Writer | Producer | Director
JIM SHERIDAN
Jim’s films have been nominated for
16 Academy Awards, 14 Golden Globes,
3 WGA's, 8 BAFTA's, 3 Berlinale, and 8 IFTA Awards
IFTA LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD
FILMOGRAPHY
Year Title
1989 My Left Foot
1990 The Field
1992 Into the West
1993 In the Name of the Father
1995 Three Moons
1996 Some Mother’s Son
1997 The Boxer
1999 Agnes Browne
2002 In America
2005 Get Rich or Die Tryin’
2009 Brothers
2011 Dream House
2016 The Secret Scripture
2017 11th Hour
2018 Shelter Me
2021 Murder at the Cottage
2023 Peter O'Toole, Along the Sky Road to Aqaba
2023 North Star
2024 Re-Creation
2024 I Am A Man
2024 Lockerbie
2025 Dusty
JIM'S CAREER HIGHLIGHTS SHOWREEL
BEHIND THE SCENES IMAGES FROM JIM'S CAREER
JIM SHERIDAN'S CAREER HIGHLIGHTS SHOWREEL
LATEST NEWS & PROJECTS FROM JIM
DUSTY THE MOVIE, A JIM SHERIDAN FILM.
Soul Singing Sensation, Magnificent 60s Icon & Trailblazer Social Activist.
Dusty Springfield – her music and extraordinary life, is finally getting its first motion picture outing with support from Screen Ireland, inspired by the star’s largely unknown Irish heritage.
Six times Oscar nominee Jim Sheridan has been signed up to direct the untold and moving story of Dusty Springfield, the 1960’s soul-singer and aims to bring her life and music to a new generation. The iconic singing sensation, born Mary O’Brien from Irish immigrant stock in London, came out as gay in 1972, was kicked out of South Africa in 1965 for refusing to sing in front of a segregated audience, and fought for dozens of other causes while embracing the ‘Swinging 60s’ and struggling with her own demons.
The acclaimed star who spent most of her adult life in the UK and the US, died in 1999 and had her ashes cast off the dramatic Cliffs of Moher, on the West Coast of Ireland.
Titled ‘Dusty’, the film tracks the journey taken by the young Mary O’Brien – from her shy and timid persona with a hauntingly unique singing voice - into her triumphant alter ego, Dusty Springfield. Secretly gay, Mary, lived her life trapped in agonising silence before overcoming her convent school, Irish Catholic background, to transform herself into a daring alter ego - Dusty Springfield. Her silky, and sensual voice went on to define the sound of the sixties, with songs such as ‘I Only Want to Be with You’….’Son Of A Preacher Man’….’You Don’t Have To Say You Love Me’.
Jim Sheridan tracks the highlights and low-lights of her life and interweaves her fight for sexual equality and social justice with the loves and struggles of her own existence - from her love affair with Motown music - to her first meaningful relationship with a black female backing singer in New York.
Sheridan is excited about getting inside the remarkable transition from the shy, shamed Mary O’Brien, into the dazzling gay icon that Dusty became.
He said: ‘Suffering for her challenges, fighting other people’s causes, she endured mental agony before finally reconciling herself and her sexuality in harmony with her music and her audience. In the end, Dusty reconnects with the real Mary O’Brien and is happy to do so and that is the essence of the story we are keen to capture’.
It is familiar territory for Sheridan who directed the 2005 cult favourite ‘Get Rich or Die Tryin’ (Paramount) with ‘Curtis ’50 Cent’ Jackson based loosely on his 2002 album of the same name.
‘I am tremendously excited to be part of the project and to take on the challenge of telling the story and revelling in the music of an extraordinary woman and singing sensation. She wore every cause on her sleeves and fought against racism, promoted gender equality and gay pride at great cost to her personal and professional life. Her life and her music are built for a biopic of this type and her Irish background and life among the Irish diaspora of London really appeals to me and it is a world that I know very well. She was a remarkable woman, decades ahead of her time’.
Sheridan is sharing the writing credit with young British writer, Sameera Steward who had been working on an adaptation of the acclaimed biography of the star by Karen Bartlett; Dusty Springfield ‘An Intimate Portrait of a Music Legend’ for UK producers, Bob Blagden and Tony Virgo (Little by Little). The Irish production company Dare Films Ireland, which worked with Sheridan on a recent Sky Documentaries project ‘Murder at the Cottage’, are the lead producers and have been supported with early development funding from Screen Ireland.
