MOVIE legend Jim Sheridan has revealed he wants to work with “charismatic” Gerry Hutch to make a documentary about his early life.
The My Left Foot director was spotted with The Monk and a film crew on the campaign trail in Dublin on Monday.
Jim, 75, revealed how his pal, ex-Fianna Fail Junior Minister Conor Lenihan, had urged him to try and interview Hutch, who is running for the Dail in Dublin Central.
And The Monk jumped at the chance to renew acquaintances — after they met when he made 1997 Daniel Day-Lewis film The Boxer.
Jim told The Irish Sun: “Conor rang me to say to that the election hadn’t been that interesting and probably the most interesting thing was Gerard Hutch’s running.
“Conor asked me if I knew Gerard Hutch and could I get an interview with him. To tell you the truth, I hadn’t thought about it.
“But I knew Gerard from when I made The Boxer. I gave him the ring from that film for his gym.
“But everybody has been on looking for an interview, even the New York Times. But when I rang Gerard and asked would he do it, he told me ‘I would do anything for you Jim’.”
The six-time Oscar-nominated director then found himself in a hoodie and out on the election trail with the gangland figure, who is still on bail for alleged money laundering offences in Spain.
Jim told us: “I just thought we would walk around with him filming and get some colour.
“Someone suggested I wear a Covid mask but I said, ‘No, what I have I got to hide?’ Sure, Channel 4 were there doing an interview with him, so what have I got to be afraid of?”
Asked what reaction Hutch got while out canvassing, Jim told us: “We were walking in his area. When we got to Henry Street people were really happy to see him.
“And I suppose you’re not going to get the people not happy to see him voicing something. But there just seemed to be a genuine warmth towards him.”
Jim was travelling to the UK yesterday but hopes to hook up with Hutch again on Friday or Saturday, after punters have been to the polls.
But he told us no final decision had been reached about what the filming will be used for.
Jim said: “Initially it’s just an interview and hopefully for a documentary, which would probably concentrate on his upbringing and how he got to where he is today.”
And quizzed on how it felt to be hanging out with the notorious crime chief, he told us: “He was very quiet and charismatic.
“I have no real idea of the whole feud stuff, I suppose that is something I would find out as I film.”
And while Jim admits he isn’t up on the Hutch/Kinahan feud, he was surprised to learn that The Monk is a massive movie fan.
But the top director told us: “His favourite film is not The Godfather or Goodfellas. It’s Once Upon A Time In America.”
KEY ISSUES
Following his wander with Sheridan, Hutch flagged up housing, crime, the cost of living and immigration as his key issues in the election.
In a video posted on social media, The Monk made his plea to voters in Dublin Central — but offered little in the way of solutions to the problems he flagged.
The 61-year-old called for more gardai on the streets and said: “They’re talking about extra gardai for Christmas, is Santy Claus arriving with something special for Christmas? What about the rest of the year?”
And the mobster took aim at empty homes being “locked up” in the middle of a housing crisis, but offered no way to fix this.
CONFIDENT OF SEAT
On immigration, The Monk said the Government should stop “ramming gangs of people into one community without consultation with the community”.
And he said he did not have a problem with people “coming with their toolbox” ready to work — but claimed people should not be allowed to come to Ireland to “sponge off the State”.
Criminal mastermind Hutch has said he’s confident of gaining a seat in Sinn Fein leader Mary Lou McDonald’s stomping ground but insists people can tell him to “f*** off” if they want.
Other current TDs in Dublin Central are Fine Gael’s Paschal Donohoe, Social Democrat Gary Gannon and Green Neasa Hourigan.
Filmmaker Jim is no stranger to working with controversial figures.
BAILEY DOCU-DRAMA
Earlier this year, he revealed he hopes to exonerate the deceased journalist Ian Bailey as the main suspect in the December 1996 murder of French woman Sophie Toscan du Plantier, 39.
His documentary-drama will focus on a new suspect. It promises to give further details about the man seen following Sophie on the last day she was seen alive — but won’t name him.
Jim previously made Murder at the Cottage: The Search for Justice for Sophie for Netflix.
And he claimed his new film on Bailey would be inspired by his 1993 flick, In the Name of the Father, about the Guildford Four.
Jim said: “I did the wrongly accused Irishman in England. So now I got to do the wrongly accused Englishman in Ireland. I was astonished that nobody from the English establishment stood up for him whatsoever.
“It’s just a mind-blowing thing to me – maybe it was because he was a difficult personality, you know, but it’s still not right.”
