The legendary Camelot: Cahir Castle, Tipperary wins EUFCN Best European Filming Location for A24’s The Green Knight
Posted: 15th February 2022
Fís Éireann/Screen Ireland is delighted to welcome the news that Cahir Castle in Co. Tipperary has won the EUFCN Location Award 2021, the annual prize for European filming locations organized by the European Film Commissions Network (EUFCN). The location was submitted by Fís Éireann/Screen Ireland as one of the primary filming locations for David Lowery's The Green Knight, produced by A24 and Wild Atlantic Pictures, which filmed in Ireland in 2019.
Cahir Castle has been used an iconic filming location from as far back as Stanley Kubrick’s 1975 drama Barry Lyndon and John Boorman’s Excalibur, to more recent epics like David Lowery’s The Green Knight and Ridley Scott’s The Last Duel.
Steven Davenport, Head of US Production and Partnerships at Screen Ireland, said about the win:
“I am delighted that Cahir Castle has won the EUFCN Location Award, which spotlights one of Ireland’s most iconic filming locations and is a recognition of Irish crew’s work on The Green Knight, one of the many international productions that chose Ireland as its home. The collaboration between state agencies like Screen Ireland and the OPW enables film and television productions, both national and international, to benefit from the rich variety of locations and landscapes across Ireland and bring them to life on screen.”
Eleanor Morrissey, Site Manager at Cahir Castle, said:
“All of us working in Cahir Castle and in the Office of Public Works are immensely honoured and very proud to win this award that acknowledges how special this fortress is not only in Ireland but in Europe. Anybody who has visited it will easily see how its impressive battlements rising above the River Suir make it a dream location for internationally acclaimed fantasy films such as last year’s The Green Knight or The Last Duel. I want to thank all the people who voted for our site to win the EUFCN Location Award 2021. The team and I are delighted to be able to welcome one lucky winner who participated in the voting to Cahir Castle soon.”
Dating back to the mid-12th century, Cahir Castle was built to be a state-of-the-art defensive fortress and it has been the scene of sieges and bombardments for centuries. Appearing to grow from the actual rock on which it stands, and featuring battlements, heavy gates, turrets, towers and a stunning courtyard, Cahir Castle was the perfect double for the legendary castle of Camelot in The Green Knight.
The castle was transformed on screen as an ominous, foreboding fortress representing the home of the dying King Arthur’s court. It is here that Sir Gawain takes up the Green Knight’s challenge, and where much of the first act of the film takes place. This was in fact the second time Cahir Castle has been used as a double for Camelot, the first being its use in the 1981 film Excalibur.
Cahir Castle is a designated National Monument of Ireland and is cared for by the Irish Government’s heritage conservation agency, the Office of Public Works. In the scouting for The Green Knight, the castle was the front runner from early on.
The general public voted for their favourite location among the 5 in the EUFCN Location Award shortlist, with Cahir Castle beating locations like Berlin, Germany for The Queen’s Gambit, Stadlandet, Norway for Dune and Malaga, Spain for The Crown.