and Sigourney Weaver and the hit horror film My Little Eye. She has also edited the documentaries In Prison My Whole Life which was nominated for the 2008 Sundance Grand Jury Prize and most recently, Mission to Lars. CRISTINA CASALI (Production Designer) Cristina  was  nominated  for  a  BAFTA  in  2009  for  her  work  on  Channel  Four’s  Red Riding.  She  followed  that  by  designing  Armando  Iannucci’s  satire  of  British/American politics In The Loop, which was nominated for an Oscar and won multiple BAFTAS. Cristina also designed The Oxford Murders directed by Alex de la Iglesia, starring Elijah Wood and John Hurt, and more recently I Am Slave directed by Gabriel Range, which was filmed in Kenya. GILES MARTIN (Composer/Music Producer) Giles is the two-time Grammy winning Producer of The  Beatles’  Love  Show in Las Vegas and the subsequent multi-platinum-selling album. He worked as a Music  Supervisor  on  Martin  Scorsese’s  Emmy-winning George Harrison documentary Living In The Material World. Giles has also produced Hayley Westenra 's multi-platinum album Pure, the UK’s  fastest-selling classical album of all time. He is based at Abbey Road Studios  and  most  recently  produced  Paul  McCartney’s  hit  album  NEW, as well as re-mixing  The  Beatles’  film  Hard  Day’s  Night at Twickenham Studios where it was originally shot.

BEN FOSTER (Composer/Arranger) Ben is a composer who has written extensively for Television, most notably the first three seasons of Torchwood for the BBC, which earned him 3 BAFTA nominations for best music. He is also known as an orchestral arranger for Film and Television. Recent credits include films The Grey, Prometheus and 7 consecutive series of Doctor Who for the BBC. As a conductor, he has recorded or performed live with orchestras all over the world including the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, London Symphony Orchestra and BBC National Orchestra of Wales. Recent highlights include a world tour with Peter Gabriel, music for the closing ceremony of the 2012 Olympics for composer David Arnold and new songs for Sir Paul McCartney.

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ABOUT THE PRODUCTION

Noble began production in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam on the 10th of January 2013. For cast and crew it was the beginning of a journey through three decades and three countries: From the   dour   1950’s  Dublin   of  Christina  Noble’s   childhood,   to  Birmingham   in   the   late   1960’s  where she tried to create a new life, to the culture shock that was Vietnam in 1989. For writer-producer-director Stephen Bradley, it was a long awaited moment when five years of research and script writing, location scouting and casting, came together in front of camera. “I first came to Saigon at the beginning of 2011 when I was  writing  the  screenplay,”  he   recalls.   “I made sure to stay out of the touristic places - District One or the business district - to stay close to what Christina experienced when she first arrived.” What the Irish-born filmmaker found was, in some ways, not an entirely alien culture. “It’s  interesting that the people here are very like the Irish: they have a great sense of humour, they like to have fun but are quite serious at the same  time.  They’ve been massively affected by their   history   but   they’ve   got over what they call the ‘American war’ and   they’re all about moving forward economically, socially and thrusting into a new world. All that was fascinating to  me.” Months of scouting locations around Ho Chi Minh City, where half of the filming would take place, presented cinematic riches and challenges. The architecture and environment had been greatly altered since 1989, the year Christina Noble first came to Vietnam. “We began filming at one of my favourite locations - which was one of the few that we had to completely   recreate,”   the   director   recalls. “It was in one of those old style wood-panelled lobbies at a French colonial hotel. All of those hotels have been changed and modernised but our designer Christina Casali did a great job transforming the lobby of the renovated Saigon Grand to more closely resemble one that our protagonist might have walked through the doors of when  she  first  arrived  here  in  1989.”

