FAQ

In the land of Eire, there are two types of little people, the solitary leprechauns and the trooper fairies, and they hate each other. Into this feud stumbles New Yorker Jack Woods (Randy Quaid), who is on some sort of clandestine business mission. Jack rents a cottage that is also inhabited by the Muldoon family—Seamus (Colm Meaney), Mary (Zoë Wanamaker), and their son Mickey (Daniel Betts)—all of them leprechauns. Jack falls in love with an Irish lass, Kathleen Fitzpatrick (Orla Brady), whose chastity is closely guarded by her four beefy brothers—John (Conor McDermottroe), George (Peter Serafinowicz), Harry (Owen Sharpe), and James (Gary Lydon). Meanwhile, Mickey Muldoon falls in love with Princess Jessica (Caroline Carver), daughter of Fairy King Boric (Roger Daltrey). When Boric accuses the leprechauns of kidnapping Jessica, and Seamus accuses Jessica of bewitching Mickey, war breaks out between the fairies and the leprechauns, even though the Grand Banshee (Whoopi Goldberg) forbids it. Jack finds himself caught in the middle. Add to Jack's woes the fact that Kathleen has found out his real reason for moving to Ireland.

The Magical Legend of the Leprechauns is a made-for-TV movie based on a screenplay by British writer Peter Barnes.

It wasn't filmed in Ireland at all but on the Ashridge Park estate, about 20 miles northwest of London. Ashridge Park consists of some 5,000 acres of fields, hills, and woodlands, much of which is held in the National Trust. Other locations were used in Devon and Cornwall in the far south west of England. However, the storyline is set in Carrick, a small village in County Donegal in the North West of Ireland.

In the very first scene, as Jack speaks on his cellphone while still on the train to Carrick, he is reminded by his New York employer—Sperry, Sperry, and McGurk—that this trip is not a vacation, although that's what he tells people. Later, it is revealed that his mission is to scout out the land as a place for his company to build a retirement village for Americans.

Jack receives a flask of Irish potcheen (aka poteen), a type of whiskey distilled from barley or potatoes and said to be one of the strongest alcoholic beverages in the world. Of course, Seamus Muldoon helps him to drink most of it.

Mickey and his friends crash the midsummer fairy ball, against the rule of the Grand Banshee, by knocking out a few faires and taking on their costumes. It's at the ball that Mickey meets Jessica, daughter of the fairy king.

They look like Amanita muscaria (aka "the death cap"), one of the most poisonous mushrooms known. Do not eat them should you come upon them in the wild.

The ending credits list them as Fergal Fay, Nula McMannigan, and the Irish Folk Ballet Company.

It's called a bodhrán.

Michaelmas is the feast day in certain Christian calendars of Saint Michael and other archangels. Michaelmas falls on 29 September, which may or may not be a Tuesday in any given year. Boric refers to this as the day on which he will stop making decrees and it is "Whenever I decide."

She endows upon them the price of mortality, which means that they can die.

Pure and simple, sex discrimination. As explained by her brother, "you're a little lady."

Traditionally, leprechauns can't fly. In the lore of this movie, however, a leprechaun in love can fly.

Fearing that the war between the fairies and leprechauns and the destruction of nature is all because of them, Mickey and Jessica agree to fake their deaths as a way of telling their parents how far they would go rather than be parted. Uncle Jentee (Stephen Moore) provides them with a poison and its antidote but warns that the antidote must be taken within 10 minutes of drinking the poison. When they hear about Mickey and Jessica's plan to kill themselves, the two armies meet on the battlefield to discuss peace between them, but the whole conflict looks like it's about to start up again, so Mickey and Jessica drink the poison. With the bodies of their dying children between them, Boric and Seamus shake hands and agree to peace. At that moment, Kathleen rides in with the antidote but the ground suddenly caves in due to a tunnel that fairy General Bulstrode (Frank Finlay) was having dug as an escape route. The vial containing the antidote sails through the air and smashes against a rock. As Jessica and Mickey's bodies begin to dissolve, the Grand Banshee suddenly shows up. She agrees to save Mickey and Jessica on the condition that everyone—fairies and leprechauns—truly wants peace. Everyone agrees, so the Grand Banshee reverses the dissolution of their bodies, and the tree of Mother Nature leafs out again. Suddenly, all of the slain fairies and leprechauns, including Sean Devine (Tony Curran), reappear amidst much cheering and happiness. Meanwhile, the Fitzpatrick brothers, who were busy digging for Seamus' gold, dig one final hole and hit oil instead. In the final scene, Jessica and Mickey are married as Jack and Kathleen watch. Slowly, all the wee folk go invisible until only Jessica and Mickey are left. They wave to Jack and Kathleen, and then they, too, disappear. Jack and Kathleen kiss.