Ireland as England as seen on TV
You know, when I talk about things being filmed in Ireland, and you’re sitting in Missouri or Nebraska or somewhere in the US thinking it has little to do with you, it’s because they are coming to screens in America, big or little that I tell you about them.
That TV programme The Tudors for example, starring Jonathan Rhys Meyers, and Sam Neill, will be broadcast to US audiences on the Showtime channel in 2007, a bit far out out for our Calendar, but we’ll come back to it.
In fact the Office of Public Works (OPW), is playing a very active role in film and television production in Ireland:
The OPW manages State property and heritage sites throughout the country, looking after some of the most prestigious buildings and scenic locations in Ireland. They are an important member of the FILM DUBLIN Partnership, the Irish Film Boards network that ensures that Dublin remains an attractive base for film and television production.
Tommy O’Shaughnessy, General Manager in Dublin Castle, has worked with many productions over the years from Michael Collins to Jackie Chan’s film The Medallion and has a huge understanding of the needs of filmmakers
You can therefore expect to see a lot more Irish scenes on your screens, from the Phoenix Park to Dublin Castle and The Royal Hospital in Kilmainham.
Of course much of this Irish scenery you’ll be seeing will be meant to be English scenery, as the London Times laments:
It is a quintessentially English novel by one of Britain’s best-loved authors and set in one of its most unique cities, Bath. But a new television serialisation of Jane Austen’s Northanger Abbey by ITV is to be filmed entirely in Ireland
There is a bit more to this than the tax benefits though - remember if you’re going to go around the world colonizing the place, you really shouldn’t construct its buildings and gardens as your own, or you’ll end up undermining your film and television production industry for period pieces when your empire has evaporated:
Becoming Jane, a movie about Austen’s life starring Anne Hathaway, has just finished filming in Ireland and is due for cinema release early next year. A lavish ball from the late 18th century was re-created in Charleville Forest Castle in Offaly for the story of the real-life love of a 19-year-old Austen for a roguish Irishman, Tom Lefroy.
Bath was used for the BBC’s 1995 adaptation of Persuasion, and its 1980s version of Northanger. But now the city’s unique architecture — the Royal Crescent makes it one of the UK’s finest examples of Georgian architecture — will be re-created in sets in Ireland and on Georgian estates and streets in Dublin and Wicklow. Producers have identified a number of buildings that can double for Bath.
America take note.
See Also:
• Pirates: Dead Man’s Ren Fest
• The Wind That Shakes The Barley: A Personal Review
• Loach Irish Film Opens in Ireland and Britain
Eolaí gan Fhéile:
