Walsh's 'Chatroom' To Be Filmed By Hideo Nakata

Hideo Nakata, the director of 'Ringu', 'The Ring Two' and 'Dark Water', is being lined up to bring Irish writer Enda Walsh's play 'Chatroom' to the big screen. The film will mark Nakata's first original directing effort in the English language.

Walsh is one to watch. His plays are consistently ambitious from his debut Disco Pigs, which he adapted into a film directed by Kirsten Sheridan to more recent efforts like the brilliant Walworth Farce. To add extra fire to his hot streak, he recently co-wrote the screenplay for the Cannes Camera d’Or winning 'Hunger' (see what we think of that in our reviews section). Walsh himself has adapted the script for the psychological thriller about teenagers who urge each other to engage in destructive behaviour. This sounds like every teenager we know but I'm sure Walsh has found something interesting to do.

Hunger Review

Check out our review of award-hoovering debut of director Steve McQueen. The review of Hunger is up in our reviews section here

'Eden' Gets American Release

Good news for Irish Film. Eden has secured a release in the U.S.A. Eugene O'Brien has adapated his own hit stage play and Declan Recks directs. We caught this in the Dublin International Film Festival and were seriously impressed. It's particularly notable that it has managed to travel, given how there is almost no hook and no unique selling point. It's simply about a couple having relationship difficulties in Ireland. That's it.

As with any story, though, it's all in the telling. Check it out ASAP.

'I Sell The Dead' Isn't Getting The Hard Sell

For some reason this movie is slipping under the radar in Ireland (and pretty much everywhere else). OTo be fair, it hasn't been released yet but scarcely a word has been said about it, while any other minor Irish achievement gets guaranteed column inches and air time. It's called I Sell the Dead, it's a stylish horror comedy and it stars a hobbit and Hellboy! Okay it stars Ron Perlman and Dominic Monaghan but close enough. The main point to note is that it was written and directed by Irishman, Glen McQuaid.

McQuaid is a digital FX and compositing specialist who made a number of notable shorts before landing funding for this, his feature debut. Now we know there are Irish people like John Moore who have broken Hollywood via the world of commercials and are making a successful living as directors (or in some cases writers for hire) and there are some who enjoy success with Irish made films that allow them to take on Hollywood projects (Sheridan, Jordan et al) but McQuaid seems to be one of the first Irishmen to go straight to Hollywood with his own project and direct it himself.

It looks inventive and original, which is a nice way of saying it will be either bold and brilliant or awful and embarrassing. Let's hope it gets proper backing and a serious release in America either way.

One acknowledgement: We say Hollywood, but we realise this is more of an independent picture and was apparently primarily made out of New York but we mean Hollywood in the general sense of that abstract world where the magic happens, cocaine flows like water and dead hookers are never a problem, as opposed to the world of Irish film where even a hot lunch for the crew is a problem.

Leap Year To Be One Giant Leap (backwards) for Ireland

Good news for the Irish film industry. Bad news for haters of twee Oirish clichés. Amy Adams is to star in Leap Year, a full scale Hollywood production that will be set and shot in Ireland. Given the title it should come as no surprise that she'll play a woman who plans to travel to Dublin to propose to her boyfriend on that date, because according to the film it’s an Irish tradition. That's news to us and nearly every other Irish person but let's not pick at the details. Anyway, her plans are ruined by weather (presumably the most accurate part of the film's depiction of Ireland) and she’s forced to undergo a cross-country trek, accompanied by a surly Irish innkeeper, in order to make the proposal in time.

A fuckin innkeeper?! Is it set in the 1800's? Expect Guinness and Leprechauns and vomit washing down the aisles of Irish cinemas. Maybe we're being overly cynical but
but the film has been written by Harry Elfont and Deb Kaplan, the screenwriting duo behind Made Of Honor , a film that managed the remarkable feat of being more annoying than it's title (okay we didn't see it but the trailer was grating enough). We'll say one good thing about this movie. Amy Adams is in it and she's a great actress and a seriously likable screen presence. Maybe she'll distract us from the crimes against Irishness.

Terry George To Write Inside Man Sequel

Irishman Terry George is to write the sequel to Spike Lee's Inside Man. The movie will be called Outside Man. Just kidding. It will be imaginatively titled Inside Man 2 but expect some convoluted subtitle like Inside Man 2: Attack of the Clive Owens or something.

No word on plot details yet but George is a top-notch scribe and an accomplished director. Besides the scripts for In The Name Of The Father and The Boxer he has directed Some Mothers Son, Hotel Rwanda and the recent Reservation Road, which failed to get a theatrical release over here and failed at the box office Stateside. This could explain him going back to the type writer for a well paid gig while he eyes up his next project.

Galway Film Fleadh Review

So the films have shown, the masters have taught their masterclasses, the awards have been awarded and the rowing club has been drunk dry. Everybody returns to their real jobs with a week-long hangover from the Galway Film Fleadh.

As promised, we spent more time drinking in the rowing club than seeing films. We did catch a few though so stay tuned to our reviews section for advanced word on some upcoming films.

Peter O'Toole's public interview was fascinating and all the more impressive for his vivid recollections of tiny incidents despite his age. Some man for one man. He wasn't the only Hollywood star around. Jessica Lang gave a masterclass, Bill Pullman was skulking around town and even stopped into be part of the judging panel for The Pitching Award.

Kisses - a brave attempt to mix something of Adam & Paul with the work of Shane Meadows and Paul Fraser - picked up the award for Best Feature and the best and most profound line of the night came from its young female star Kelly O'Neill: 'I'm not saying nothing'.

There was no surprise that Anvil! The Story Of Anvil scooped the Best Documentary Award. It was one of the most talked about films of the festival and anybody who was at the screening was just blown away by it. Grown men talked about being teary eyed with admiration for the aging rockers.

The excellent DLIADT short Martin picked up best short while Barbara Deignan won the coveted Pitching Award for her story The Sunshine Group, a comedy about grieving.

We're gonna wrap ourselves up in a ball and crawl out some time next year, just in time for the 21st Galway Film Fleadh. The baby is all grown up.