Although the release date for 'Saving Private Ryan' has been put back in the US until July, the build up for Stephen Speilberg's picture, which was partly shot in Ireland last year, has begun. 'Saving Private Ryan' is apparently a deeply emotive World War II epic about the attempts to rescue the last surviving son of a widow from the heart of war-torn Europe.
Trade Mags report people coming out of screenings devastated and in tears as gut-wrenching scenes of warfare combine with the mother-son scenario, as well as a cast that includes Tom Hanks, Ed Burns, Giovanni Ribisi and Matt Damon all take their toll on a sentimental audience already baying for more after Titanic, which also combined the same ingredients to spectacular box office success.
The D-Day landings in the film were shot on the Coast in County Wexford with the assistance of Irish Army FCA Reserves as extras, adding yet again to their acting CV's after their work in Mel Gibson's 'Braveheart'. The FCA seem to be becoming the regular standby for producers and directors filming in Europe who need a large disciplined force of extras for battle scenes; if this keeps up joining the FCA may become the quickest way into the film industry in Ireland.
In related news Speilberg and Michael Crichton were recently cleared in a St. Louis court of stealing the idea for 'Twister' from the documentary maker Stephen Kessler.
