From The Banshees of Inisherin to EO and Shrek, how the donkeys carry films in which they co-star

The buzz when The Banshees of Inisherin premiered wasn’t about its comic narrative or Colin Farrell’s performance, but his character’s miniature donkey, Jenny

From the 1966 Robert Bresson classic Au Hasard Balthazar to EO and Shrek, donkeys have added star quality to the films they co-star in

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Colin Farrell with his miniature donkey, Jenny, in a still from “The Banshees of Inisherin”. She isn’t the only donkey starring in a new movie - EO is about a donkey journeying through Europe and observing the best and worst of humanity.

Published: 4:15am, 26 Jan 2023Updated: 4:54am, 26 Jan 2023

When Martin McDonagh’s film The Banshees of Inisherin premiered at last year’s Venice Film Festival, the post-screening buzz – at least in some quarters – wasn’t about the brilliance of Colin Farrell’s lead performance. Or the darkly comic nature of McDonagh’s fable, a grisly story of a friendship gone awry on a small island off the west coast of Ireland in the 1920s.

No, it was all about Jenny, the miniature donkey belonging to Farrell’s character Pádraic, a sheep farmer who lives with his sister Siobhán (Kerry Condon) in a small cottage.

Jenny, a black-furred creature who comes up to waist height on Pádraic, can be seen frequently trooping in through the front door or hanging out in the kitchen, much to the annoyance of Siobhán.

The doleful-looking creature provides great comfort to Pádraic, not least when his best friend, Colm (Brendan Gleeson), inexplicably decides to stop talking to him.

The reason? Preferring to create music for his fiddle in the time he has left, he no longer wishes to listen to Pádraic’s banal chatter about matters such as “the contents” of his donkey’s excrement.

McDonagh, the director behind In Bruges (which starred Farrell and Gleeson) and the double Oscar-winning Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, found the idea of a miniature donkey amusing.