Ireland given starring role in Hollywood film industry bible
IRELAND has become the new mecca for Hollywood, according to the film industry bible, The Hollywood Reporter. And it revealed a staggering 120million people around the world saw the new Star Wars trailer, set on Skellig Michael, in just the first 24 hours. The two-minute clip for The Last Jedi, one of the most expensive commercials ever made, was obviously a massive plug for the film but ‘also serves to promote something else entirely: Ireland’s growing status in the film world’. ‘Ireland’s ability to stand in for other locations, real and imagined, is a significant draw,’ says the magazine. ‘The cobbled streets of Dublin have doubled for London numerous times, but the city also has portrayed the likes of New York, Washington DC and Toronto.’ This is evident in Vita And Virginia, the Virginia Woolf romance starring Gemma Arterton and Elizabeth Debicki. Locations such as Trinity College have stood in for London’s famed Bloomsbury literary district.
The magazine noted that the Star Wars footage shows Daisy Ridley’s Rey character undertaking her Jedi training ‘on the spectacularly craggy island of Skellig Michael, off Ireland’s southwest coast’.
It said: ‘Come December, many more will get to marvel at the biggest film to ever land on the Emerald Isle. While no doubt the cherry on top, Lucasfilm’s The Last Jedi is just one example of the foreign investment that has begun to pour into Ireland’s film and TV industry.’
The magazine said Ireland pioneered production tax incentives in 1987 – and other countries followed suit.
‘But with Ireland’s tax credits upped to 32% in 2015 – and now covering international cast and crew working there – Hollywood studios and major producers have taken full advantage.’
But it was not just for financial reasons Hollywood was heading over here, according tot he magazine. Disney, NBC Universal, Showtime and others were also impressed with the ‘sizable talent base of experienced crew; new, state-of-the-art studio space; and the assistance of the Irish Film Board’.
It said the IFB was not only vital in Star Wars getting clearance to film in the Skelligs but also helped to get the Navy to patrol their shores.
The Hollywood Reporter said: ‘Co-productions, in fact, have become something of an Irish specialty in recent years.’
It points at the movie Brooklyn, the Brie Larson film Room, and The Lobster, with Colin Farrell.
‘These films helped Irish productions nab seven Oscar nominations in 2016, the same year the country welcomed a production spend of $296million.’ In Limerick, ‘the new Troy Studios, which opened in October 2016, is Ireland’s largest production space, located at a former Dell factory with some 350,000 square feet under one roof’, said the magazine.
The studio had already landed a coup with George R.R. Martin’s new sci-fi project Nightflyers.
‘If Nightflyers goes to series, it is likely to take over Troy Studios for the foreseeable future.’
It could also give Ireland the stage space for Hollywood blockbusters. ‘We’re definitely now able to compete,’ said Siún Ní Raghallaigh, who heads Troy and Dublin’s Ardmore Studios.
‘A talent base of experienced crew’