A chronicle of Terri Hooley's life, a record-store owner instrumental in developing Belfast's punk-rock scene.
Good Vibrations (2012) Online
In 1970s Belfast, Terri Hooley is an idealistic rocker who finds himself caught in the middle of Northern Ireland's bitter Troubles. Seeing a parallel in the chaos with Jamaica, Hooley opens a record shop, Good Vibrations, to help bring reggae music to his city to help encourage some harmony. However, Hooley soon discovers a new music genre, punk rock, and is inspired by its youthful vitality to become an important record producer and promoter of the local scene. In doing so, Hooley would struggle both with the industry's realities and his chaotic personal life that threaten to consume him. However, he would also be instrumental in creating an alternative Irish community that would bridge his land's religious and social rivalries with an art no one expected.
Credited cast: | |||
Jodie Whittaker | - | Ruth | |
Liam Cunningham | - | Davy | |
Richard Dormer | - | Terri Hooley | |
Andrew Simpson | - | Getty | |
Killian Scott | - | Ronnie Matthews | |
Adrian Dunbar | - | Andy | |
Kerr Logan | - | Feargal Sharky | |
Dylan Moran | - | Pat | |
David Wilmot | - | Eric | |
Karl Johnson | - | George | |
Niall Cusack | - | Bank Manager | |
Ruth McCabe | - | Mavis | |
Conor MacNeill | - | Schoolboy Executive | |
Ryan McParland | - | Fangs | |
Mark Ryder | - | Greg Cowan |
In the first music recording studio scene in the movie when the actor Richard Dormer playing Terri Hooley manages to get a slot to record the single Big Time by Rudi there is an accordion player in the recording booth in the background. The accordion player is the real Terri Hooley in a cameo appearance.
Irish band Snow Patrol contributed to the film's budget. They also helped with a crucial scene involving 2,000 extras by advertising the directors' need for extras on their website. They said anyone who showed up dressed as punks to their upcoming gig would get in free.
Michael Fassbender, Robert Sheehan, Steve Coogan and Bronagh Gallagher were at various times reported to have been cast in this project.
Writer Glenn Patterson got the idea for the film when he bumped into Terri Hooley in a bar in Belfast and was entranced by the stories he told about his past.
Richard Dormer wore a prosthetic eye without a pinhole so he could see as Terri Hooley sees (Hooley lost an eye as a child).
The directing duo would largely work in separate disciplines: Lisa Barros D'Sa spent more time with the actors while Glenn Leyburn would concentrate on the more technical side of directing.
While Terri Hooley may have been a colorful character on the Belfast punk scene, he was never noted for his business acumen. The only record he backed that was a hit was "Teenage Kicks" by The Undertones - he sold the rights to this song for just £500 (in cash) and a signed photograph of 60s band The Shangri-Las. He never got the photo.
Richard Dormer was in consideration for playing Terri Hooley pretty much from the start of the film's inception.
The decision to film with anamorphic lenses was to partly reflect Terri Hooley's impaired vision and how he sees the world differently from most people.
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