To keep an "Edge" between the actors, the director only let them meet for the first time on the actual day of shoot. Donie Ryan who plays 'Norman' kept in character and became the social outcast Norman to such an extent that he didn't speak to the crew and ate his lunch by himself. When Pagan McGrath (Elena) arrived in the afternoon for her scenes, she introduced herself to Donie who promptly ignored her, giving the "...right amount of tension and nervousness between the characters".
Originally planned as a 3-day shoot in two locations, when the crew and director arrived at the first location for the "Hideaway", they discovered that it had been vandalized so badly that it was impossible to use and lost a days shooting. They lost another day looking for an alternative location but couldn't find one. Eventually the director dressed and used his own house for the internal shots and cleared out his garden shed and dressed it for the internal "Hideaway" scenes. The whole film was shot in 18-hours straight through.
Upon its theatrical release in Ireland, Romantic Hideaway was shown as the support film to Hollywood multi-award winning blockbuster Argo (2012) directed by and starring Ben Affleck.
Official Selection for the Underground Short Film Festival 2013 and the Marbella International Film Festival 2013.
Official Selection of the Underground Cinema Film Festival 2013 (Dublin, Ireland) and shortlisted for The Smalls Film Festival 2013 (London, UK)