The film is expected to go into full production in early 2025. Sheridan is currently in discussions with a number of actors for the coveted role of Dusty. ‘It is a remarkable opportunity and an unforgettable role. Naturally, we are keen to get the right actor to play this exciting and complex part’ Sheridan said.
JIM SHERIDAN TO CO-DIRECT ‘RE-CREATION’ ABOUT THE UNSOLVED MURDER OF SOPHIE TOSCAN DU PLANTIER
Tina O’Reilly of Hell’s Kitchen Ltd (Ireland) and Fabrizio Maltese of Joli Rideau Media Sarl (Luxembourg) are pleased to announce the start of principal photography of Re-creation, the new hybrid docu-drama by famed six-time Academy Award nominee Jim Sheridan together with writer and director David Merriman.
Re-creation concerns the unsolved Sophie Toscan du Plantier murder case which occurred in West Cork in Ireland on 23rd December 1996. Jim Sheridan previously directed a hugely successful five-part series for Sky Crime called Murder at the Cottage: The Search for Justice for Sophie,which was broadcast in 2021.
Sheridan now returns with David Merriman to the case with a fresh angle which is far from a simple true crime story, with a totally cinematic and authorial approach. The documentary parts of Re-creation will be shot in Ireland, France and US, whereas the drama will be shot on a sound stage in Luxembourg. The production, supported by Screen Ireland, Film Fund Luxembourg and Eurimages will be made available for theatrical release in spring 2024.
Re-creation will strive to uncover the truth behind one of the most famous murders in Irish history. Sophie Toscan du Plantier was a successful TV and film producer and together with her husband, the very famous and influential film producer Daniel Toscan du Plantier, they were the darlings of the French film scene in the 1990s. On December 20th 1996, Sophie was on a solo trip to her holiday home in Ireland. It was here that her life came to a bloody, brutal end on December 23rd. After several weeks of investigations without tangible results or leads, and despite no evidence, a local man, Ian Bailey, was accused of Sophie’s murder. From that moment, whether intentionally or not, a narrative was created.
Using fiction to question reality, Jim becomes the protagonist in front of the camera and is accompanied by the character of Sophie. The two will accompany the viewer through the complex details of the case, debunking the official versions and convenient truths, revealing new clues that could potentially change the course of the case.
“Call it obsession. Call it anger. Call it justice. Call it what you want,” Sheridan says. “I am still on a quest for Sophie.”
Jim Sheridan is renowned in the film world for directing three critically acclaimed films set in Ireland, My Left Foot (1989), The Field (1990), and In the Name of the Father (1993), and directing the films The Boxer (1997), In America (2003), and Brothers (2009). As well as six Academy Award nominations, Sheridan has been nominated for awards from the Golden Globes, Writers’ Guild of America, BAFTA, National Board of Review, and received the Lifetime Achievement Award in 2015 from The Independent Spirit Awards.
David Merriman is a director, writer and editor from Dublin, Ireland. He directed the award-winning documentary The State Of Being Human in 2014 and the documentary concert film Rock Against Homelessness for Virgin Media in 2020. With a strong background in the music industry as a recording artist, he has made music videos and worked with artists including Glen Hansard, Aslan, Tolo Makay, Gilbert O’Sullivan and The Pillow Queens.
David says, “Directing Jim Sheridan is like being on a wild rollercoaster ride; his imagination is boundless and he definitely keeps you on the edge of your seat. But it is the most rewarding of creative experiences and I look forward to where this journey takes us.”
2024 will mark 28 years since Sophie’s brutal murder, which remains one of the most compelling unsolved crimes in Ireland’s history. Hopefully with Re-creation, we will get closer to the truth of what happened that night in West Cork.
JIM SHERIDAN AND ANDREW TROY TO CO-DIRECT LONG ANTICIPATED “STANDING BEAR” FILM
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Film highlights Ponca Chief Standing Bear’s legacy
Filmmakers Jim Sheridan and Andrew Troy have inked a deal to co-direct, write, and produce the long anticipated historical drama feature film I Am a Man: The True Story of Chief Standing Bear. With formal Resolutions of Support from the Ponca Tribe, the film will depict the Ponca’s “trail of tears” march that led to the 1879 landmark trial of Standing Bear vs. the United States of America. This mostly unknown legal case helped all Native Americans to be considered “human beings” also setting legal precedent for many future civil rights matters within the U.S. courts.
