Anne Devlin (1984)Strokestown, Co RoscommonPat Murphy’s arresting dramatisation of the life of Robert Emmet’s housekeeper – movingly played by Bríd Brennan – was filmed at Kilmainham Gaol, where Devlin was imprisoned and interrogated, and at Dublin Castle. Strokestown, in Co Roscommon, provides the backdrop for the early pastoral sequences.Arracht (2019)Lettermullan, Co GalwayTomás Ó Súilleabháin’s Great Famine murder ballad is powered along by the unlikely bond between two grieving characters exquisitely played by Dónall Ó Héalaí and Saise Ní Chuinn. The rugged Connemara island village of Lettermullan provides the backdrop.The Banshees of Inisherin (2022)Inis Mór and Achill IslandColin Farrell and Barry Keoghan in The Banshees of Inisherin. Photograph: Jonathan Hession/20th Century Studios Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson lead the starry cast in Martin McDonagh’s award-winning Irish Civil War allegory. The cinematographer Ben Davis playfully subverts John Hinde with extravagant shots of Inis Mór, the largest of the Aran Islands, off Co Galway, and Achill Island, off Co Mayo. Barry Lyndon (1975)Co Wicklow, Co Carlow, Co Tipperary, Co KilkennyStanley Kubrick filmed much of Barry Lyndon across Ireland between 1973 and 1974, using Powerscourt House in Co Wicklow, Huntington Castle in Co Carlow, Moorstown Castle in Co Tipperary, Castletown House in Co Kildare and Kells Priory in Co Kilkenny. Production abruptly decamped to Britain when Kubrick and his crew received security threats from the IRA about scenes depicting British redcoats.Braveheart (1995)Co Kildare and Co MeathMel Gibson in a scene from Braveheart. Photograph: 20th Century Fox/Getty Mel Gibson’s Oscar-sweeping Scottish epic is short on highlands: Ballymore Eustace in Co Kildare serves as William Wallace’s family home; Trim Castle in Co Meath stands in for York; the Curragh hosts the Battle of Stirling Bridge – with help from 1,500 or so members of the Defence Forces – and the English are camped in Sally Gap, Co Wicklow.An Cailín Ciúin (2022)Moynalvey, Co MeathAny inventory of Irish movie locations could easily be subtitled Pubs Galore. Cleary’s on Amiens Street in Dublin has been frequented by The Commitments and Laurence Olivier’s alcoholic schoolteacher in the 1962 film Term of Trial. Fagans pub in Moynalvey, Co Meath – recently reopened following a 2025 fire – played itself in Colm Bairéad’s Oscar contender.Educating Rita (1983)Trinity College DublinMichael Caine’s jaded professor meets Julie Walters’s mature student in various corners of Trinity College Dublin. The College Historical Society’s Conversation Room, in the Graduates’ Memorial Building, stands in for the boozy academic’s office, where a portrait of Douglas Hyde watches down.Ek Tha Tiger (2012)Trinity College DublinTrinity College Dublin was used to film a dance sequence in Ek Tha Tiger. Photograph: Bryan O'Brien The jet-setting Bollywood spy caper was shot in Delhi, Istanbul and Havana. But Trinity College Dublin’s front square hosts the film’s most energetic toe-tapper.Excalibur (1981)Co Wicklow and Co TipperaryLough Tay, Powerscourt Estate and Glendalough in Co Wicklow forge the landscape for John Boorman’s 1981 retelling of Arthurian legend. Key scenes were also shot around Cahir Castle in Co Tipperary.A Fistful of Dynamite (1971)Toners, Baggot Street, DublinHaving fled to revolutionary Mexico, James Coburn’s explosive expert and silver prospector flashes back to his Irish republican years and a shoot-out in Toners pub on Baggot Street in Dublin. This wordless, operatic interlude in Sergio Leone’s 1971 spaghetti western is very much the director’s house style.Flight of the Doves (1971)Dublin, Co Galway, Co AntrimRalph Nelson, fresh off the ultraviolent Sand Creek massacre western Soldier Blue, shot this campy, diddly-eye kids’ adventure across Ireland. It features shots of Custom House in Dublin, Ballinacourty in Co Galway, Dunluce Castle in Co Antrim, and Phoenix Park in Dublin.Hellboy II: The Golden Army (2008)‘Giant’s Causeway’, Co AntrimDigital jiggery-pokery allows the Budapest-shot title character of Guillermo del Toro’s superior superhero to appear against the distinctive hexagonal formations of the Giant’s Causeway.Henry V (1944)Powerscourt Estate, Co WicklowLaurence Olivier's Henry V was filmed in Co Wicklow. Photograph: LMPC via Getty Images Evading the Blitz, Laurence Olivier relocated his