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It was both a boon and a challenge to begin filming in Vietnam. It was inspirational, as this was where Christina found her calling and her redemption, but it was also a baptism of fire for the production to be shooting in a country where only one other major Western feature, The Quiet American, had been shot in the last twenty years. The producers considered Thailand and Cambodia as back-up locations but they were always committed to Vietnam. “We couldn’t   speak   to   many   other  

producers   who’d   filmed   here so it was hard to get any information,”confirms producer Melanie Gore-Grimes, a longtime friend and associate of Stephen Bradley who brought her into the process two  years  prior  to  production.  “But we were determined to pursue it for the integrity of the script and finally we found a strong local producer, Ngoc Luu of Star Films, who we started working with to  help  us  get  it  done.” It took six months to get official permission to film. Gore-Grimes believes this was granted because  of  Christina’s  reputation  in  the  country. “She’s  achieved  enormous  recognition from the government for  what   she’s   done  here and I think they wanted to   encourage   the   film.” Nonetheless it was challenging on many different levels: working with a multi-national crew, negotiating sets around the hectic streets of Ho Chi Minh City buzzing with thousands of motorbikes, bringing the whole look back to 1989. As Gore-Grimes puts it, “there was some confusion and a little ‘Lost  in  Translation’ here but there was so much good will on behalf of everyone that it all worked out.” For a medium-budget film in a city as chaotic as Ho Chi Minh, the production had to think on their feet and be clever in capturing the city while filtering out more jarring modern realities. For Stephen Bradley and his cinematographer, Trevor Forrest, the key was to bring as much of the energy of the city into the film as possible without compromising the integrity of the story or the period. “Often  we were shooting in real life places that haven’t  been  art directed too much, so the city is giving us a texture and breadth we  couldn’t  otherwise have provided on  our  budget,”  says  Bradley. The production moved from riverside slums to trashed urban apartment blocks; airy cathedrals to bustling markets and night-time street hustle where Bradley found what he needed. “It was a challenge for the art department to bring it all back to 1989, but I hope that the busy streets, the extraordinary energy and culture shock that is Saigon finds its way into the film,”  he   says,   then  adds  with   a  wry   smile. “The only real issues have been control of atmosphere, traffic and situation. And I am happy to say that I have been able to leave most of that to my assistant directors to deal with.” Gore-Grimes recalls daily shoots in the city, “We’d  be trying to place 100 extras in their conical straw hats and old style motorbikes and the occasional period car amongst this chaos. The assistant directors did their best to close the road where they could but there were always strays. Sometimes they took to closing off the road with barrier tape and then there would be people on motorbikes who’d   just   pelt   up  onto the pavements and dash  through  our  sets.  We’d have a wonderful period scene and then one stray

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biker in a helmet would drive through it. “In  some  cases,  they  added  to  the  excitement  of  it  all. More than anything, filming on the streets gave us energy and  colour.” Cinematographer Trevor Forrest was in his element filming in Ho Chi Minh City. It was his feel for the rough streets of Cuba in his award-winning film Una Noche that first brought him to the attention of the producers. “I loved it. There was this atmosphere, the heat, the textures all around you. The main issue was knowing that anything could happen at any time. We were constantly adapting and going with the flow. Vietnam has given us more than we could have  ever  planned  for.” Bradley and Forrest learned the art of being flexible in the face of constantly changing conditions. This was the first time the two had worked together and knew each other solely by reputation. But their vision for the film was an immediate match. “It’s   a scary thing finding a cinematographer because ultimately you are only going to know how you’re going to get on when you’re  in  the  heat  of  the  battle,”  says  Bradley. “We were very well prepared going  into  Vietnam,  we’d  talked  through  the script and Trevor read various versions as I was re-writing.  But  we’ve  discovered  that  we’re  both  able to change our ideas very quickly and adapt to the craziness around us.” At Han Phan market – one  of  Saigon’s  most  frenetic street markets – production had set up a crucial scene where Christina starts to find her way in the city, chatting up the locals and using her humour to transcend cultural barriers. However, the presence of the film crew was causing  a  disturbance  so  it  wasn’t  working.  They retreated behind the walls of a college to re-group and decided it   would   only   work   with   a   skeleton   crew   who’d   shoot   guerrilla style amidst the crowd. Forrest was also able to find a way up to a balcony overlooking the market providing coverage that would have needed 500 extras and lorry loads of props to recreate. Bradley and Forrest agreed early on to shoot on film despite difficulties they might encounter getting the film back to London labs safely. It gave them the opportunity to use different film stocks for each different time period. “For the Vietnam   piece,   we’re   using Kodak 5219, which is the same stock that was used for ‘Argo’,”  Forrest   explains. “It gives this punchy, strong, tele-visual  version  of  the  1980’s  that  brings  you  into  that  decade  immediately.” Designer Christina Casali worked in subtle ways to bring in the more muted atmosphere of 1989. “There is so much modernity in  today’s  Saigon  that we couldn’t  strip  everything  away.   So we took out the colours – the reds and the neon – and that helped a lot. Then we had some huge Eighties propaganda posters that we were able to use as screens to block out modern facades or street traffic. But, really it was all about finding locations where we could use the atmosphere of  the  city  as  much  as  possible.” The art department built the tiny corrugated iron hut where Mister Ban, an early recipient of Noble’s   kindness,   lives   with   his   family   of   six   children   including   his   youngest,   a   severely  

