“Liam Neeson would walk up the street with his coat on his shoulders... nobody troubled him”

‘A huge amount of local people were extras. It brought a great buzz to the place’ THE SUMMER of 1995 was almost too much to bear for the cast and crew of Michael Collins, who had little relief from the baking heat of the sun in their heavy tweed costumes.

‘I remember a lot of them saying that it was the summer from hell,’ said Maeve Byrne of the Rathdrum Tourist Office. ‘It was a particularly hot summer.’

Despite this, Maeve has only fond memories of the exciting event in the town, recalling the moment when Hollywood star Julia Roberts rolled into up the Main Street.

‘She drove to and from the set in a car with blacked out windows,’ remembered Maeve. ‘I also saw Liam Neeson quite a bit but didn’t go up to him. He would walk up the street with his coat on his shoulders and go to the pub for a pint. We all took it in our stride here. Nobody troubled him.’

Meanwhile,Tony Pierce managed to brush shoulders with the star while working in The Railway Inn. Used as a changing facility for many of the film’s main actors, it also served as one of the go-to spots for winding down after a long day in front of the camera.

‘Liam was an absolute gent,’ said Tony. ‘He was very down to earth and was very interested in the local history of the town. I met a few of the cast as they all drank there.’

‘I got some photos with them all but I don’t know where they have gone to now.’

Preparations for Michael Collins in Rathdrum began long before Liam and Julia set foot in the town. Six weeks prior to shooting any scenes, all of the overhead cables in Rathdrum were placed underground. The filming itself took place over a period of four days before the place returned to normality and the excitement was but a fond memory for the locals.

‘It was all back to normal after a few weeks,’ said Maeve.

‘It was a great time. A huge amount of people from the village were extras,’ she continued. ‘It brought a great buzz to the place.’p

After witnessing some of the filmingf in the town, Tony said heh often thought of becoming a film extra himself. However, the reality that not all Irish summers echo that of 1995 has made him reconsider the idea.

‘I thought of all of the rainy days on set and soon decided against it!’ he laughed.