Woman kept all of Mel Gibson’s cigarette butts from Braveheart
...and other strange and intriguing stories of how the Hollywood f ilm production machine brought magic, money and mayhem to rural Ireland
AN OBSESSED Mel Gibson fan still has the cigarette butts the Hollywood star smoked on the set of Braveheart, a forthcoming TV series will reveal.
The Navan woman, who appeared as an extra in the 1995 film, has turned her home into a shrine to the Australian star.
Former Fair City actor Seamus Moran said the woman, now in her 70s, was one of the most interesting people he met while fronting a bilingual TV series, Hollywood In Éirinn, which visits the small towns and villages that hosted acclaimed Hollywood productions.
The actor, who starred as restaurant owner Mike Gleeson in the soap for 12 years, said he picked up fascinating stories along the way.
‘The funniest interview was with the Navan woman who was delighted to get on set in Braveheart,’ he said. ‘All the castle stuff in the movie was done in Trim and she has a huge number of mementoes. She has them in her house – and the funniest one was a little bag with all Mel Gibson’s cigarette butts. These are the filter butts, the daytime cigarettes, not the other ones.’
Seamus also travelled to Glenties and discovered that superstar Meryl Streep was left severely rattled by the flight to the remote Donegal village for the premiere of 1998 film Dancing At Lughnasa.
‘The film was set in Donegal, although they didn’t actually film it in Glenties,’ said Seamus.
‘Writer Brian Friel was determined that Glenties would get some publicity out of it, so they decided to have the premiere there – even though they did not have a cinema. They converted the school hall into a cinema and Meryl Streep flew down to Sligo from Dublin on a small plane.
‘Apparently the journey was so rough she vowed not to go back the same way, “I’m not going back by plane – I want a car!”’ she told the organisers.
‘You know what they drive like in Donegal – and the roads are so rough – but she was still happier travelling by road. And this was nearly 20 years ago, so it would have taken five or six hours.’
Seamus also visited Curracloe in Co. Wexford, where Steven Spielberg made Saving Private Ryan in 1998, with Tom Hanks and Matt Damon.
‘The guy who supplied the land for the opening sequence that lasted 20 minutes was striking gold for the second time – he had found a bronze hoard when he was excavating for a house 10 years before,’ said Seamus.
‘He also had a dog that kept running on set and Tom Hanks started calling him Hooch – after the dog from his film Turner & Hooch. The dog had to be kept indoors because he was ruining the filming.’
Seamus said his crew had a lot of fun filming in Co. Kerry, where Far And Away, starring Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman, was made in 1992.
‘This is probably Irish people’s least favourite Hollywood movie ever and everyone criticises the accents,’ he said. ‘Most of the stories from there revolved around money because it was Kerry. The first question they ask is, “How are you doing?” And the second is, “How much?”
‘One guy spent a lot of time trying to get money out of us but he was not successful.’
Hollywood In Éirinn will air on TG4 later this year
‘I’m not going back by plane – I want a car!’