‘Byzantium’, the latest film by Irish director Neil Jordan (The Borgias, Ondine) is set to begin shooting on location in Hastings, UK in the first week of December, moving to Ireland in mid-December until the beginning of February.

The fantasy thriller project is confirmed to shoot in Ardmore Studios and around the Dublin and Wicklow area. Producers at Irish production company Parallel Films are also currently scouting Irish locations in the West and South West of the country.

‘Byzantium’ was written by Moira Buffini and will star IFTA winning Irish actress Saoirse Ronan (Hanna, Atonement), British actress Gemma Arterton (Prince of Persia, Quantum of Solace) and ‘X-Men’ star Caleb Landry.

Hot on the heels of ‘Twilight’, Neil Jordan’s flick ’Byzantium’ is a thriller which tells the story of a mother and daughter vampire duo, who form a deadly pact. Other cast members include Brit favourites Sam Riley (Brighton Rock, 13) and Daniel Mays (The Adventures of Tintin, Doctor Who).

’Byzantium’ is a co-production between Parallel Films and UK production company Number 9 and is expected to release in 2012. Producers are Alan Moloney (Neverland) of Parallel films and Liz Karlsen (Made in Dagenham) of Number 9 Films and Stephen Woolley (Perrier’s Bounty).

The film carries an estimated mid-range budget with funding support from Irish Film Board and the UK Film Council.

Source

Monday, 21st November 2011: ISPCC Ambassador Oscar Nominated Actress Saoirse Ronan and Leinster and International Rugby Star Jamie Heaslip took time out of their busy schedules today to join Elverys Sports and the ISPCC to launch the sale of ISPCC beanie hats in Elverys Sports stores this Christmas.

These colourful, fun beanie hats make the ideal stocking filler and are available to purchase in all 54 Elverys Sports stores and on www.elverys.ie. Priced at €3.99, Elverys Sports will donate €2 of the selling price to the ISPCC. Elverys Sports hope to raise €60,000 from this initiative.

Elverys have also launched a special Christmas competition in store, where they will donate Elverys Sports hampers to the ISPCC to give to underprivileged children this Christmas. These hampers are to be chosen by Elverys Sports customers and those whose hampers are chosen can win great prizes with the top prize of a Trip to Disney Land.

This is Elverys Sports second year to be involved with the ISPCC, raising over €70,000 for the children’s charity in 2010. The highlight of Elverys support of the ISPCC was when a team of Elverys Sports employees climbed Mount Kilimanjaro in October with all fundraising in aid of the ISPCC.

“This is the second year we have launched special ISPCC products and after the success of the Gym Bags last year we are really excited about this years beanie hats. These are available in 9 different colours and in Kids and Adults sizes. Already sales have been really positive so we hope that our customers will continue to show their generosity and help the ISPCC continue their great work”, commented Aidan Kilcoyne Assistant Marketing Manger Elverys Sports.

Speaking at the launch, Anne Cooney, ISPCC Corporate Fundraising Manager said: “Elverys Sports’ support over the past year has been invaluable and we are delighted to have the continued enthusiasm and commitment of Elverys Sports and their customers. The beanie hats are a simple, cost effective way to show your support for ISPCC. The funds raised from the sale of these fabulous beanie hats will help the ISPCC reach out to and support some of the most vulnerable children in Ireland this Christmas”.

To keep up to date with activities and events, please visit www.ispcc.ie and Elverys Sports Facebook page www.facebook.com/elveryssports.

Source

SAOIRSE Ronan is scaling new heights with noteperfect preparations for her latest role.

The young star has confounded musical experts by learning to play a complicated Beethoven piano sonata in just 12 weeks, despite having never played the instrument before.

The 17-year-old also stunned director Neil Jordan and left him “speechless” with her grasp of a difficult piece that even accomplished pianists find tricky.

Ms Ronan had never had a piano lesson in her life when Mr Jordan cast her as a music-loving vampire in his upcoming movie ‘Byzantium’.

The actress will play one half of a mother and daughter duo who arrive in a small English town in the movie, which co-stars Gemma Arterton and begins shooting in the UK and Bray’s Ardmore Studios next month.

“There’s this scene in the film where my vampire characters sits down to play an old piano and entrances everyone with her playing,” Ms Ronan revealed yesterday.

Mr Jordan had expected the Co Carlow teenager to mime her way through Beethoven’s ‘Piano Sonata Opus 2, No 3’.

Lessons

But he’d underestimated the iron will of ‘The Lovely Bones’ star, who immediately went in search of sheet music for the movement and enlisted the help of classically trained pianist and teacher Yvonne Collier, based in Bunclody, Co Wexford.

“My vampire Eleanor is 200 years old in the film and had been playing piano that long, so there was a bit of pressure but I wanted it to look real,” she added.