Sheridan is an Irish playwright and director whose films including My Left Foot, In the Name of the Father and In America have achieved popular and critical acclaim throughout the world. His films have garnered sixteen Oscar nominations and have won two Academy Awards as well as numerous prestigious international awards. Troy is a Hollywood based producer and director who has spent the past decade developing the project also gaining the support of U.S. & State Officials and Native Americans alike who are enthusiastic about the telling of Standing Bear’s legacy. Troy (Salinger), who recently directed the upcoming independent feature Midnight in the Orange Grove which he co-wrote with American Psycho writer Guinevere Turner is also a recent AMPAS Nicholl’s semi- finalist.
“Standing Bear has been completely left out of our school text books. Traveling the country, I learned that even Native people are unfamiliar with his name and the impact he had on their lives. Chief Standing Bear’s story needs to be told.”, added Andrew Troy.
Notably, with Troy in attendance in 2019, leaders of the U.S. Congress hosted a bi-partisan unveiling ceremony of a new Chief Standing Bear Statue placed in the U.S. Capitol in Washington D.C. thus making Standing Bear the first-ever Native person to be inducted into Statuary Hall. More recently, the Nebraska Legislature passed a bill providing a one-time five-million-dollar grant to the production. The film is also a recipient of production incentives from the Cherokee Nation Film Office, the CNFO being the first Native American film office to open in U.S. history. Screen Ireland has also provided development incentives.
“I’m delighted to be working with Andrew on this wonderful project.”, added Jim Sheridan
The film will be jointly produced by Troy’s banner Troy Entertainment and Sheridan’s Ireland based Hell’s Kitchen Limited along with producers Luca Matrundola (Tell It Like A Woman, Waiting for the Barbarians, Muti) and longtime Anonymous Content executive Paul Green (The Revenant, Passion of the Christ, The Fifth Estate). Executive Producers are Warren Anzalone, Bart Daly and former Nebraska Senators Colby Coash and Burke Harr. Casting Director is Rene Haynes who recently cast Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon, the hit Amazon series The English, and Prey the Native American themed prequel to the Predator franchise.
Peter O'Toole, Along the Sky Road To Aqaba
Coming Soon feature documentary about legendary actor Peter O’Toole who brought a touch of danger to his art and a stroke of madness to his life yet inspired a generation of movie makers.
Reflecting O’Toole's theatrical legacy, this film is structured into four acts each introduced by a quote about O’Toole that encapsulates his life during a specific period.
Each act expands into a holistic narrative addressing questions such as his self-belief, his alcoholism, his relationships with women, his belief in socialism and his selective embrace of Irishness.
While O’Toole's words (gleaned from hundreds of hours of archival interviews) act as a narrator of his own journey, Jim Sheridan further explores the story through interviews with O’Toole’s family, artists, actors and directors that knew him well.
Streaming Now On
Streaming Now On
Michael Hogan, The Telegraph
Some of Britain's greatest actors gather to celebrate O'Toole – known for films including Lawrence Of Arabia – in this nuanced documentary.
This was an absorbing profile of one of our greatest actors and an archetypal hellraiser.
“Director Jim Sheridan’s documentary painted a fond but nuanced portrait of a flawed genius.."
Addie Morfoot, Variety
The revered Irish director, known for narrative films including “My Left Foot” and “In the Name of the Father,” interviewed colleagues and family about the “Lawrence of Arabia” star for “Peter O’Toole: Along the Sky Road to Aqaba.”
They range from Kenneth Branagh, Brian Cox, Anthony Hopkins, Derek Jacobi and Stephen Fry to ex-wife Siân Phillips and daughter Kate O’Toole. Each interview helps shed light on the actor’s complicated yet brilliant life and career.
Noel Murray, Los Angeles Times
“Along the Sky Road to Aqaba” similarly mixes clips with in-depth interviews in profiling O’Toole.
Sheridan leans heavily on comments from the wave of U.K. actors who arrived right after Harris and O’Toole — including Anthony Hopkins, Brian Cox, Derek Jacobi and Brian Blessed. “Along the Sky Road to Aqaba” also features rare and thrilling footage from O’Toole’s stage work, where much of his reputation was made.
Jim Sheridan will write & direct biopic North Star with original songs from U2
Jim will direct his long time passion project North Star in 2023 alongside Executive Producers, Tim Bogart & Jessica Martins of Hero Artists following their success with Spinning Gold. The film will be produced by James Flynn's Metropolitan Films.
