New film tells story of legendary Dublin fighter pilot

The Second World War has been the inspiration for dozens of films and television shows, from The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp being made at the height of the war under the watchful eye of the British government to Oppenheimer recently sweeping the Oscars.

Despite being officially neutral in the war, Ireland made a number of contributions to the war.

One of the more notable examples of this is Brendan “Paddy” Finucane, who was one of the most feared pilots of World War 2, subject of the new film Shamrock Spitfire.

Finucane holds the distinction of being one of the most prolific pilots in World War 2, with historical documents pointing to around 30 German planes downed by the Dubliner.

Finucane was, at the time, the youngest wing commander in the entire Royal Air Force, serving with distinction by the time he was 21, with highlights including the downing of multiple German planes during the Battle of Britain in 1940.

Such was his reputation, he was the leader of the Australian Spitfire Squadron and gained an affinity among the Canadian regiment that served alongside him.

Finucane’s story began in Rathmines, and his upbringing in 1920s Dublin informed his sense of adventure and duty. 

A stint in the Royal Air Force beckoned after taking an early interest in aviation, and the new film Shamrock Spitfire depicts the life and times of Finucane. 

The film starts in a Dublin townhouse where the young Finucane and his brother hear of battles that had recently taken place on Dublin streets, before showing his enlistment with the Royal Air Force across the Irish Sea.

Finuance’s own father, Thomas, had fought in the 1916 Rising and was a veteran of the Anglo-Irish War.

His mother, Florence, was an English woman who gained an outward-looking view of life following her travels in Canada.

With such a rich background, Finuance was destined for the history books himself.

Directors Dominic and Ian Higgins brought the story of the flying ace to life and spoke to us about their experiences in making the film.

The directing duo, despite being English, knew this was a deeply Irish story, and more specifically, knew it was one with heavy Dublin roots.

To that end, casting an actor who was as true to the real Finucane as possible was the number one priority for the directors.

The Finucane family historian became an invaluable source to the filmmakers. 

“Our knowledge of Paddy starting out was zero,” the Higgins’ said.

“We were looking for a short film idea originally, and have a lot of interest in spitfires. We bought a book on spitfires and figured there must be an interesting story in there somewhere and it caught our eye.”

The idea of an Irishman fighting for the RAF was an intriguing one for the filmmakers. 

“By the time we came to the Wikipedia page, we knew this was our next film. When we read about his life, we knew this was the story we wanted to tell. It went from a short film to a 40-page script and then it got fleshed out into a feature-length film.”

A book by family historian John Donovan (who also served as the film’s technical and historical adviser) was the guiding light on the film.

“What he doesn’t know about Brendan’s life and the RAF isn’t really worth knowing,” they said.

They said they would hand the script to John in order to make the film as realistic as possible.

“Every time we did a scene we’d pass it to John, get him to take a look at it, and we’d implement any changes he’d suggest; all in all, it was a year’s worth of work before we even rolled the cameras.”

Actor Shane O’Regan was picked to play the leading role, and the Higgins’ said the casting of their leading man was one of the most important parts of production.

“When you’re casting you need to keep an open mind, especially when it’s a true story. We wanted to cast someone who had a resemblance to Paddy.”

They revealed It took seven months to cast Paddy because not only was casting an Irish actor important to them, they wanted a Dublin actor to be their star.

“It took us so long to find him, but when we saw Shane O’Regan we thought there was a resemblance to him, and that was important to us. When we saw the self-tape audition we knew that was him.”

Finucane’s life came to an end in July 1942, with a routine return from a raid on the enemy turning fatal.

The target was a German army camp in the small French town of Étaples, but came under enemy fire at Le Touquet. 

Machine gun fire pierced the aircraft’s radiator, and it soon dawned on Finucane that he was not making it home.

He opted to take the plane out towards the English Channel and make a glided landing in his wounded machine.

The landing itself was textbook, but the choppy waves made it difficult to survive the impact.

The depiction of Finucane’s death is treated in the film with reverence.

There is a certain forgone conclusion with Finucane’s story with the film being about a young man serving during wartime, but the Higgins’ studied the classics in a bid to put a new spin on the well-worn.

The films of Powell and Pressburger are a direct influence on the filmmakers, with the David Niven-starring A Matter Of Life and Death specifically cited as an influence on this film.

When it was pointed out to them their shared title card of Written, Directed and Edited by Ian and Dominic Higgins is identical to that of the Archers, they directly acknowledged that it was a reference to their films.

“We’re glad someone caught that!”

The Higgins’ noted that World War 2 films often starred or were made by people who served, so in making a film about events that happened 80 years ago there was no substitute for watching and researching films from the time.

For the Higgins’, they said that they were “a bit nervous” about making a film based on a man who left behind a family and indeed still has living family members.

They explained that Brendan Finucane, Paddy’s nephew, was one of their main points of contact with the family and the filmmakers went to great lengths to ensure the memory of the man was preserved.

“We sent the script over to the family for them to read, we kept them in the loop, make sure they’re happy. We showed them clips of scenes when we were shooting, but overall they were very supportive. They saw that there was a lot of heart in the production.”

The Finucane family saw a screening of the film in Birmingham in January and were by all accounts impressed.

“At the end of the screening, he, (Brendan) came up and hugged us. He told us that we brought him back. That was the validation we needed.”

Shamrock Spitfire is available on DVD and digital services now.