Paolo Sorrentino, Italian director of the magnificent Il Divo, is to shoot part of his next film in Ireland. Co-produced by Dublin's Element Pictures, This Must Be the Placestars Sean Penn as a former rock singer, currently living in the Irish capital, who returns to the US after the death of his father, a Holocaust survivor. Frances McDormand will play Penn's wife. This Must Be the Placewill be Sorrentino's first picture in English.

In further domestic casting news, Joseph Fiennes will play Merlin and Eva Green will appear as Morgana in the upcoming TV version of

Camelot

. Shooting on the increasingly starry Arthurian epic begins at Ardmore Studios in less than two weeks.