The Commitments

Throw together a handful of unknown actors.
Add a spoonful of soulful tunes, whisk vigorously and what do you get?
 

Well, that's the recipe for success employed by film director Alan Parker nearly ten years ago,
and he pulled a sure-fire hit, "THE COMMITMENTS", out of the oven.

"I was a butcher's apprentice when I was 15 and had other jobs'" says Commitments co-star Kenneth McCluskey (aka Derek 'Meatman' Scully) "but I loved acting and decided I wanted to act."

Pre-Commitments, it seems his life was not dissimilar to that of his character.

"I had a group a bit later on" he continues. "RTF, the Irish television network, did a video for us and that went out to one of their shows and someone had seen it on the television and said to the people who were casting the film. 'Look, you've got to check these guys out', and that's how we got an audition."

Getting a part for an Alan Parker production is no mean feat.

McCluskey, an unknown, spent weeks reading for parts and jamming with a session band before cast executives could come to a decision. In the months that followed though, the 23 year old had the time of his life learning about the movie business.

The film's success surprised everyone including its stars.

"It's strange," says McCluskey, "because of all of a sudden you're walking down a street and up come three or four screaming girls crying and wanting autographs. Instead of saying 'Hello' they touch you like you're going to break, like you're a little infant, and it's quite odd, but people are just showing their appreciation of your work."

Based on a book by Roddy Doyle, The Commitments is a rock 'n' roll romp from start to finish. Derek and his friend Outspan, ask mutual acquaintance Jimmy Rabbite to manage their band and set their sights on the big time.

Jimmy dutifully recruits Dean, Deco, Steven and Joey, and introduces the boys to a trio of backing singers, Bernie, Natalie and Imelda. Things, perhaps go from bad to worse, and just as the band starts to make a name for itself, internal complications lead to everyone going their separate ways.

For McCluskey a glittering career beckoned, but he decided to consolidate his position for a while before trying to move on.

I thought, 'well Dublin's good, but I like New York,' So I went to New York and studied acting at the acting studio where Marlon Brando, Robert DeNiro and Paul Newman trained."

Following in their showbiz footsteps, he went on to appear alongside Tom Cruise in the film Far and Away and starred in several stage plays in his adopted home town.

Its The Commitments, he's forced to admit, that's given him his greatest role to date, and he has already reprised over 1,000 times for the Stars of The Commitments stage show, which includes all the film's best loved songs.