handicapped daughter. “You have to find places  that  give  you  a  little  bit  more,’  says  Casali,   ‘and   that place was perfect – and heart-breaking at the same time. Through the window – or hole in the wall – you can see the oily Saigon river flowing behind you and life carrying on despite everything.” In this important scene, we see the poverty through the eyes of Irish oil magnate Gerry Shaw, played by Brendan Coyle, as Noble

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‘kidnaps’   him   during   his   lunch   break   and   persuades   him   to   come   and   see  what   she   faces  every day. Christina takes Gerry from his glossy office into the ragged shantytown that hugs the banks of the dark river, where he sees the deprivation and hardship of children surviving on the streets. Shooting his scenes in Ho Chi Minh just days before returning to the UK to film a third season of Downton Abbey, Coyle is moved  both   by  Noble’s   story   and  by   the   street   life   in  Vietnam. “Gerry is an amalgamation of different western donors that Christina charmed relentlessly   into   giving   her  money,” explains Coyle. “At   this   point   she’s   pretty   desperate. She’s  at the stage where  she’s  basically  just  handing  out  rice  and  helping  out  a  few  families  so she just drags him along one day and he really gets to see a side of the city that men like that   wouldn’t   have   seen,   don’t   see   and   deliberately   avoid   seeing by living in expatriate enclaves. Shaw is fascinated and impressed by Christina from the moment that she ambushes him outside the exclusive Saigon Members Club and persuades him to listen to her story over a  drink.  She,  as  they  say  in  the  script,  ‘puts  the  Irish  on  him’ which means that she charms him.” “That is something that I can believe having met the real Christina,”  Coyle  continues. “She’s  a force of nature. Relentlessly, month after month after month she was banging on doors trying to raise funds to create a clinic and an accommodation shelter of First World standards in a Third World country just recovering from one of the most brutal wars of the 20th Century.   It’s  phenomenal  what  she’s been able to achieve. When you go to the Foundation and see the children when they first arrive, it can be quite harrowing but then they you see how they develop nutritionally, emotionally,  intellectually,  it’s fantastic. So  it’s  just  this great story that Stephen managed to condense into this brilliantly structured script. It is a great film to be involved  with  on  so  many  levels.” Coyle has known Stephen Bradley since his early days in Dublin and he played opposite Deirdre O’Kane   in   the   popular  TV  comedy Paths to Freedom, so he was part of the Irish family on this film. “I’ve  long wanted to work with Stephen because I am a great admirer of his work but  it  hasn’t  come  together  until  now. As an actor, you start to know pretty quickly what’s a good script,  what’s a great one – and what isn’t.  By  page  four  or  five,  I  knew  this  was  a  great  script:  it’s  full  of  humour,  it’s  full  of  life  and  it’s  a  story  about  the  triumph  of  the  human spirit over adversity. I knew immediately that I wanted to be in it. And, well, being here actually filming in Vietnam… everything has just aligned.” Mark Huberman, who plays another Western businessman in the city who comes across the Noble effect in a rather different way, was also deeply affected by the script, the story and the place. “As an actor you obviously want to work, tell stories, play parts and be different people,”  he  says.  “Then once or twice in your career there’s a story that comes along that is more than just a job, or a part, it’s more than anything. And the incredible thing is that we got to film in Vietnam. It spoils you for other work because the city is the set, the country is the world  that  you’re  in. From the moment you wake up in the  morning  you  are  in  the  story.” Deirdre  O’Kane has been living this story for five years. The Irish comedienne first heard about Christina Noble when she read her book Bridge Across My Sorrows but  it  didn’t  occur to her that the story could be made into a film until she met Christina five years ago when hosting The Tooth Fairy Ball for the Christina  Noble  Children’s  Foundation. “The book is hard   going   and   I   didn’t   think   that   people  would   be   able   to   relate   to   that   kind   of   hardship  happening to one person,”  she  says.  “Then I met her and the penny dropped: she’s feisty and she’s a   fighter   but   she’s   also   funny   as   hell.   I’d   been   looking   for   a   project and I suddenly realised that there was only one person that I wanted to make a film about and that was Christina  Noble.”

