I had to respond to this post I found on Twitter and her
blog Between the Rock and a Hard Place. I was interested that the annual
appearance of Alan Doyle and friends on Republic of Doyle only got twenty or so
words and her comments that “he has
gotten roles largely via his friendships with more established actors”. I
absolutely totally 100 percent DISAGREE with her statement. He got all his acting roles based on his talent and the contribution he could make to the production and not his friendship with others.
Alan Doyle and Great Big Sea have been involved in Republic
of Doyle since the beginning through their music. They wrote the theme song to
the show ‘Oh Yeah’. Great Big Sea were well known in Canada and the United
States and a Great Big Sea catchy song from Newfoundland would help promote the
show and Newfoundland throughout the rest of Canada and the United States. So
from the original episode they have had played an intricate part of the
program’s success. Four seasons on the show is still popular and being produced
by CBC. The fifth season is about to air in October.
Alan Doyle has always been an actor of sorts whether it is
on the stage performing music or making music videos. Moving from a musician to
actor and musician to actor is a kind of a natural evolution. Alan Doyle is not
the first to do it (Elvis Presley, Justin Timberlake, Russell Crowe and Keanu
Reeves come to mind and even the great Mick Jagger and the Beatles had a go at
acting in movies). Reading past interviews from the movie Robin Hood, Alan
Doyle was a natural inclusion because of his musical talent and his ability to
play a particular instrument rather than a friendship he had formed with
Russell Crowe. He is credited with writing and performing two songs for the
Robin Hood movie “Row Me Bully Boys Row” and “Large Woman” and performing a third
song “Sadness Sadness”.
In an interview with
Allen W. Wright titled “Interviews in Sherwood. Alan Doyle actor in the 2010
film Robin Hood” Alan Doyle said…
“AWW: You got involved in
the film because you had worked with Russell Crowe musically.
AD:
That's how I knew Russell. And when they were going through the cast of
characters they needed for this film, there was one there for a musician - and
ideally some guy who could play both lute and Celtic instruments and do a
capella songs and stuff. And his name was Allan A'Dayle. So, I guess it's not
that much of stretch for Russell to go "Hey, I know a guy who could do
this." So, he called me up and asked me to come do a read for it. And off
we went.
AWW: Did you play the lute
much in the movie?
AD: Yes,
I do. I don't want to give it away for people who haven't seen it or anything.
But yeah, I play the lute live in the movie a few times. I think they wanted
part of it to be as real as possible. They wanted to create, really for the
first time, one or two plausible explanations for the origins of these
characters. Why out of ten thousand soldiers in King Richard's army would four
of them be remembered? What brought them together? Why these four? One of the
things we try to establish in this picture is that they got together because
they like to sing. Allan A'Dayle, you know, he's the magnet for it all late at
night, because he's got the lute, man”.
Because one is friends with and works with a famous actor
there is no guarantee of anything. A movie studio isn’t going to make movies
for friends to have fun. It is a business deal and they want their movie to be a
success. In an interview for the same writer Allen W. Wright interviewed Kevin Durand who
has also appeared on Robin Hood and Republic of Doyle said
“AWW:
So, did you sing much in the film? I know Russell Crowe and especially Alan Doyle have done some.
KD: I
think that was a big part of Russell and Ridley's vision in finding the Merry
Men. To be able to show people why they were labelled the Merry Men. And to him
that has a lot to do with that we love to sing and drink and have a good time
as well as the other side where we're great warriors. Singing was a big part of
it. I've been singing for my supper way before I was acting for my supper. So, Scotty
[Grimes, the film's Will Scarlet], Alan [Doyle, Allan A'Dayle], Russell and I,
we all had a ball. We would set up at bars all over London, have a few beers
and take up the guitar and start singing. We would have a really good time with
the patrons. I don't think we had a bad show to date. We were pretty lucky.
AWW: I know that you had
worked with Russell Crowe and Scott Grimes before.
KD:
Russell, Scotty and I met on a movie called Mystery, Alaska which started back in 1998. That was my first
movie. It was my first audition for a movie actually. I was a theatre grad up
to that point. Then Russell and I also did 3:10 to Yuma together. Scotty and I did a movie together. It was
called Throwing Stars at the
time and then they changed the title to Who's
Your Monkey?, a small independent. So, we were all very familiar with
each other. And the connection with Alan was that I had been a huge, huge Great
Big Sea [Alan Doyle's folk band] fan way back before Mystery, Alaska happened and I gave Russell and Scotty copies of
his CD. And they all became big fans. Through the course of a decade of
different things happening, we all ended up becoming good friends and becoming
the Merry Men, so to speak. I'm grateful for the journey”.
I remember it was Alan Doyle who helped Russell Crowe get
back into acting by introducing him to Allan Hawco on Republic of Doyle via
Twitter and was instrumental in helping Russell Crowe do something I believe he
loves more than acting music. Russell Crowe had a long lay off from making
movies spending most of his time at the farm he owns in Australia. He was
really overweight and had just begun his fitness regime. From then on Russell
Crowe and Allan Hawco emailed each other, a role on Republic of Doyle evolved,
a reunion with the cast of Robin Hood including Scott Grimes and Kevin Durand
and the Indoor Garden Party in St John’s was born. The Indoor Garden Party
helped get Russell Crowe the role for Les Miserables approximately 6 months
later. Since then he has made several films and is currently directing a movie
in Australia.
Lyndahere has always been dismissive of anything Alan Doyle
does without her and here is another example. I find this interesting considering
how much space the subject of Alan Doyle, his beard and this role on Republic
of Doyle has occupied on her Twitter and social media pages and yet she is now
not allocating any space or time to discussing it.
I have been thinking about the present and in particular
this week the episodes of Republic of Doyle that have been filming in St Johns.
A lot of work goes into making every episode and a series before it gets to our
television screens. I love following the filming of the show on social media
from those involved and watching episodes mostly on DVD as I don’t live in a country where it is
shown unfortunately. It has a
wonderful talented cast and is great drama. I love Republic of Doyle and it is
one of my favourite television shows.
I have walked on many of the streets, been to many of the
places shown and talked about on the show. So every time I watch an episode it
is a bit like walking down memory lane for me. Republic of Doyle is distinctly
Newfoundland and St John’s and Alan Doyle and Great Big Sea are distinctly
Newfoundland and St John’s. It is only natural there would be a connection built on
promoting Newfoundland and creating employment for their actors and artists in their home
island rather than anything to do with friendship. Doyle and Allan Hawco on the set of Republic of Doyle in St John's Newfoundland.
