Southie (film)

Southie is a 1999 American film directed by John Shea and starring Donnie Wahlberg. The film centers on Danny Quinn (Wahlberg) who returns home to South Boston from New York City and gets stuck between his friends, who are supported by one Irish gang, and his family, which are members of another. The film also stars Rose McGowan, Anne Meara, Will Arnett, Lawrence Tierney, Robert Wahlberg, and Amanda Peet. Memorable scenes were shot at the South Boston Yacht Club and Bowlarama on East Broadway.

Production

Southie was originally written as "Brass Ring" by two young first-time screenwriters from Boston, Jimmy Cummings and Dave McLaughlin. In 1995 they brought their screenplay to New York where it was given by the original producer, Merrill Holtzman, to Shea to read. Shea met with Cummings and thought that the script was "full of promise". Shea felt that Cummings and McLaughlin, who had both grown up in Boston, had captured the flavor of the dialogue and of the characters in the Irish American community but felt that the beginning of the movie and the original ending, in which Danny Quinn kills Joey Ward needed to be changed . Over the next year Shea spent time in South Boston with Cummings getting to know the neighborhood that Cummings had grown up in, worked with the writers on the screenplay and eventually agreed to direct the film. During the next year they continued to write in partnership as they scouted locations and put the pieces of the film production together.