{"id":479489,"date":"2026-05-11T17:17:16","date_gmt":"2026-05-11T17:17:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/479489\/"},"modified":"2026-05-11T17:17:16","modified_gmt":"2026-05-11T17:17:16","slug":"liam-neeson-john-cleese-and-matthew-modine-set-for-the-splendid-thing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/479489\/","title":{"rendered":"Liam Neeson, John Cleese and Matthew Modine Set for The Splendid Thing"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tMatthew Modine<\/a> is set to direct himself alongside Liam Neeson<\/a> and John Cleese<\/a> in upcoming feature \u201cThe Splendid Thing,\u201d described as blending romantic comedy, drama and fantasy.<\/p>\n

\n\tHyde Park Intl. is launching the project at the Cannes market, with more stars currently in discussion to join.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThe Splendid Thing\u201d will see Modine play Declan King, a celebrated novelist who has lost his focus and has been struggling to complete his latest novel since his wife left him. He\u2019s sent by his exasperated literary agent on a book-signing tour to Europe, where it\u2019s hoped he may find inspiration to write, but things soon take a surreal turn as characters from his previous books start coming to life all around him. Among them are Neeson as a Great Gatsby-esque type who puts Declan in the hospital after a punch-up and Cleese as a priest who also doubles as the Grim Reaper. But the surreal happenings are just the beginning as Declan comes to discover that literally nothing is what it seems.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThe Splendid Thing\u201d was co-written by Modine and Stephen Wallis and is produced by Natalie Marciano (\u201cFreud\u2019s Last Session,\u201d \u201cHow to Build a Truth Engine\u201d) and Orian Williams (\u201cShadow of the Vampire,\u201d \u201cControl\u201d). Ashok Amritraj and Priya Amritraj are executive-producing for Hyde Park Entertainment. James Steele will also serve as executive producer.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI\u2019m absolutely thrilled by the emotional reaction to this story and how it has led us to our incredible ensemble of actors,\u201d said Modine. \u201cA phantasmic, comical story, an international cast, being filmed in one of the most romantic countries in the world! What could be better!?\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tHyde Park Intl.\u2019s Carl Clifton added: \u201cThe fantastic cast assembled for \u2018The Splendid Thing\u2019 is testament to this heart-warming, poignant and often hilarious script. Playing with notions of reality and fiction, it brings to mind so many beloved movies; from classics like \u2018It\u2019s a Wonderful Life\u2019 to \u2018Everything Everywhere All At Once.’\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tLiam Neeson is represented by CAA , John Cleese is represented by Anonymous Content and Matthew Modine is represented Untitled Entertainment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Matthew Modine is set to direct himself alongside Liam Neeson and John Cleese in upcoming feature \u201cThe Splendid…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":479490,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[263],"tags":[11519,18,117,19,17,87904,22174,209895,327],"class_list":["post-479489","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-movies","tag-cannes-film-festival","tag-eire","tag-entertainment","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-john-cleese","tag-liam-neeson","tag-matthew-modine","tag-movies"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/116557083039469750","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/479489","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=479489"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/479489\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/479490"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=479489"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=479489"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=479489"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}