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O’Kane went about acquiring the rights to her books and worked closely with her husband Stephen Bradley on developing the script. “For   the   last   two   years   we’ve   talked   about  Christina every single day and slowly, slowly the cogs have fallen into place one by one. We’ve  talked  about  it  constantly so being on set has just been another step, an extension of that conversation. Stephen knows this film in his head from start to finish, shot by shot. He is incredibly meticulous and thorough. He knows  what  he  wants,  what  he  needs.” O’Kane  has  read  the  script countless times, for weeks she had the documentary Mama Tina by  Stephen  Jeffers  playing  on  her  iPod  so  she  woke  up  to  Christina’s  voice  every  morning.  And she came out to Vietnam with Christina for a week to spend time with her on the ground. “We   spent 24 hours a day together here and I sat in on meetings that she had with government officials and visited people in the slums with her. I went from one end of her life to the other because she spends time with both government ministers as well as with street kids.  She’s  a  politician  as  well  as  everything  else.  My  performance  cemented  in  that  week.  I  knew the rhythm of her voice; I knew the changes and intonations. After that week I felt confident that I could  bring  her  to  the  screen.” “We have an amazing shorthand  on   set,”   says  Bradley.   “Deirdre knows  what   I’m   thinking  and can react very fast to that. In Vietnam  she’s  been  in  every  scene  shooting  non-stop for four solid weeks, which is something actors rarely get to do. Usually  it’s  so  piecemeal.  She understands  Christina’s  journey  so  well, instinctively,  because  she’s  been  with  it  for  so  long.” “From   the  moment she puts on her blonde wig, Deirdre becomes this completely different person,”   says   Gore-Grimes.   “To me she was Christina; she sounded like Christina; she thought like Christina. She was so perfect.” At the Saint Francis Xavier Church in Cholon – from where former President Ngo Dinh Diem and his brother were taken before being assassinated in 1963 – Deirdre is in contemplative mood. She is filming a scene where Christina, at her wits end, is appealing to God to lend a hand. “It’s  been  quite  a   journey,”   says  O’Kane. “It was on my 40th birthday when  the  words  ‘The  only  person  I  want  to  make  a  film  about  is  Christina  Noble’  popped  out  of my mouth. Four years later we arrived in Vietnam. I was forty-four – the same age as Christina was when she first arrived.  There’s  been  a  synchronicity  to  it  all  that’s  been  really  special. “My biggest challenge as an actor is serving her story. I want this film to be huge for reasons that for the first time in my life are not selfish. She is a huge person; she has lived this huge life. So for me the challenge is: Can I give it the same energy that she has? Have I got enough in me to serve her story? That’s  it.’

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ABOUT THE CAST DEIRDRE  O’KANE (Christina Noble) Deirdre most recently finished filming the third series of Moone Boy, playing Debra Moone opposite Peter McDonald  and  Chris  O’Dowd  - who also co-wrote the series  for  Steve  Coogan’s  Baby Cow productions and Sky TV. Moone Boy won the International Emmy for Best Comedy in November 2013. One  of  Ireland’s  best  known stand-up  comedians,  O’Kane  hosted  and  co-wrote the 10-part series The Lounge for RTE/BBC. She has also released two DVDs of her stand-up performances through EMI. The multi-talented actress has starred in many Irish television series including the successful Paths To Freedom in  which  she  played  Brendan  Coyle’s  long-suffering wife, Helen. She previously starred in the RTE episodic comedy Fergus's Wedding. Among her feature film credits is the BAFTA-winning Festival for Channel Four as well as Intermission with Cillian Murphy, Colin Farrell and Kelly McDonald. BRENDAN COYLE (Gerry Shaw)

