The Field is Jim Sheridan

Jim Sheridan

Jim Sheridan is an Irish film director. A six-time Academy Award nominee, Sheridan is perhaps best known for his films My Left Foot, In the Name of the Father, Get Rich or Die Tryin and In America.-Life and career:...

's 1990 film adaptation of John B. Keane

John B. Keane

John Brendan Keane was an Irish playwright, novelist and essayist from Listowel, County Kerry.-Life and career:...

's 1965 play of the same title

The Field

The Field is a play written by John B. Keane, first performed in 1965. It tells the story of the hardened farmer "Bull" McCabe and his love for the land he rents. The play debuted at Dublin's Olympia Theatre in 1965, with Ray McAnally as "The Bull" and Eamon Keane as "The Bird" O'Donnell. The play...

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Production

The Field starred Richard Harris

Richard Harris

Richard St John Harris was an Irish actor, singer-songwriter, theatrical producer, film director and writer....

 as Bull McCabe, Sean Bean

Sean Bean

Shaun Mark "Sean" Bean is an English film and stage actor. Bean is best known for playing Boromir in The Lord of the Rings Trilogy and, previously, British Colonel Richard Sharpe in the ITV television series Sharpe...

 as Bull's son Tadhg, Brenda Fricker

Brenda Fricker

Brenda Fricker is an Irish actress of theatre, film and television. She had appeared in more than 30 films and television roles...

 as Bull's wife Maggie, and John Hurt

John Hurt

John Vincent Hurt, CBE is an English actor, known for his leading roles as John Merrick in The Elephant Man, Winston Smith in Nineteen Eighty-Four, Mr. Braddock in The Hit, Stephen Ward in Scandal, Quentin Crisp in The Naked Civil Servant and An Englishman in New York...

 as Bird O'Donnell. Adaptations included changes to the cast; the town priest received an expanded role as Father Liam Mcdermot, played by Sean McGinley

Seán McGinley

Seán McGinley is an Irish film and television actor.-Early life:McGinley was born in Pettigo, County Donegal, Ireland where his father was a customs officer, and raised in nearby Ballyshannon...

, and English resident William Dee is replaced by the sympathetic Irish American

Irish American

Irish Americans are citizens of the United States who can trace their ancestry to Ireland. A total of 36,278,332 Americans—estimated at 11.9% of the total population—reported Irish ancestry in the 2008 American Community Survey conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau...

 Peter, played by Tom Berenger

Tom Berenger

Tom Berenger is an American actor known mainly for his roles in action films.-Early life:Berenger was born as Thomas Michael Moore in Chicago to an Irish Catholic family. Berenger's father was a printer for the Chicago Sun-Times. Berenger has a sister, Susan...

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The auctioneer's role is considerably reduced, while new additions include a family of Irish Travellers, despised by Bull McCabe for having lost their connection to the land. The ending was also changed for the film. The Field was released to generally good reviews, and Harris received an Academy Award nomination for his role. In 1996 An Post

An Post

An Post is the State-owned provider of postal services in the Republic of Ireland. An Post provides a universal postal service to all parts of the country as a member of the Universal Postal Union...

, the Irish Post Office, issued a set of postage stamps to commemorate the centenary of Irish cinema; the 32p stamp featured an image from The Field of actors Harris, Bean, and Hurt standing against the backdrop of Killary Harbour

Killary Harbour

Killary Harbour/An Caoláire Rua is a fjord located in the West of Ireland in the heart of Connemara which forms a natural border between counties Galway and Mayo. It is 16 kilometres long and in the centre over 45 metres deep...

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