Image credit Lisa Tomasetti
Irish singer Ronan Keating responds to my attempts at Irish perfectly. I’m impressed by this, and also by his decision not to rely on his well-honed singing talents of 20 plus years in his new film Goddess. As Ronan explains he didn’t want to rest on his abilities, but really work hard at his acting and it’s his co-stars, Laura Michelle Kelly and the always wonderful Magda Szubanski that shine in the musical numbers. Laura Michelle Kelly with her background in musical theatre transports us effortlessly back to the days of the Hollywood musical when suddenly spontaneous bursting into song seems normal.
Ronan was originally considered for the role of the busker that Laura’s character Elspeth encounters on her journey to the big city of Sydney, but says although it wasn’t easy to enter the relatively new field of acting he embraced the experience and really wanted to develop his acting skills and not have the movie as a showcase for him as a singer. Although, we do get some tantalising Tasmanian setting singing from Ronan, it is not until 45 minutes into the movie and is kept as a minimum with Laura Michelle providing the stand out musical numbers.
Goddess is set in Tasmania with Ronan playing James, a whale watcher / researcher / scientist more often than not away from the family recording the plaintiff ‘wails’ (pardon the pun) of the marine mammals, than at home with his wife and twin sons. The couple relocated from London to Tasmania to allow James to continue his whale research in the Antarctic while Elspeth feels isolated and insular, having left her singing career behind. It’s appropriate then that Ronan, whose name translates from the Celtic as ‘little seal’, takes to the water in his first movie role, just as in real life Ronan is continually traversing the waters between the northern and southern hemisphere in his dual commitments in both hemispheres.
Image credit Lisa Tomasetti
James seeing Elspeth’s sense of isolation sets her up with a webcam so they can keep in touch on his long absences. Unfortunately establishing contact with James proves difficult and Elspeth decides to communicate with the world using her talents as a singer. Eventually she is sourced by an advertising company which sees her as the perfect person to promote their computer pitched at the diversity of female roles called ‘Goddess’.
A comedy of errors ensues when Elspeth is away following her dream and James returns unexpectedly and has to care for the boys.
Ronan says that he could identify very much with James. Like James he is often on tour and like James faces the difficulty of re-immersing himself in family life again when he returns home. He says the temptation is there to spoil the kids when he is home, by letting them stay up late or eat junk food but he tries to veer away from that.
The movie is set in Tasmania, predominantly Stanley and there are some beautiful panoramic shots of Tasmania but the majority of the film was produced in Sydney. So although Ronan is yet to visit the place his first feature film is set in, he will remedy that sometime in the future when he holidays in Freycinet with girlfriend Storm.
Image credit Lisa Tomasetti
Talking of travel Ronan says after 20 years of travelling he has acclimatised to the lifestyle, and the jet lag and confusion of time zones is a ‘small matter’ to have the privileged life he lives and he feels very blessed.
It’s a busy year ahead for Ronan with his ‘Fires ‘ tour of Europe and Australia just winding up around the same time as he promotes Goddess. There is a new season of X-factor coming up and hopefully a tour of Australia with his band Boyzone next year as a continuation of this year’s 2oth anniversary tour celebration.
Ronan also has a new movie in the pipe line, at the moment the details are top secret but Ronan hints it will be a film of a very famous Irish play that has performed and won many awards on the west end. The film is set to shortly begin filming in Ireland.
Since this film is titled ‘Goddess’ I ask Ronan what his idea of a Goddess is. He provides an answer that will no doubt content his fans. A Goddess, Ronan says, is a woman with confidence and self-belief who is comfortable in her own skin.
It interesting to note that the surname Keating translates as kite and Ronan is certainly flying high with a successful music career, a hit TV show and now a motion picture to his credit!
Goddess is showing now at Village Cinemas.
Paula Xiberras
