My Time on the Michael Collins Set
Alright, let me tell you about working on that Michael Collins film. Wasn’t glamorous, mind you, not for us caddies anyway. Just lots of standing around, then suddenly rushing about. Got the gig through a mate who knew someone. Said they needed people, didn’t need much experience, just needed to be ready to graft.
Showed up early doors, usually before the sun was properly up. First job was often getting the tea and coffee sorted for the crew setting up the lights and cameras. Cold mornings in Ireland, I tell you. You’d see your breath. Then it was mostly waiting. Waiting for someone to shout for something. “Caddie! Need a stand over here!” or “Grab some water for Mr. Neeson!”. That kind of thing.
We didn’t really chat much with the big names. You see them, yeah. Liam Neeson, he was intense. Really seemed in it, you know? Walking around looking serious. Saw Alan Rickman a few times too, quieter. Julia Roberts was there, big star obviously, lots of people buzzing around her. We just kept our distance mostly, did our job. Fetch this, carry that. Sometimes you’re just holding an umbrella over someone important if it started raining, which it did. A lot.
Key things I remember doing:
- Moving light stands and cable covers. Constantly.
- Fetching coffees, waters, snacks. Non-stop.
- Running messages between trailers or departments.
- Just being on standby, ready for the next shout.
- Trying to stay out of the way when they were actually filming.
Some days were long. Really long. Especially when they were doing the big crowd scenes. Loads of extras, loads of equipment. Felt massive. You’d be on your feet all day, just knackered by the end of it. Saw them setting up for that big speech scene, supposed to be Croke Park. Took ages. Lots of shouting from the director, Neil Jordan. He seemed focused, knew exactly what he wanted.
It wasn’t easy work. Sometimes boring, sometimes frantic. Cold, wet. But looking back, yeah, it was something. Being there, seeing how it all came together piece by piece. Seeing history kinda brought back to life, even if I was just the guy carrying the spare batteries or the director’s chair. You felt like a tiny cog in a huge machine. Left the set each night absolutely shattered, but hey, I was there. Saw it happen.
