What Richard Did
| What Richard Did | |
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DVD cover
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| Directed by | Lenny Abrahamson |
| Produced by | Ed Guiney |
| Written by | Malcolm Campbell |
| Cinematography | David Grennan |
| Edited by | Nathan Nugent |
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Release date
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Running time
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87 minutes |
| Country | Ireland |
| Language | English |
| Box office | $488,327 |
What Richard Did is a 2012 Irish film directed by Lenny Abrahamson and written by Malcolm Campbell. The film is loosely based on Kevin Power's Bad Day in Blackrock, a fictionalised novel inspired by the real-life death of Brian Murphy in 2000. It won the best Irish film of the year award at the 10th Irish Film & Television Awards and was the most commercially successful Irish film of 2012.
It has screened at the 2012 Toronto International Film Festival and the BFI London Film Festival and was selected to screen at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York in April 2013.
Richard Karlsen (Jack Reynor) is well-mannered, intelligent and the undisputed alpha-male of his privileged set of teenagers in Dublin's Southside, having been a schoolboy rugby player for the Raglan Hall Senior Cup team. Most of the group have just left secondary school, and they are enjoying their last summer before university. Richard becomes romantically interested in Lara Hogan (Róisín Murphy), a girl whose boyfriend is Conor Harris (Sam Keeley), one of Richard's teammates. Richard gradually woos her away, souring his relationship with Conor. Things come to a head during a late-night house party: Richard is jealous of Lara's ongoing platonic friendship with Conor and, when Richard is barred from re-entering the house while the two remain inside, tensions rise. Conor throws a punch at Richard, at which point two mutual friends, Cian (Fionn Walton) and Stephen (Gavin Drea), step in to defend Richard and deliver several blows to Conor, with Richard kicking him in the head. The group go home, leaving Conor to stagger back towards the party.
The next morning, Richard is shocked to learn that Conor was later found dead outside the house. Horrified, he meets up with Cian and Stephen, and the three agree to keep the incident a secret, no-one else (apart from Lara) being directly aware of their involvement. Lara reassures Richard that she lied to Garda investigators to protect Richard, telling them that she had left the party with Richard before the brawl broke out. Richard attends a Garda station and gives a false statement to this effect. He tells the truth to his father, Peter (Lars Mikkelsen), who is distraught and tells him to stay alone at the family's beach house; while there, Richard breaks down in panic over what has happened.
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