Main Header Logo

Dear Erin – This Is Not Us

The movie was fake.

The stereotypes are real.

As long as Hollywood has been making movies, they’ve been telling the same story about the Irish. At our best we’re simple, hopeless romantics with a quiet, rural life. At our worst we’re drunken, violent, dirty, law-breakers. Either way, we’re almost always a joke or a punchline. You’d think by now, we’d be past this. But if you’ve seen some of Hollywood’s recent depictions of Ireland, you’d understand why someone had to say something.

We thought it was time to call it out. We created a trailer for a film that we hope never gets made, and filled it with all of the tired, clichéd portrayals of Irish people often seen in Hollywood movies.

At EPIC The Irish Emigration Museum, we tell the real stories of the Irish—gritty, inspiring, surprising, and true. If you want to understand who we really are, come see for yourself.

BOOK TICKETS
Cover photo for the spoof movie "Dear Erin", showing a stereotypical Irish man writing a letter in front of a pint of Guinness and a whiskey. In the background is beautiful scenery of wild Irish mountains.

Watch The Trailer

Watch The Reveal

They Didn’t See It Coming…

When we released the trailer, the internet lit up.

Comments poured in across social media—shock, outrage, laughter, confusion. Some thought it was satire. Others were horrified it might be real. Everyone had something to say. And when people saw Love/Hate’s Peter Coonan in the lead role? That pushed things over the edge.

“Fran would never.”
“Fran’s sold out.”

But no one spotted the clue hiding in plain sight: Depiction Films. A not-so-subtle nod to EPIC. Because this wasn’t just a trailer. It was a conversation starter.

Here’s what people were saying…

BOOK TICKETS

Cinema, Stereotypes & Storytelling

EPIC takes on Letterboxd: Our top four Irish movies that really understand Ireland

Comforting, or harmful? The impact of Hollywood stereotypes of Ireland

How To De-Stereotype A Film Like Dear Erin – And Other “Oirish” Films

This Is Not Us

In 2022, we created Paddy McFlaherty to expose what Google thinks the Irish look like.

Read more

In 2023, we built Paddy AI to show how tech still misunderstands the Irish.

Read more