nationalistic Shakespearean production to Ireland, where Powerscourt Estate hosts the rallying cry of St Crispin’s Day and where 700 local extras received a pint of Guinness at the end of each day of filming.The Italian Job (1969)Kilmainham Gaol, DublinIn the final act of Michael Caine’s rattling crime caper, white-collar kingpin Noël Coward conducts as chats of “England” ring around, well, Kilmainham Gaol.Jimmy’s Hall (2014)Killanummery, Co LeitrimThe rural dance hall built by Jimmy Gralton in Effrinagh in Co Leitrim was destroyed in the 1930s. Ken Loach, returning to Ireland after The Wind That Shakes the Barley, had to build a replica in nearby Killanummery. Features additional appearances from Sligo town and, back in Co Leitrim, Drumsna and Dromahair.Korea (1995)Bawnboy, Co Cavan, and Dromahair, Co LeitrimCathal Black’s beloved adaptation of a short story by John McGahern was shot in Bawnboy, Co Cavan, and Dromahair, Co Leitrim.The Lobster (2015)Glengarriff, Co Cork, and Derryquin, Co KerryThe Lobster: Colin Farrell in Yorgos Lanthimos's film Yorgos Lanthimos’s dystopian tale of a society where being single is illegal sends Colin Farrell to contemplate his future life as the crustacean of the title in a facility that marries shots from Eccles Hotel & Spa in Glengarriff, Co Cork, and Parknasilla Resort & Spa in Derryquin, Co Kerry.The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne (1987)Shelbourne Hotel, DublinMaggie Smith’s tragic titular heroine is whisked away from Blessington Street in north Dublin and romanced by Bob Hoskins’s American widower in room 112 of the Shelbourne Hotel on St Stephen’s Green.The Lost City of Z (2016)Belfast City HallFor James Gray’s portrait of the doomed Amazonian explorer Percy Fawcett, Belfast City Hall stands in for the Royal Geographical Society in turn-of-the-century London.The Man of Aran (1934)Inis Mór, Co GalwayThere is much debate about the fictionalised sections of Robert J Flaherty’s depiction of life off the western coast of Ireland, but the location is authentic. Flaherty founded a studio and processing facilities on Inishmore in 1931.Michael Collins (1996)Various locations, DublinLiam Neeson as Michael Collins in the Neil Jordan film Eighty or so craftspeople and £1.5 million were required to build life-size, period-specific replicas of the GPO and Mansion House for Neil Jordan’s film – sets that were briefly opened to the public. Those were demolished in 1995, but, happily, other locations, including Trinity College Dublin, Kilmainham Gaol and the Four Courts are still intact.Miss Julie (2014)Castle Coole, Co FermanaghLiv Ullmann cast Jessica Chastain as August Strindberg’s most put-upon heroine and Colin Farrell as her lower-orders tormentor. Ullmann’s version relocates the themes of class intransigence and bird decapitation to Castle Coole, in Co Fermanagh.Moby Dick (1956)Youghal, Co CorkIt was a troubled shoot. The screenwriter Ray Bradbury had not read Herman Melville’s great American novel before he adapted it for John Huston. There were squabbles with Warner Bros over the casting of Gregory Peck. A costly production brought a cast including Orson Welles and Noel Purcell to Madeira, the Canary Islands and Youghal in Co Cork, which stands in for Massachusetts.The Northman (2022)Lough Neagh, Co Antrim and Co DownAlexander Skarsgard in The Northman. Photograph: Aidan Monaghan/Focus Features Drawing on the Icelandic inspiration for Hamlet, Robert Eggers’s torrid Viking epic brought its stars Alexander Skarsgard, Nicole Kidman, Anya Taylor-Joy, Björk and Willem Dafoe to various Ulster locations, including Lough Neagh, Torr Head, Tyrella Beach and Bangor.The Princess Bride (1987)Cliffs of Moher, Co ClareThe Cliffs of Moher have featured in a range of films, from Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince to Into the West. But Co Clare’s day-tripping attraction has never been put to better use than in The Princess Bride, when Cary Elwes scales the Cliffs of Insanity to rescue Robin Wright.The Purple Taxi (1977)Co Waterford, Co Cork, Co KerryThe Chieftains scored this Cannes-selected oddity starring Fred Astaire as a doctor who drives around the Beara Peninsula assisting various weirdos, including characters played by Charlotte Rampling and Peter Ustinov. The film was shot between Lismore in Co Waterford, Cork Airport and Kenmare in Co Kerry.Quackser Fortune Has a Cousin in the Bronx (1970)Various