Oscar winner John Patrick Shanley is back with his latest film, Wild Mountain Thyme, set entirely in Ireland.

John Patrick Shanley is a world renowned American playwright, screenwriter, and director. He won the 1988 Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for the film Moonstruck directed by Canada’s own Norman Jewison.

His play, Doubt: A Parable, won the 2005 Pulitzer Prize for Drama. It also won the 2005 Tony Award for Best Play and went on to become a film starring Meryl Streep and Viola Davis.

Shanley is back with Wild Mountain Thyme a film based on his own stage play Outside Mullingar. That played on Broadway in 2014 starring Debra Messing.

The film stars Emily Blunt, Jamie Dornan, Christopher Walken and Jon Hamm. It centers around Dornan’s character Anthony, a shy farmer who has caught the eye of his headstrong neighbor Rosemary (Blunt). Rosemary is headstrong but has her heart set on winning her neighbor Anthony Reilly’s love. The problem is, Anthony seems to have inherited a family curse, and remains oblivious to his beautiful admirer. Stung by his father’s (Walken) plans to sell the family farm to his American nephew (Hamm), the move jolts Anthony into pursuing his dreams.

Shanley knows a thing or two when it comes to writing about love. In both Wild Mountain Thyme and Moonstruck, romance has this interesting power and pull. People can’t resist it, even when it goes against their better instincts. It’s both fun and frustrating watching Dornan and Blunt juggle with that push and pull in the film.

The studio released the trailer was a few months ago. The trailer caused some rumblings over social media from born and bred Irish residents about the Irish accents.

Shanley brushes it off the criticism and asks that people just see the film for what it is. It’s a fun romantic comedy/drama shot in one of the most beautiful locations in Ireland!

Bonnie Laufer spoke to John Patrick Shanley about Wild Mountain Thyme. She also got some great memories from him about working on Moonstruck with Norman Jewison and casting Viola Davis in Doubt.

Wild Mountain Thyme is available on VOD on December 22nd.