I'm McCauling it a day:Today marks the end of an era in the Irish film business as Brendan McCaul retires after working in distribution since 1955. He spent the past 14 years as vice-president and general manager of Buena Vista International (Ireland).
A gregarious personality who fully understood the meaning of both words in the term "show business", he has been at the forefront of film distribution here through challenging times, as cinemas faced down competition from television in the 1960s and from the advent of video in the 1980s, and on to the very significant upsurge in cinema attendances in recent years.
While working primarily in the mainstream, he applied the same acumen and flair to releasing blockbusters as he did to promoting foreign-language movies and many Irish productions - from The Commitments to his current release, Once.
Striped pyjamas, the movie
Miramax has acquired the film rights to Dublin author John Boyne's best-selling novel, The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, set in Auschwitz during the second World War as a friendship forms between two boys on opposite sides of the concentration camp fence. Mark Herman, who made Brassed Off and Little Voice, has written the screenplay adaptation of Boyne's book and will direct the film, which starts shooting in Budapest at the end of next month. The first cast member to be signed is Vera Farmiga (from The Departed and Breaking and Entering), as the mother of one of the boys, who is horrified to discover the truth of what is happening inside the concentration camp.
Ageing audiences Cinema audiences are getting older, according to new market research figures compiled by the Film Distributors' Association. They show that 46 per cent of the UK cinema audience last year were aged 35 or over, compared with 38 per cent in 2001. "Older audiences have gone out and seen a movie like Calendar Girls or The Queen that is specifically tailored for them," observes Tim Richards, chief executive of the UK chain, Vue, which also operates the cinemas in Liffey Valley, Dublin. "That may have been one of their first experiences in a multiplex. Hopefully, what they saw was fantastic state-of-the-art screening facilities with digital surround sound and comfortable seats."
Among the other movies credited for attracting older audiences back to the cinema in such numbers are Gosford Park, The History Boys and Mrs Henderson Presents.
Tomlin and Russell tussle on YouTube
Footage of a blazing row between Lily Tomlin and director David O Russell - shot when they were working on the 2004 comedy, I Heart Huckabees - has surfaced on You Tube. One clip begins as Tomlin expresses frustration over working with Russell, who launches into a foul-mouthed tantrum, sweeping papers off her desk and knocking a lamp to the floor.
The clips, which have registered more than 250,000 viewings on the site, have been removed and re-posted several times, but can be accessed by entering "Huckabees" in the search window at www.youtube.com.
Grindhouse day
Opening in the US next Friday, Grindhouse, the B-movie homage double bill directed by Quentin Tarantino (right) and Robert Rodriguez, is now set to open here and in the UK on June 1st, which would appear to confirm speculation that it will have its European premiere at the Cannes Film Festival in May. Rose McGowan, who features in both segments of Grindhouse, is set to play actress Susan Cabot - who featured in a succession of 1950s B-movies and was murdered by her son in 1986 - in Black Oasis, to be directed by Stephan Elliott, who made Priscilla, Queen of the Desert. Cabot's credits included Tomahawk, Sorority Girl, Machine-Gun Kelly and The Wasp Woman.
Association of film clubs turns 30
Access Cinema, formerly the Federation of Irish Film Societies, celebrated its 30th anniversary last weekend in Waterford, where a record number of delegates from film clubs across the country gathered for the annual "Viewing Sessions" - an intensive programme of new movies for their consideration
in planning their autumn and winter programmes. Of the 13 feature films screened, the delegates gave their highest rating to the Oscar-winning German drama The Lives of Others. Full details are at www.accesscinema.ie
Wahlberg to play Boston boxer
Fresh from working together in The Departed, Boston natives Mark Wahlberg and Matt Damon are teaming up again for The Fighter, a factually-based drama in which Wahlberg will play "Irish" Mickey Ward, a Boston working-class hero who became a light welterweight boxing champion; now 41, he has retired from the ring. Damon will play his half-brother, Dickie Ecklund, a former boxer who became Ward's trainer. Darren Aronofsky is in discussions with Paramount Pictures to direct the movie. His latest film, The Fountain, now looks most unlikely to get an Irish cinema release and will be available on DVD from May 28th.
