Pink Spear Productions, an American film and television company, has acquired the screen rights to a novel by Irish actor, author, and journalist Domhnall O’Donoghue.
"Sister Agatha: the World’s Oldest Serial Killer" by Domhnall O’Donoghue, also a contributor to our sister publication "Ireland of the Welcomes", was first released in 2016. O'Donoghue's novel is described as a lighthearted comedy and unconventional love story.
In the novel, Sister Agatha believes she has just a week to live, which is inconvenient as the 118-year-old once made an improbable vow: to be the oldest
person in the world. At the start of the story, she’s the fifth.
Never one to admit defeat, the Irish nun uses her remaining days to travel the world to meet her four rivals with a sinister plan to kill them one by one. The action kicks off in O’Donoghue's hometown of Navan, before moving on to Tunisia, Chicago, Warsaw, and Venice.
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On release, the caper received a flurry of praise. The Irish weekly magazine, Woman’s Way, named it their “Book of the Week,” saying: “Beautifully written. We loved it.” The Irish Mail on Sunday newspaper and Irish Tatler Man magazine both described it as “hilarious” while Jennifer Zamparelli, star of Ireland’s leading radio station 2FM, claimed it was “one of the year’s best debuts.”
Pink Spear is the U.S.-based film and television production company of Colleen
Bradford Krantz, whose family has roots in Ireland, including counties Limerick,
Tipperary, Cork, Cavan, and Wexford. One of Pink Spear’s films, a U.S.-based
documentary called "West by Orphan Train", won a regional Emmy Award, a national Clarion Award, and a national Leadership in History Award.
The company, which previously focused only on nonfiction works, has begun also
moving into fictional works, and is currently pitching an hour-long drama about a
young animal scientist called Complete Bull.
With "Sister Agatha," Pink Spear will first explore the option of a limited series based on the book, but has not ruled a film for bringing the nun’s story to life.
"Sister Agatha has so many elements that viewers are craving right now, particularly after feeling so worn down by the pandemic,” Krantz said.
“It not only has this wonderful older nun going about a seemingly evil plan, which provides a lot of laughs in itself, but it also involves these great international locations, which should allow us to feel as though we are traveling alongside her to a small village in Africa or to the city of Venice.
"The resulting meeting of cultures has a great folksy appeal, and the kind of open-hearted empathy that made Ted Lasso work.”
O’Donoghue, who appeared in Irish soap opera "Ros na Rún" for nine seasons,
added: “I started my writing career as a screenwriter, and when I penned Sister
Agatha, I hoped that my naughty nun would make it to the screen one day! I’m
thrilled that Colleen and her wonderful company feel the same."
“Since the arrival of the pandemic, our senior citizens have been placed center
stage; how we all rallied together to protect them from COVID emphasized how
much we value and respect those of a certain vintage. And that commitment
perfectly encapsulates the spirit of my leading lady. She might be 118 years old, but Sister Agatha refuses to believe that life has a best before date.”
O’Donoghue’s most recent novels – "Colin and the Concubine" and "Crazy for You" – are published by Mercier Press.
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