The director of a documentary about Richard Harris has revealed his son Jared was reluctant to talk about his famous father for a long time.
Talented Adrian Sibley directed The Ghost of Richard Harris, which explores the life and times of one of Ireland’s most famous stars and will also include interviews with his three sons Damian, Jared and Jamie who openly speak candidly about their father.
Led by Jared, a successful actor in his own right, the film reveals that there was much more to Richard Harris than the hellraising image he created.
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He was also a singer who had chart success and released five albums, a published poet who wrote throughout his life and a republican who was passionate about Irish independence.
But Adrian told us it was difficult for Jared to open up about his father for the feature film.
He said: "It was hard for him. I met Richard 20 years ago and I’ve known Jared for quite a while because we were in LA for quite some time.
"He’s never wanted to talk about his father. He’s always said that actually the last thing he would want to do is talk about his dad when he spent his whole career trying to get away from being called Richard Harris’ son.
"But fortunately, now, because he is doing quite well himself, he felt the time was right, and I managed to persuade him to talk about his dad. It’s very moving. It’s hard being the son of a guy with that much force and verve."
The documentary also has insight from co-stars such as actors Russell Crowe, Vanessa Redgrave, Stephen Rea, Malachy McCourt and Dick Cavett. Other notable faces include playwright Jim Sheridan, producers Sandy Lieberson and Lelia Doolan, activist Noel Pearson, and musicians Jimmy Webb and Phil Coulter.
Adrian opened up about his own experience meeting Richard, describing him as a "force of nature", even as a young man.
"I was going to do a documentary for the BBC with him. I was introduced to him at the Savoy about 20 years ago, 22 years ago, just before he died.
"We went out for the night together. He had lots of people with him, he was paying for everybody, but I felt like he was only talking to me because he kind of wanted something, to see if we would get on.
"I thought his stories were great, he was charming, he was funny, although he was a bit scary, you wouldn’t want to say the wrong thing to Richard, he was like a force of nature even at that age. I thought he was unlike anybody I’d met."
But Adrian hit a stumbling block with filming saying the UK didn’t want it and Screen Ireland came to the rescue.
"It was quite hard to get it made. Nobody in England wanted to do it, that’s why I ended up in Ireland and Screen Ireland backed us, which was great and put money behind us to do it.
"But I actually don’t agree with the idea of limiting somebody that lived their life in a different way to how we live it now."
He said Richard was a "wild guy" and despite his drug and booze addictions, he never went down "the Harvey Weinstein route".
"He came up with a line, he said that with his life, it was like riding a wild horse, being a jockey on a wild horse. But he managed to stay on for most of it. He was an amazing character.
"I knew that he never went down the Harvey Weinstein route, Richard was very much forward, full frontal, but you could walk away if you didn’t want to see what you were seeing.
"A lot of people did want to see what they were seeing. I was very happy with that, and I knew that he didn’t transgress and he respected people. But he was a wild guy."
Adrian said Harris’ own sons describe their father’s binge drinking and debauchery as "lost weekends."
"His sons call it his lost weekends. John Lennon had it with drugs. He ended up around Europe and ended up drunk for seven days with Malachy McCourt and with an assortment of various women, if I can say that.
"An assortment of women that were partaking in various activities which potentially would be frowned upon today if Colin Farrell, or somebody, wanted to go down that path."
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