A ROMANTIC DRAMA Peter Masterson and Melinda Kubanyi after they got engaged at the location of one of the famous scenes in The Banshees of Inisherin on Valentine’s Day.
Edwin McGreal
One of the iconic locations for the blockbuster film The Banshees of Inisherin was the scene for a novel wedding proposal on St Valentine’s Day.
The Atlantic Drive at Cloughmore on Achill Island was where JJ Devine’s pub in Martin McDonagh’s film was set and with more than a nod to the film, Achill man Peter Masterson proposed there to his partner, Hungarian native Melinda Kubanyi last Tuesday.
Mel is an avid fan of the film, having watched it no fewer than six times already and when planning the proposal, Peter, a native of Achill Sound, asked Mel what her favourite scene was.
Without hesitation, she said it was the scene outside the pub where Brendan Gleeson’s character Colm Sonny Larry Doherty tells Colin Farrell’s character Pádraic Súilleabháin ‘I just don’t like ya no more’.
So as part of the ruse, Peter told Mel it would be fun to go up to the location and recreate the scene.
With the pub removed after filming ended, Peter brought a table and two stools to the same spot the scene took place in and asked Mel which character she wanted to play.
She chose Pádraic and they acted it out. There was no need for a script. After watching it so many times, Mel rhymed off all her lines while Peter had been learning lines in advance too.
After finishing the scene, Peter asked Mel to turn around and look over towards Currane while he got down on one knee to propose, hoping for more of a happy ending than the film scene.
Thankfully, seconds after being told ‘I just don’t like ya no more’, Mel’s answer was an emphatic ‘of course’.
“I didn’t see it coming at all,” said Mel, afterwards. “It was absolutely lovely,” she added.
Peter had the ring picked out six weeks ago and was waiting for the chance to come home to Achill to propose.
Peter is based in Portlaoise and works as a secondary school teacher in Mountmellick, teaching construction studies and wood technology. Mel, who is fluent in five languages, is also a secondary school teacher. She is based in Bray and is a French teacher in Dublin.
So they were both off for mid-term break and it was a nice bonus that fell on St Valentine’s Day. A lovely script of its own. It’s believed to be the first proposal inspired by the film.
The couple have yet to set a date for their big day but maybe Brendan Gleeson and Colin Farrell might pop in to say hello.