Two films by Irish directors figure prominently in the nominations for tomorrow night's BAFTA awards ceremony in London. Neil Jordan's film of Graham Greene's The End of the Affair has received 10 nominations, while East is East, the first feature by Irish director Damien O'Donnell, has six.
Both productions are nominated for the major award, best film, along with American Beauty, which leads the field with 14 nominations, The Talented Mr Ripley (seven nominations) and The Sixth Sense (four).
Jordan is nominated for best direction and best adapted screenplay for The End of the Affair, which is also short-listed for best actress (Julianne Moore), actor (Ralph Fiennes), music (Michael Nyman), cinematography (Roger Pratt), production design (Anthony Pratt), costume design (Sandy Powell), and make-up/hair (Christine Beveridge).
In addition to best film, East is East is nominated for best British film of the year, best actress (Linda Bassett), actor (Om Puri), adapted screenplay, and most promising newcomer (its screenwriter, Ayub Khan Din).
Alan Parker's film of the Frank McCourt best-seller, Angela's Ashes, has three BAFTA nominations - best actress (Emily Watson), cinematography (Michael Seresin) and production design (Geoffrey Kirkland). The lottery comedy, Waking Ned, set in Ireland but shot on the Isle of Man, has a single nomination, for its director, Kirk Jones, in the most promising newcomer category.
American Beauty has taken five of its nominations in the four acting categories: best actress (Annette Bening), actor (Kevin Spacey), supporting actor (Wes Bentley) and supporting actress (Mena Suvari and Thora Birch).
The four nominees for best film not in the English language are Tom Tykwer for Run Lola Run, Thomas Vinterberg for Festen, Wim Wenders for The Buena Vista Social Club, and Pedro Almodovar for All About My Mother - which is also nominated for best direction and original screenplay.
The BAFTA awards ceremony will be shown live on the Sky Premiere subscription channel at 6.30 p.m. tomorrow.
Shooting is now under way for seven weeks in Dublin and Cork on the film of Enda Walsh's critically acclaimed stage play, Disco Pigs, which Walsh adapted for the screen. The production, described as "a twisted rites of passage story", marks the feature film debut of director Kirsten Sheridan after several award-winning short films. It is produced by Ed Guiney of Temple Films and financed by the London-based Renaissance Films and the Irish Film Board.
The leading roles in the film are taken by Elaine Cassidy, who was so impressive in the recent Felicia's Journey, and Cillian Murphy, who featured in the original stage production of Disco Pigs and displayed a natural screen presence in the Irish-American movie Sunburn last year. The film's impressive cast also includes Brian F. O'Byrne, Geraldine O'Rawe, Eleanor Methven, Marie Mullen and Dawn Bradfield.
TO celebrate the 70th birthday of the Savoy cinema in Dublin, the management, in conjunction with The Irish Times, has sourced a selection of photographs taken at the many premieres held at the cinema down the years and put them on display in the lobby. Meryl Streep, Tom Cruise and Liam Neeson are among the movie stars featured in the exhibition which is open to all patrons of the Savoy.
The veteran French film-maker Claude Lelouch, who's best known for his 1966 A Man and a Woman, has lined up Dustin Hoffman to star in his next movie, T for Thriller, an English-language production to be shot later this year in France, Italy, Britain and the US. Lelouch describes the film as "a love story thriller" and he wrote the leading role specifically for Hoffman after they met in Cannes a few years ago.
Tipped to receive its world premiere at Cannes next month, the new John Waters comedy, Cecil B. Demented, is a satire on Hollywood featuring Stephen Dorff in the title role, as a cult leader and would-be film-maker whose brainwashed followers, the Sprocket Holes, are bound by his insistence on "celibacy for celluloid" - whereby they are not even allowed to kiss until the last shot of his movie is in the can. Melanie Griffith co-stars as Honey Whitlock, a Hollywood A-list star kidnapped by Demented's crew.
"Cecil is a joke about what any young director would be like if he were crazy and went off the deep end," says Waters. "Cecil is how I might have turned out if my parents hadn't loved me."
Michael Dwyer can be contacted at mdwyer@irish-times.ie