Hollywood stars express love of Ireland, saying ‘I’d just as soon live here’

Stephen Porzio

‘…Especially with what’s going on in our country at the moment. I’m glad I’m here.’

Ed Harris and Jessica Lange were full of praise for Ireland on the red carpet in Dublin last night, with Harris saying: “I’d just as soon live here.”

The pair attended the world premiere of their new movie Long Day’s Journey into Night at the Light House Cinema on Thursday (27 February) as part of the Dublin International Film Festival.

The drama film, based on Eugene O’Neill’s classic play of the same name, was shot in Ireland in 2022.

Given the Irish connection to the movie and the setting of its world premiere, the pair were quick to speak about their love of Ireland.

And for Harris, this fondness for the Emerald Isle stared decades ago, with the four-time Oscar-nominee telling press:

“I think I was working in Paris and I’d always wanted to go to Dingle Bay because I love the movie Ryan’s Daughter so I did. I rented a car and drove on the wrong side of the road. I kept running into brick walls, stopping to have a pint here or there. It was beautiful.

“And then I did a play at the Everyman Theatre in Cork, a few years after that. I took a great horseback ride with my daughter and my wife on the west coast a few years after that.

“I love Ireland, I really do. I’d just as soon live here, especially [with] what’s going on in our country at the moment. I’m glad I’m here.”

When two-time Oscar-winner Lange was asked by JOE about her experience filming Long Day’s Journey into Night in Wicklow, she responded: “I love Ireland so much. And yes to be able to live here for a couple of months and work, it was really a blessing.”

Ed Harris and Jessica Lange in the Ireland-shot Long Day’s Journey into Night

While Harris and Lange’s new movie is set in the United States, it was shot in Wicklow. That said, do not expect to see too much of the county in the film.

On whether audiences will get to witness Wicklow on-screen, Lange replied: “No, not the town of Wicklow, no. The play hasn’t been opened up that much that we go into town, no.”

During JOE’s interview with Harris, he also spoke about his phenomenal career – including appearing in Top Gun: Maverick opposite Tom Cruise.

Asked if there were any movies in his filmmography that he particularly loves and wishes audiences would seek out, he cited his two directorial efforts – Pollock and Appaloosa.

“Everybody should check out Pollack at some point. And Appaloosa, the Western I directed – really good film,” he said.