Ms Ronan rented a baby grand piano and began lessons, putting in two hours a day to get the complicated fingerwork just right. And her progress was simply “miraculous”, said Ms Collier, who watched her young protege in amazement as she got to grips with the difficult piece.

“I started teaching Saoirse the piano with little exercises so she could learn the notes,” Ms Collier said.

“Then we did lots of Lady GaGa pieces before moving on to Beethoven. Since her very first piano lesson it is truly remarkable what Saoirse can now do on the piano.

“The E minor middle section of the piece involves the left hand crossing over the right; a technique very difficult to master even with years of experience but one that Saoirse has mastered within a few weeks,” she said.

Ms Collier said she was encouraging the young actress to continue with the musical studies she’d shown such an aptitude for. “She can master anything she puts her mind to,” Ms Collier added.

Conor Linehan, piano teacher at the Royal Irish Academy of Music, said: “Beethoven’s ‘Piano Sonata Opus 2, No 3’ is real virtuoso piece.

Beethoven composed it as a young man and it’s a show-off piece. The idea that anyone could manage to play any part of that in just 12 or so weeks is absolutely incredible,” said Mr Linehan.

Saoirse’s proud dad Paul Ronan said: “She is such a perfectionist, she wouldn’t let me watch her practising until she got it just right.” Mr Ronan was so impressed with his daughter’s progress he ordered a new piano for her to practise on at the family home in Co Carlow.

“I filmed Saoirse playing on my iPhone and when I showed the clip to Neil (Jordan), he was speechless, absolutely speechless. Then he went off and found this Russian piece, ‘Shostakovich Prelude No 2’, in a minor which he also wants Saoirse to play in the film,” said Mr Ronan.

But all the piano scales could be having an adverse effect on the teenager’s social life.

Asked if she had a boyfriend yesterday, Ms Ronan joked: “I have a romantic relationship with my piano.”

Source

On Halloween a report came out listing the actors that would potentially be taking one of two lead roles in the Andrew Niccol-directed adaptation of Stephanie Meyer’s The Host. Though a total of eight actors were mentioned in the article, only two of them were going to walk away smiling. Now it seems like the selections have been made.

According to sources over at EW, Max Irons, son of Oscar winner Jeremy Irons, will play Jared, the boyfriend Melanie Stryder (Saoirse Ronan); while Jake Abel has landed the role of Ian, a guy who falls in love with the alien inside of Melanie. Confused? Well, the story is about an alien called “The Wanderer” that comes to Earth and inhabits Melanie’s body, so expect a complicated love triangle (or is it a square?). The book was the first novel put out by Meyer following the end of the Twilight series. Irons doesn’t have a large number of films on his resume, but has had roles in movies like Being Julia, Unrequited Love, Dorian Gray, and Red Riding Hood. He also has a recurring role in the UK television series The Runaway. Abel’s resume is much longer and he even has a previous credit alongside Ronan, as both actors starred in Peter Jackson’s adaptation of The Lovely Bones.

Source

ACTRESS Saoirse Ronan has been transported back in time to appear in some of the best-loved Irish films from down the years.

The time travel — with the help of some digital special effects — was done to promote the Irish Film Institute Archive Preservation Fund yesterday.

The fund was set up to raise €300,000 to ensure the storage and preservation of historically important Irish films.

As part of the launch, Saoirse starred in a promotional video that sees her digitally placed in some of the best-loved film moments, including scenes from ‘Once’ and ‘My Left Foot’.

The Carlow actress also appears in documentary footage such as the arrival of JFK at Dublin Airport and the GAA All-Ireland finals.

“The written word can be powerful and beautiful — but films transport us to another place in a way that even the most evocative words never can,” she said.

“If we lose our films we lose that other place forever. The IFI Irish Film Archive urgently needs your support to save and preserve our film heritage.”

The IFI stores 27,000 cans of film and 10,000 broadcast tapes in climate-controlled surroundings.

The collection represents every decade since the first Irish cinema opened in 1909, with the oldest feature film preserved being ‘Lad from Old Ireland’ dating from 1910.

However, the space in the IFI stores has reached capacity and the institute needs to raise €300,000 to build an Irish Film Archives Preservation and Research Centre to protect film collections at risk of deterioration if not stored properly.

Donations will be accepted through www.ifi.ie or in person at the IFI in Temple Bar, Dublin.

Source

Wild Bunch acquired overseas rights to Violet & Daisy, the directorial debut of Precious scribe Geoffrey Fletcher that was screened as a work in progress at Toronto. Wild Bunch will sell at AFM while CAA handles domestic rights. Fletcher wrote the script and produced with Bonnie Timmerman. The film stars Saoirse Ronan, Alexis Bledel and James Gandolfini. John Penotti and James Skotchdople are producing. Ronan and Bledel play two teen assassins who face off against a series of adversaries, including a mysterious man (Gandolfini). Marianne Jean-Baptiste and Danny Trejo also star.

Source