The way first-time screenwriter Paul Pender tells it, Evelyn was a movie waiting to be made.

"The origin of the film was my meeting the real Evelyn in a hotel in Edinburgh during the film festival there. In amongst all the British accents I heard her Irish brogue telling the story of her father. I overheard a bit, then asked her to tell me the rest, and within three minutes of her talking to me, the hair was standing up on the back of my neck: I was thinking that it would make a great film- a classic story of David and Goliath."

According to Paul, sitting there in an Edinburgh hotel, he immediately thought of Pierce Brosnan as perfect casting for the father. "I know it sounds kind of corny, but Evelyn showed me a picture of her father and he kind of looked like Pierce and I said so. I'm sure she thought was out of my mind, but that's what started it all."

Wanting to cast an actor of the stature and experience of Pierce Brosnan may not be atypical of a screenwriter's aspirations, but it is an ambitious goal for a first-time screenwriter living in Scotland. Sometime later, however, Paul interned as a reader at MGM. "I was reading all these scripts that were being sent in and I found them all so boring and uninteresting. I like films which are funny and uplifting and say something interesting about the human condition."

Pender believed that he had written such a film in Evelyn. Determined to get the script to Brosnan - Paul discovered that Pierce's production outfit- Irish DreamTime-had an office on the floor above where he was working. He dropped it off.

"It all starts with the script", says acclaimed director Bruce Beresford. And with a critical and commercial reputation built on insightful character-driven cinema, he should know. 'Pierce sent me the script some time ago and I thought it was something I'd like to make. It's a touching story about a father trying to get his children back, but the thing I really liked was that it was all done with a lot of humour. So many films about social issues and the like are so heavy, so worthy, that they're actually hard to watch."

It was this aspect of the script, which had spurred Pierce and his partner at Irish DreamTime, Beau St Clair into action. 'I liked it at once because it touched me, it moved me, it made me laugh', recalls Beau. Pierce continues, 'The story has a jauntiness to it which makes it not only touching but also something a lot of people will enjoy', adding, 'We've all seen gloomy films about the fifties but this is really very hopeful, very optimistic about the future, which I think is timely."

The basis of Evelyn is a true story, revolving around a groundbreaking Irish 1953 court case in which Desmond Doyle brought the Minister of Education to court to challenge the contention that he was unfit to bring up his children following desertion by his wife. "It has the foundation of storytelling from another era," says Pierce, pointing to the film's resemblance to classics of American cinema by filmmakers like Ford and Capra. For Paul Pender the task of the screenwriter when confronted with an inspiring 'true story' is to search for its essence and find the drama. "I think the film is best described as a fable inspired by true events: the writer has to take the emotional truth of events and turn them into a story which audiences will get involved with and respond to.'"Expanding the point", Paul says, "we worked hard creating the right dialogue and deciding what to add and subtract from the story in order to serve it more effectively. It's a love story and the story of one man against the system."

"I had no idea when we decided to go ahead and make the film, who, apart from me, would be in it, but once we had Bruce on board this really terrific cast came together and not just for the principal roles but across the board," recalls Pierce. The actor, a native of Co Meath, Ireland, worked with Bruce Beresford a decade earlier on Mr Johnson (winner of a Silver Bear at the 1991 Berlin Film Festival), and had been looking for an opportunity to rekindle the experience since. He says of the director, "his cinematic sensibilities are razor sharp-he knows how to tell a story with economy and eloquence and above all, great humanity."

Like Pierce, Julianna Margulies had worked before with Bruce Beresford-on Paradise Road- and similarly, was delighted to join the cast under his direction. "He can keep the whole film in his head and yet pay great attention to each detail of the moment." She adds that one of the attractions of working with the director is that "as an actor he gives you great freedom to explore the character because he has such a grasp of the story". Best known to TV viewers worldwide for her six-yr portrayal of Nurse Carol Hathaway in the Emmy award-winning NBC series ER, Julianna was excited to be involved with a film set in a very different milieu to that of a Chicago hospital.