Brendan plays the popular character John Bates in the international television hit Downton Abbey (ITV). Brendan has received EMMY and BAFTA nominations for his role in the series which begins filming its fifth season in spring 2014. Coyle also recently co-starred  in  James  McTeigue’s  thriller The Raven opposite John Cusack and Brendan Gleeson. He has a wide range of award-winning film and television credits and won the New York Theatre World Award for Outstanding Broadway Debut in The Weir. His

first leading role in a film was in the indie drama Ailsa, which was co-produced by Stephen Bradley. Since then, Brendan has  been  featured  in  such  films  as  John  Maybury’s  The Jacket with Adrien Brody, Keira Knightley and Daniel Craig, the action-comedy Perrier’s  Bounty with Cillian Murphy, and the Irish thriller Mapmaker, among others. Additional television credits include co-starring in the BBC series Lark Rise to Candleford and starring in the episodic comedy Starlings. LIAM CUNNINGHAM (Thomas) Liam is currently starring in the multiple EMMY-winning series Game Of Thrones (HBO), which filmed its fourth season in 2013. Cunningham played opposite Michael Fassbender in Hunger directed by Steve McQueen, earning an Irish Film and Television Award and nominations for the British Independent Film  Award  and  London  Film  Critic’s  Award  as  Best  Supporting Actor. He and Fassbender subsequently reunited twice more: in the period drama Centurian, in which Fassbender starred for director Neil Marshall, and again in 2012, in the BAFTA-winning short film Pitch Black Heist, which Liam also executive produced. Liam most recently appeared in Safe House with Denzel Washington and the feature films Ladygrey and Let us Prey both of which are in post-production. The Dublin native took home his first IFTA as Best Supporting Actor in Ken Loach’s  The Wind That Shakes The Barley, which  won  the  Palm  D’Or  at  the  Cannes  Film  Festival.  His many other credits  include  Steven  Spielberg’s  Academy  Award-nominated War Horse, the box office hit Clash of the Titans, the  children’s  favourite  The Little Princess and Irish box-office record holder The Guard. He first worked with Stephen Bradley  in  the  director’s  first feature film, Sweety Barrett. He will next be seen co-starring with John Cusack in the thriller The Numbers Station. On television, Liam co-starred in the Golden Globe award-winning feature RKO 281, the BBC comedy-drama Final Demand, the Hallmark Entertainment adventure Stranded and the BBC crime mini-series Messiah: The Promise. He has also had recurring roles in the series Outcasts and The Clinic.

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RUTH NEGGA (Joan)

Ruth won an Irish Film and Television Award as Best Actress in 2012 for her starring role as singer Shirley Bassey in the BBC television movie Shirley. She is a six-time IFTA nominee, including a nomination last year as Best Supporting Actress in the television series Misfits. Ruth’s   previous IFTA nominations were: Best Leading Actress for the horror feature Isolation, Best Supporting Actress for the movie Breakfast on Pluto, Best Supporting Actress in the television series Secret State, and two nominations in the same year (2011) for the series Love/Hate.

She starred opposite Samuel L. Jackson in the 2012 thriller The Samaritan and featured opposite Brad Pitt in World War Z. She will also soon be seen co-starring  in  John  Ridley’s  All Is By My Side, a biographical drama about young Jimi Hendrix. In 2003, she was nominated for the Laurence Olivier Theatre Award as Most Promising Newcomer for her performance in Duck. In 2006, she was chosen as the Irish Shooting Star for the Berlin Film Festival. She has recently had recurring roles in the television series Secret State for Channel Four and Love/Hate for RTE. Ruth is currently to be seen in Agents of the S.H.I.E.L.D. and is filming The Money, directed by Justin Chadwick. SARAH GREENE (Middle Christina) Sarah trained at the Gaiety School of Acting and immediately found success on the Dublin stage. She won acclaim in a sold-out run at the Abbey National Theatre of Ireland playing the title role in Alice In Funderland in 2012. Straight after filming Noble Sarah played opposite Daniel Radcliffe in the hit West-end stage version of The Cripple of Inishmaan by Martin McDonagh. Sarah played the lead in her first theatrical film, the romantic drama Love And Savagery, before appearing in the 2011 box office hit The Guard opposite Brendan Gleeson and also featuring Liam Cunningham. She has just finished shooting series two of Vikings for the History Channel. GLORIA CRAMER CURTIS (Young Christina)

Gloria makes her motion picture debut in Noble. The eight-year-old has an identical twin sister, Adrianna, with whom she has always enjoyed role-play and ever since they can remember, the girls have been writing scenarios and acting them out. Both girls attend drama classes with Kathryn Coffey, Stage 51, who also serves as their agent. Gloria’s  hobbies  include  singing,  dancing, writing, swimming and drama. She attends St Colmcille’s  Senior  National  School,  Knocklyon,  Ireland, where she is a member of the school choir.

