Time was when film-making in Ireland was a seasonal phenomenon, running from spring to autumn to take advantage of the (relatively) good weather and more extensive light. But now, film productions seem to run right up to Christmas week and new projects begin early in the new year, a sign of the continuing health of the industry, which these days is seeing fewer big-budget Braveheart-type films and more of the medium-budget productions that provide a more reliable and long-term future for Irish film.
Meteor, the feature-film directorial debut of writer/theatre director Joe O'Byrne, completed shooting yesterday after six weeks working with an impressive cast including Brenda Fricker, Alfred Molina, Dervla Kirwan, and - perhaps most surprisingly - Mike Myers, of Wayne's World and Austin Powers fame.
Set in inner-city Dublin, O'Byrne's script stars young Irish actors Ian Costello, Gavin Dowdall and Natasha Corcoran as three children whose mother and father have died of AIDS. Living with their grandmother (Fricker) in a world shadowed by crime, drug abuse and poverty, their life is changed when a meteorite, which they take as a message from their parents, lands in their back garden.
It was while touring his successful production of Pat McCabe's Frank Pig Says Hello to New York that O'Byrne met associate producer Julia Judge, a former assistant to Martin Scorsese, who passed the Meteor script to her friend John Lyons, an experienced casting director who was beginning to move into producing. Lyons, whose casting credits include all the Cohen Brothers films since Raising Arizona, is currently enjoying considerable success as a producer with his film, Boogie Nights, a critical and commercial hit which Irish audiences will be seeing early next year.
In conjunction with Judge and Irish producer Liam O'Neill, Lyons set about raising finance for Meteor from Capella Films in the US, with the Irish Film Board and Section 35 investors in Ireland.
"This is a very realistic and urban story, but there's also an element of magical realism to it," says O'Neill, who describes Meteor as "a cross between My Life As A Dog and Stand By Me".
"Joe developed it and brought it to both of us. Julia had read it and loved it, and brought it to John, who has very potent connections in Hollywood. He brings a credibility to the project that can be difficult to achieve with a first-time director."
Lyons describes himself as a "script-driven" producer who is in a position to put together the kind of packages that will attract financiers. "The reason I started producing was I found myself in the situation as a casting director of being the person who was getting people's movies made. It's the way the market is driven now - it's very rare for a financier to say `I think it's a great script and I'll do it for that reason'. It's very much actor-driven.
"There are all these theories and numbers about how such-and-such an actor is worth a certain amount at the box office. It's highly subjective, but it gives financiers a psychological comfort-zone. They think they've covered themselves. It's a very inexact science. If you're really lucky or smart you're stepping ahead of the pack."
This is O'Byrne's first feature, but O'Neill, who worked with him for years in the Co-Motion theatre company, points out that he has served a long apprenticeship: "Joe has been directing theatre for more than 15 years and has written screenplays." Among those screenplays is the script for one of the best Irish films of recent years, Cathal Black's Korea.
O'Byrne is surrounded by an experienced international crew: cameraman Paul Sarossy's recent credits include Atom Egoyan's The Sweet Hereafter and Paul Schrader's latest film, Affliction; production designer John Stoddart has worked with Peter Weir and Bruce Beresford; and editor Marie-Therese Bioche has a long-standing working relationship with French director Claude Sautet.
Meteor reunites Mike Myers with Brenda Fricker, who played his mother in the spoof thriller So I Married An Axe Murderer, for which both had to adopt Scottish accents.
"The Dublin accent's interesting - I've heard 25 different accents in Dublin since I came here," he says. "It's a Tower of Babel, really - much more so than Liverpool, strangely enough."
The casting of Myers is described by John Lyons as "an inspired hunch". "When I suggested it to Joe, I was unsure how he would react, but he was very receptive to the idea." He plays the family's best friend, a drug-dealer who blames himself for the children's parents' deaths. It's a morally ambiguous role which seems far removed from his trademark goofiness in Wayne's World or Austin Powers: International Man Of Mystery.
"I had just done Austin Powers, and then two great scripts came my way, Meteor and 54 (another of the slew of 1970s dramas due for release next year). As it turns out, I did Austin Powers, which is a comedy, and then these two dramas in a row, but it's not by any design. I've always been on the look-out for neat stuff, and these two cool movies came along, so I've done them back to back.
"I met Joe in London, and I got a really good feeling from him. I was drawn to the movie because it just jumped out from the page and spoke to my heart. But there's also been drama in the comedy I've done, even in Austin Powers, and I don't see them as mutually exclusive endeavours."
Brenda Fricker believes that comic acting is so demanding that it's an excellent proving ground for other performances. "I did some theatre with Dave Allen, and my theory is that anyone who can be as funny as Michael or Dave can do anything, because it's so difficult."
"Woody Allen says that comedy sits at the children's table," says Myers, who is a much quieter, more reflective character than one might guess from his performances. As he sits, with Brenda Fricker, in the Clarence Hotel, the comedian Eddie Izzard comes up to say hello - the two met in 1984 at the Edinburgh Fringe. Myers came to the UK in the early 1980s, and spent some time on the comedy circuit there, before returning to his native Toronto to be with his father, who was suffering from Alzheimer's. From there, he went on to star on Saturday Night Live for seven years. He agrees that in other circumstance he might have remained in the British comedy scene. "I met a great group of people there, and I would have stayed longer if my dad hadn't got sick."
Fricker says her character finds herself in a predicament that's not uncommon these days. "My daughter and son-in-law have died from AIDS, from using drugs, so I'm bringing up the children, which is a social situation that you see more and more - not necessarily because of drugs, of course. It's hard if you think you've reared your kids and then you find yourself having to start over again." The director and all the actors have high praise for young Ian Costello, who plays the central role of Micky, the leader of the three children, and is described as "a natural actor" by O'Byrne.
"Basically, this is a children's movie as directed by David Cronenberg," says Myers. "It's about a kid who forgives his parents for dying. It's funny, but it's also bleak and quite stylised. You don't get a lot of those coming across your desk, so when you do, you jump at them."
Meteor will complete post-production in the spring, and should be seen in Ireland next year.