As I reported in my last
column, the second series of
The Mystic Knights of Tir na nOg
has indeed been canceled. A lot of the speculation as to why mumbles
vaguely that disappointment with S481 was behind the decision, but
it would appear that a ruthless ratings system on behalf of its
American founders, Saban International, was the real assassin. With
a slate of about half a billion at any given time the company employs
a series target ratings system and if the figures don't come up
to scratch, well, sorry guy, but take a hike�.
So, what's due to sneak
into the country now then the long evenings are upon us, and what's
been knocking about for the last month ?
Though the Sky May
Fall is still sneaking about Dublin under the watchful eye of
John McKenzie, the man who brought us The Long Good Friday. Starring
Joan Allen as the late Veronica Guerin, Pierce Brosnan, fresh from
the set of St.Patrick, takes the garda role and Mannix Flynn
plays the evil Gilligan. The fact that half of the extras playing
Flynn/Gilligan's cronies were in fact real life Gilligan cronies
was mentioned to me by someone working on the production, so I reckon
the camera gear is safe enough.
Gerry Stembridge's All
About Adam wrapped on Saturday (was that really a sixteen day
shoot ?), with Stuart Townsend taking the lead as Adam. Described
as a comedy about a man and two women it also features Judy Hudson
(Goldie Hawn's even more irritating daughter) and our own Rosaleen
Linehan.
On the lower budget
front, Romek (hope I spelled that right) Dmitry has just completed
an interesting four minute animated piece for the Darklight festival.
Called Airplane, the film was shot by James Mather using
the green screen process and copious models and shows the final
minutes of a planes descent into shrapnel. Post production is currently
being completed in The Yard and the film will be the first Irish
production to be transferred to a digital film print, so budding
Spielberg's take note.
And what's due in ?
Well at varying stages
of vagueness I managed to track down the following 'looking pretty
certain' arrivals. Barry Levinson looks like dropping in to the
South to shoot An Everlasting Piece, written by New York-based
Irish actor and writer Barry McEvoy, an unlikely tale about the
bond between a Northern Catholic, a Northern Protestant and a hairpiece.
And as soon as he can get out of his Garda uniform and across the
city to Ardmore, the duracell battery that is Pierce Brosnan is
due to start in a (not altogether wise) remake of that dated Steve
McQueen vehicle "The Thomas Crown Affair" (best remembered
for its whiny "Windmills of my Mind"). Also rumored to be at a moving
nicely along development stage is the Quinn brothers second Irish
feature, an adaptation of J P Dunleavy's notorious novel, The
Gingerbread Man. Jimmy Smallhorne too, fresh from a Tarantinoesque
year of film festivals and Pat Kenny interviews on the back of his
impressive debut, 2by4, is due to return to the old sod to shoot
an as yet untitled film about a group of women from Ballyfermot
who head off to Lourdes, (just please don't let Sinead cameo) while
Alan Maloney looks set to get up and running with the, can you wait
for it ?, searing sequel to Falling for a Dancer, the aptly named
Falling For a Dancer II. Also rumored to be 'coming in soon'
is the long awaited screen adaptation of Busby's Babes, a
film about some football team or other, but no doubt the suits will
wait 'til the results are in on the George Best Story before green-lighting
that one. The unflappable Edwina Forkin is producing Pierce Lehane's
Oscailt winning script "Ten Steps to the Door" on 35mm as
I write, with Gareth Keogh from Double Carpet, Colm O'Maolai from
Zanzibar and Liam Heffernon from Clash of the Ash�oh yeah, and Glenroe.
Ronan Fox will do the camera honours and John Hind the design.
Nicky Fennell 6/5/99