"After playing the same character for six years, it's great to get out and challenge yourself as an actress." She says that she immediately liked the character of Bernadette when she first read the script. "For a woman of the 1950s she's feisty and ahead of her time: not married, training to be a chemist and taking the bull by the horns.'" She says that this combination of era and attitude were crucial to her preparations for the role. "If you look at the films of the 1950s, women were very feminine which I've tried to incorporate into the character as well as her strength. Her courage and her sense of purpose are really what inspire Desmond to give up drink and pursue the case through the courts."

Adopting an Irish accent was not as difficult as she thought it might be. "I grew up in England, says Julianna, 'So I already have an ear for this side of the Atlantic, although accents here are so much more Americanised today than they would have been 50 years ago-because of TV and movies-so it's no use listening to the way people talk!"

Aidan Quinn had no trouble at all with his accent, playing the role of Irish-American lawyer Nick-at first rival to Desmond for Bernadetle's charms and later the man who decides to take on his case. "He's based on a real character, like Desmond, and by a happy coincidence his story is not so different from my own in that he's spent time living between Ireland and the U.S." Describing Nick, Aidan says, "He sticks out a bit in 1950s Ireland in his flash suits and his ways, but he knows the culture, because it's his culture and that's kind of how I feel when I come here."

Aidan's parents left Ireland in the 1950s-the period in which the film is set-and he himself lived in Ireland on two occasions during his childhood. "They left during that very difficult decade and I have pictures of them here in Dublin from that time, wearing clothes very like the ones we're wearing in the film, which is poignant," he says.

Like other members of the Evelyn unit, Aidan feels that the film offers a return to what he describes as 'old fashioned values.' "It's a great story of a man going against the big odds of the church and state and finally being justified," he says. "I'm very tired of a lot of the movies that get made and what's amazing is that audiences don't like them either and neither do critics yet they still do well at the box office." He feels that much of the credit for getting Evelyn into production must go to Pierce. "He has a lot of power and influence as the actor who plays James Bond and he uses it. I wish more people who were in his position used that power to make interesting movies."

Pierce Brosnan is aware of the opportunities that the enormous success of his stint as Bond has brought. "Beau and I formed Irish DreamTime to make movies that interested us-they don't necessarily have to be Irish, but they have to get us excited. This movie fit the bill exactly." He continues, "Evelyn works on a number of levels. It's a love story between a father and his children. It's also a love story between Desmond and Bernadette. It's a David and Goliath story. And it's about a guy who becomes a man. So I think it's an entertaining story as well as one which has something to say for itself."

Does it have any similarities with his own experiences growing up in Ireland? "Well, yes and no," says Pierce. "I don't know what it was like to grow up in Dublin in the 1950's, but I know what it's like to be from a broken home, to be Irish, to be a father, to have to make hard decisions."

The actor/producer admits that he has enjoyed enormously playing the character of Desmond. 'Of course, it's a great plus to play a character who displays such a variety of emotion on screen- I tend to get a bit buttonholed as a suave and sophisticated sort of chap. Beau St Clair believes that Pierce's performance ranks amongst the best in his career. "It's the most heartfelt performance I've ever seen Pierce give-Bruce creates a very trusting atmosphere on set and I think it's allowed Pierce to really enter into this character in a very vulnerable way. People will be surprised by the performance because it works so much against the persona that they expect. Once in a while you feel that an actor inhabits a role rather than plays it and Pierce inhabits the role of Desmond."

One of the challenges and pleasures for Pierce was working with children in central roles. "As an actor you have to be very prepared when working with children," he says, "Because you can't keep going again and again, taking time to warm up. Especially with emotional scenes."

He admits that he was anxious at first about this aspect of the production. "I was worried about the children but Bruce alleviated my fears-he's so giving with child actors and he has wonderful patience. And Sophie (Vavasseur, who plays Desmond's daughter Evelyn) is proving herself to be a wonderful young actress."

"It's been great working with the children," adds the director. "But we had quite a job finding them. John Hubbard-the casting director-must have seen about a thousand girls initially for Evelyn and we whittled it down slowly over lots and lots of auditions until we found Sophie."