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MARK HUBERMAN (David Somers)

Mark began his acting career while still studying Natural Science at Trinity College Dublin, getting a role in his first ever  film  audition  for  Peter  Sheridan’s  adaptation  of  the  Brendan Behan book Borstal Boy. During filming he flew to London and read for Band of Brothers. Seven auditions later he was offered the part of Lester Hashey and moved to London to film the series for six months. Mark has subsequently worked in film and television projects in both England and Ireland, including the award-winning Irish television series Pure Mule, five seasons on The Clinic and guest-starring appearances in Moone Boy.

His  film  work  has  included  roles  in  the  literary  adaptations  of  James  Joyce’s  Ulysses, Bloom, and John Banville`s The Sea. He  has  also  worked  in  comedy  films  such  as  Stephen  Bradley’s  Boy Eats Girl and  more  recently,  Lenny  Abrahamson’s  Frank. His theatre credits include A View from the Bridge in  Dublin’s  Gate  theatre  and  Over the River and Through the Woods at the Andrews Lane Theatre. NHU QUYNH NGUYEN (Madame Linh) Nhu Quynh made her Western feature film debut in the Academy Award-winning French film Indochine, starring Catherine Deneuve. Her followup feature was the crime drama Cyclo directed by Tran Anh Hung, which won the 1995 Golden Lion Award at the Venice Film Festival. Nhu  Quynh’s  other  international  film  credits  include,  starring  in  Tran  Anh  Hung’s  Vertical Ray of the Sun and co-starring in the Canadian drama The Chinese Botanist’s  Daughter. DAVID MUMENI (Mario Pistolas)

David was born and raised in London. His father is originally from Iran, and his mother the Isle of Wight. He trained as an actor for three years at Drama Centre London and has since worked for Cheek by Jowl and renowned theatre director Declan Donnelan. David has also appeared in TV shows such as Whitechapel, Fresh Meat and Cuckoo, as well as the smash-hit feature The Inbetweeners. As  a  writer  he  was  awarded  a  place  on  the  ‘Write  to  Shine’  program  run  by  Shine  Television  &  The  National Youth Theatre. He went on to write Our Days of Rage at The Old Vic Tunnels, which was a Time

Out Critics Choice selection. Mumeni’s  stage  appearances  include, ‘Tis  Pity  She’s  A  Whore  (Cheek by Jowl/ Barbican & International Tour), 24Hour Plays (Old Vic), Product Placement (Nabokov), La Strada (ENO), Tits/Teeth, Victory Street, Eating Ice Cream on Gaza Beach (all at Soho Theatre/NYT) and TEN (Royal Court).

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Credits

Written & Directed by STEPHEN BRADLEY

Producers

STEPHEN BRADLEY MELANIE GORE-GRIMES

Executive Producer MICHAEL J HUNT

Line Producers

NICK LAWS NGOC LUU

Cinematographer

TREVOR FORREST

Editor MAGS ARNOLD

Composers

BEN FOSTER GILES MARTIN

Production Designer

CRISTINA CASALI

Costume Designer CHARLOTTE WALTER

Casting by

MAUREEN HUGHES

Art Directors REBECCA MILTON KATIE TUXFORD

JOE WITHERS

Production Managers MATTHEW JENKINS

PHUONG TRAN

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CAST

Christina Noble Middle Christina Young Christina

Gerry Shaw Thomas

Joan Madame Linh David Somers

Mario Trung

DEIRDRE  O’KANE SARAH GREENE GLORIA CRAMER CURTIS BRENDAN COYLE LIAM CUNNINGHAM RUTH NEGGA NHU QUYNH NGUYEN MARK HUBERMAN DAVID MUMENI KINH QUOC NGUYEN