Where Was Wild Mountain Thyme Filmed?

of Where Was Wild Mountain Thyme Filmed? Kriti Mehrotra
Updated August 3, 2022

Written and Directed by Oscar, Tony, and Pulitzer Prize-winning John Patrick Shanley, ‘Wild Mountain Thyme’ is an ethnic romantic comedy that has been adapted from Shanley’s play ‘Outside Mullingar,’ which ran on Broadway in 2014. This delicate, old-fashioned, and transporting movie is as stress-free as it is charming. But in saying that, it also tends to be a bit bewildering because of all the dilemmas the characters face on a day-to-day basis.

‘Wild Mountain Thyme’ is the story of Rosemary Muldoon (Emily Blunt) and Anthony Reilly (Jamie Dornan), who grew up together on neighboring farms in the Irish Midlands. But while Rosemary is vying for Anthony’s love and affection, he seems oblivious to her true feelings until his American cousin, Adam (Jon Hamm), comes around to take over his family farm. Rash decisions, rivalry, pushbacks, and pure romance – what more could we want?

Wild Mountain Thyme Filming Locations

The opening montage in the movie, of beautiful sea cliffs giving way to deep valleys and trickling brooks, highlighting the lush and gorgeous green countryside of Ireland, set the tone, and the surroundings, of ‘Wild Mountain Thyme’ perfectly. And we’re not going to lie – it also filled us with complete and utter wanderlust. So, if you, like us, are curious to know the details about where the movie was filmed, let us take you through the location.

County Mayo, Ireland

‘Wild Mountain Thyme’ is filmed in North County Mayo, close to the town of Ballina, and in the beautiful village of Crossmalina. The verdant patchwork fields and the high mountains that we got the opportunity to see are all located in that area. But we should also mention that in the five or so weeks that it took to finish shooting the entire movie, filming also moved and continued in Ballina for a more concrete stage. And, of course, being Ireland, actual rain greeted us at almost every step of the way.

Following the well-worn Irish cinematic clichés, ‘Wild Mountain Thyme’ includes a land dispute, an unexpected death, the arrival of a strange foreigner, and the potential of a love triangle. Honestly, ever since the entertainment industry rolled into Crossmolina nearly seven decades ago to film John Ford’s Academy Award-winning ‘The Quiet Man,’ this romantic-comedy norm has been followed to a tee. And ‘Wild Mountain Thyme,’ with its setting, delivers it to the best of its abilities as well.

In an interview with ‘The Dave and Ed Podcast,‘ John Patrick Shanley talked about why Ireland was perfect for the movie adaptation of ‘Outside Mullingar,’ explaining that the landscape and the farm animals were “the great unseen characters” for him. Adding to that, he described his experience with shooting in the rainy weather as well, saying, “Basically whatever happened meteorologically I said, “This is exactly what I was hoping for,” and it usually turned out to work out very well.”

Read More: Is Wild Mountain Thyme A True Story?

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