locations, DublinGene Wilder was unlikely casting for a Dublin man, undermined by the rise of the motorcar, who collects horse manure and sells it as fertiliser. Set in late-1960s Dublin, the film’s locations include Mount Street, Pearse Street, Island Villas, St Patrick’s Cathedral, Glasnevin Cemetery and the Gravediggers pub in Glasnevin.The Quiet Man (1952)Cong, Co Mayo, and Co GalwayJohn Wayne and Maureen O'Hara in The Quiet Man John Ford’s mythologised marital dramedy, starring John Wayne, Maureen O’Hara and Barry Fitzgerald, remains one of Ireland’s best-known films. The double Oscar winner was filmed in Cong, Co Mayo, and nearby Co Galway. Cobh Museum, in Co Cork, displays memorabilia celebrating its production and lasting legacy.Róise & Frank (2022)An Rinn and Dungarvan, Co WaterfordIn Rachael Moriarty and Peter Murphy’s big-hearted Irish-language comedy, Bríd Ní Neachtain’s grieving widow believes a stray dog is the reincarnation of her late, hurling-obsessed husband, Frank. It was filmed in An Rinn, Co Waterford’s coastal Gaeltacht, and nearby Dungarvan.Ryan’s Daughter (1970)Dingle Peninsula, Co KerryDavid Lean had already cemented his reputation for spectacle with Lawrence of Arabia, The Bridge Over the River Kwai and Doctor Zhivago. It’s no surprise that, for this 1970 tale of marital betrayal and scandalised villagers – headlined by Robert Mitchum and Sarah Miles – the director makes terrific use of the Dingle Peninsula, with Inch Strand, Slea Head, Dunquin and Coumeenoole Beach providing its dramatic coastal highlights.Saving Private Ryan (1998)Curracloe Beach, Co WexfordThe opening scenes of Steven Spielberg's Saving Private Ryan were filmed in Co Wexford Steven Spielberg’s second World War drama opens with a spectacular dramatisation of the D-Day landings. The bloody opening battle, which was filmed at Curracloe Beach, Co Wexford, over four weeks, features Tom Hanks and 1,000 extras, including hundreds of members of the Army Reserve.The Secret of Roan Inish (1994)Rosses Point, Co Sligo, and Co DonegalDirected by John Sayles and featuring Jeni Courtney, Mick Lally and Eileen Colgan, this family adventure follows a girl as she uncovers her family’s island heritage and the mystery of her missing brother. Locations include Rosses Point, Co Sligo, and coastal Co Donegal.The Spy Who Came in from the Cold (1965)Smithfield, DublinThe Checkpoint Charlie set in Martin Ritt's film of John le Carré's The Spy Who Came in from the Cold Richard Burton’s British agent is sent on a final cold-war mission, involving deception, espionage and East German intelligence, in this adaptation of John le Carre’s breakthrough novel. Much of it was shot in grey Ireland, with a re-creation of Checkpoint Charlie on Smithfield Plaza in central Dublin.Star Wars: The Last Jedi (2017)Skellig Michael, Co KerryDaisy Ridley and Mark Hamill in Star Wars: The Last Jedi. Photograph: Disney/Lucasfilm Before the most recent movie trilogy imploded, a lively 2017 opening gambit introduced Daisy Ridley’s Rey, a budding Jedi seeking tutelage from Mark Hamill’s Luke Skywalker while the Resistance battles the First Order. Key scenes were filmed on Skellig Michael, the rocky home of a monastic settlement, and the nearby Co Kerry coast at Ceann Sibéal.That They May Face the Rising Sun (2022)Co Galway and Co MayoThe adaptation of John McGahern's That They May Face the Rising Sun was filmed in counties Mayo and Galway John McGahern’s source novel pivots around a young urban couple moving back to Co Leitrim; Pat Collins’s moving 2022 adaptation was shot in such picturesque Galway and Mayo locations as Lough na Fooey and Cornamona.Willy Reilly and His Colleen Bawn (1920)St Enda’s School, Rathfarnham, DublinThis landmark surviving Irish silent film, dating to 1920, reflects revolutionary-era fervour and promotes religious tolerance through an interfaith romance. It was shot in the grounds of St Enda’s School in Rathfarnham, which was founded by Patrick Pearse, now home to the Pearse Museum.Zardoz (1974)Co WicklowIn the year 2293, Exterminator Zed, played by Sean Connery in a red mankini and chaps, obeys a giant stone head, infiltrates the immortal society of Vortex and impregnates Charlotte Rampling’s queen. In his director’s commentary, John Boorman reveals that it was very difficult to persuade the girls of Bray and Enniskerry, where the film was shot in 1974, to appear topless. Good for them.