Jim's biopic drama is set in 1960s Dublin,Ireland, North Star is the coming-of-age story of 17-year-old Sheamie Sheridan who lives with his rough-around-the-edges father and younger brother Frankie. A journey into the heart and soul of a family, Sheamie finds his world turned upside down when a teenage orphan moves in to live with them, revealing the deeper and more complicated problems Sheamie has with his dad; secrets that now threaten to tear the family apart. In the tradition of Jim Sheridan’s deeply emotional exploration of family from his work on “My Left Foot” to “In The Name Of The Father”, “The Boxer”, and “In America”, Sheridan takes us right into the heart that beats at the center of us all.
U2’s front man Bono and lead guitarist The Edge are in discussions to compose the music for the film, including the title song “North Star.” Bono & Jim have previously collaborated on award-winning music for many films, including the theme song of the film In America and the song ‘Winter’ in the film Brothers.
Sky & Peacock Behind Miniseries About Notorious Lockerbie Disaster; Oscar-Nominated Jim And Kirsten Sheridan To Write
Sky and Peacock are behind a drama based on the notorious 1988 Lockerbie disaster from Academy Award-nominated writers Jim Sheridan and Kirsten Sheridan, Deadline can reveal.
Airing next year, Lockerbie will be based on the search for justice by Dr Jim Swire and his wife Jane who lost their daughter Flora in the air disaster, which killed all 259 passengers and crew on board when it exploded over Lockerbie, Scotland, 38 minutes after take off. A further 11 residents lost their lives when the plane came down.
Swire led a campaign for truth and justice and went on a journey that included meeting Libya’s Colonel Gaddafi and successive British Prime Ministers before Libyan national Abdelbaset al-Megrahi was convicted 13 years later. He was released on compassionate grounds in 2009. The series is based on Swire and Peter Biddulph’s book about thee disaster.
The five-parter comes from UCP, Sky Studios and Universal International Studios’ Carnival Films, and represents a big-budget bet for Sky and Comcast-owned NBC streamer Peacock. Sky has tended to co-produce limited series such as Chernobyl with HBO and this show will air on Peacock solely in the U.S., with NBCUniversal Global Distribution handling international sales.
“The Pan Am Flight 103 disaster was one of the world’s deadliest terror attacks that continues to have widespread implications for the meaning of justice in the U.S., Scotland and Libya,” said Jim Sheridan and Kirsten Sheridan. “Over 30 years on, this series takes an intimate and very personal look at the aftermath.”
The Sheridans were both Academy Award-nominated for 2002 Paddy Considine-starring feature In America and Jim Sheridan has also picked up nods for Daniel Day Lewis double In The Name of the Father and My Left Foot.
The pair are writing all episodes of Lockerbie, with Naomi Sheridan guest-writing one. Nigel Marchant and Gareth Neame are Executive Producers for Carnival, with Samantha Hoyle Executive Producing for Sky Studios. Oskar Slingerland also serves as Executive Producer. The series was commissioned by Gabriel Silver, Director of Commissioning for Drama at Sky Studios and Zai Bennett, Managing Director of Content at Sky UK.
Murder at the Cottage
Two days before Christmas in 1996, Sophie Toscan du Plantier was brutally murdered at her holiday cottage in Schull, West Cork. The murder rocked the quiet Irish town and 24 years later, the case remains a mystery. This series sees six-time Oscar-nominated filmmaker, Jim Sheridan, piece together original evidence, never-before-seen footage, and interviews with those closest to the case to try to make sense of what really happened.
All episodes streaming now on
Now streaming in North America on
Mike Hale, The New York Times
"But guilt is not the central question in “Murder at the Cottage,” which fills the requirements of the true-crime documentary without being captive to the format. It is, in the descriptive sense, a work of art, written and directed by the gifted Irish filmmaker Jim Sheridan."
John Anderson, The Wall Street Journal
"Mr. Sheridan displays not just a thirst for abstract truth, and a journalistic doggedness. He expresses a profound regret that someone who was a guest in his country should have been so brutally slain.
Also, like the detective in the classic noir “Laura,” he might be slightly in love with the victim, whom he knows only through her picture."
Rachel Cooke, The New Statesman
"Sky’s Murder at the Cottage is an extraordinary piece of true crime”
“it’s quite extraordinary: if he gives us both mystery and tragedy, this is also televisual psycho-geography”
“Having seen the whole thing, it’s hard to believe Sheridan’s series could be bettered.”
