In our film Martin McGrath, we take a comedic look at a pathetically ignorant aspiring politician and his woefully inept advisor as they attempt to create a campaign video for an upcoming election. They offer an alternative to the voters; they offer a ‘new’ political philosophy; Martin will just promise to give each voter whatever they want…even if it directly contradicts an earlier promise.
Throughout all aspects of the project, we aimed to emphasise spontaneity from the visuals to the sound design to the performances of the cast. After the initial idea had been conceived, the two main characters were crafted with the performers in mind: Alastair Rennie as Martin McGrath, and Tony MacDonald as his advisor. Their performances plainly speak for themselves and their chemistry together is excellent. Such was their skill and understanding of their respective roles, it became a pleasure to allow them to expand upon each scene and add their own improvised scenario. Unfortunately, we could not include all of this in the film but you can access some of their hilarious work by subscribing to our Patreon.
If the finished project offers any kind of comment then we hope that it will serve as an indictment of the career politician mentality fit for nothing but the service and attainment of its own goals. Its fulfilment necessitating a rise in the far right, fascist ideology, which triumphs over mass disillusionment, voter apathy, and misrepresentation, creating a new and even more profound wrong set to devastate and alienate communities further while the left self-combusts under the weight of its minute ideological differences rather than focusing on everything it should be based upon: people and their needs.
We also hope that it will showcase the systemic two-faced racism in our society, fostered by our misled education institutions whereby we are encouraged to be polite and kind to one another whilst also celebrating our own acts of white supremacy scattered throughout our bigoted, imperialist history.
We asked Alastair Rennie (Martin McGrath) if he had any memories or anecdotes to share about being on the set of Martin McGrath and he had the following to say:
“There was an on-set dog at all times but I was not allowed to touch it due to my hands always being sticky.”
“My twin brother stepped in for me during the driving scenes.”
“Whenever I was nervous, my advisor would sensually rub my ears to calm me down.”
We cannot either confirm or deny his claims!
Such was our delight in working with this character that we have written a treatment for six additional episodes of Martin, exploring Martin’s beginnings and political awakening in greater detail. If you want to see Martin’s journey continue then we will need your subscriptions and kind donations to allow this to happen.
Our Patreon page contains a wealth of additional Martin McGrath content including alternative dialogues, extended scenes, an entire unreleased episode, and some never-filmed scripts! Subscribe now to unlock all of this and more!
– Collective Voices