The dramatic highpoint of the film takes place during the courtroom scenes, where Desmond must state his case for custody of Evelyn and her brothers. In developing these scenes Paul Pender went back to the original court transcripts and was able to draw on his own legal training to add drama. "I graduated in Law from Glasgow University and I was also president of the Law Society where I had to make speeches and debate, so I honed those skills there. I really enjoyed writing the courtroom exchanges-the only 'proper' job I ever wanted was to be a lawyer. The humour in the speeches came from my own pained reading of cases where you'd think you understand what was going on only to find it completely reversed by a 'however.' Bruce understands the dramatic power of the legal set-piece having filmed what must be the longest one in feature films-50 minutes of debate in Breaker Morant."

For such a scene to work, Beresford says, "I think that the drama as a whole has to be intrinsically interesting-otherwise there's no point in having it. You have to have something that the audience wants to happen and yet the evidence is swaying them one way, then another. I think that Paul has written that wonderfully here."

Bruce Beresford concludes, "I try to only film stories that I'm interested in. Evelyn really appeals to me because I think an audience can become really involved in the drama of a story like this. The fact that it's true, only adds to the involvement."

about the filmmakers

director bruce beresford
Bruce Beresford was born in Australia and graduated from Sydney University in 1962. He also served as Film Officer for the British Film Institute Production Board from 1966 -1971 and as a Film Advisor to the Arts Council of Great Britain. He has one of the highest reputations enjoyed by any director working in cinema today, thanks to a talent for versatile and engaging storytelling and a natural gift with actors. In 1975, his film Don's Party won Beresford the Best Director Award from the Australian Film Institute. His next film The Getting of Wisdom was selected for Director's Fortnight at the 1977 Cannes Film Festival. In 1980 he was nominated for an Academy Award for his screenplay Breaker Morant. The film was also selected for competition at the Cannes Film Festival and won eleven Australian Film Institute Awards including Best Director and Best Screenplay. In 1982, Beresford received his second Academy Award nomination, as Best Director for Tender Mercies starring Robert Duvall. The film won Academy Awards for Best Actor and Best Original Screenplay. It was also selected for competition at the Cannes Film Festival. The Fringe Dwellers, written and directed by Beresford and produced by Sue Milliken, was selected for competition at the 1986 Cannes Film Festival and won the Australian Film Institute Award for Best Screenplay. In 1987, Beresford's Crimes of the Heart was nominated for three Academy Awards. The film starred Diane Keaton, Jessica Lange, Sissy Spacek and Sam Shephard. In 1990, Beresford directed Mister Johnson, the first feature to be shot entirely in Nigeria. The film starred Pierce Brosnan and Edward Woodward and was selected as that year's Royal Command Performance Film. Black Robe, the first Australian/Canadian coproduction, followed. Produced by Robert Lantos and Sue Milliken, it was filmed in Quebec and won six Canadian Academy Awards, including Best Film and Best Director. In 1990 Driving Miss Daisy, directed by Beresford, won four Academy Awards including Best Picture and Best Actress for Jessica Tandy. The National Board of Review also selected the film as Best Film. Most recent credits include Bride of the Wind, starring Jonathan Pryce and Vincent Perez, Double Jeopardy, starring Tommy Lee Jones and Ashley Judd, Paradise Road in which he directed Julianna Margulies alongside Cate Blanchett, Glenn Close and Francis McDormand, and Last Dance, starring Sharon Stone, Rob Morrow, Peter Gallagher and Randy Quaid.

writer - paul pender
After graduating from Glasgow University with a degree in Law and English, Paul attended the National Film and Television School where he wrote, produced and directed the award-winning soccer comedy The Game. After working as a journalist for several publications, he was the BBC Production Executive on Frank Kafka's It's A Wonderful Life, which won both a BAFTA and the 1995 Academy Award for Best Live Action Short. In 1994 Paul set up Pender Productions, which produced the Award-winning Somebody Else's War on the Bosnian conflict and Faith, Hope, Calamity, a six-part documentary series on Scottish soccer. As a screenwriter for television Paul's credits include Beautiful Lies and The Bofie Man.He has recently completely The Secret Adventures Of Jules Verne, a major TV series for Crest (USA) and Talisman (UK). Paul graduated from the European Film Studio and Film Business School in 1996.