TIGER and Spider have a bone to pick with Steven Spielberg. The entire population of Co Wexford may be singing the award-winning director's praises, but despite the spectacular re-creation of the biggest amphibious invasion in history, these two unsuspecting felines remain singularly unimpressed.
"Spider keeps jumping around and we haven't seen Tiger for the past two days," said their owner, Rosaleen McKenna.
"Our wake-up call at 7.15 a.m. this morning was the sound of gun-fire," explained her husband Noel, from the door of their tiny sweet-shop in Ballinesker on Curracloe Beach, where the second World War film Saving Private Ryan is being made.
The couple are not complaining, although there is not much demand for bull's-eyes and liquorice among the 350-strong film crew. The rest of the business community in Wexford appears to be revelling in the economic boom which the film has provided.
The 256 soldiers - soon to be joined by 700 more - who play the parts of the American and German soldiers during the Normandy invasions have to be fed, for a start.
Walking into their quarters is like strolling into a Pathe newsreel. Clutching guns and smoking cigarettes, they loll against walls their muddy and blood-streaked faces showing the fatigue expected of the plucky young volunteers who have just spent the morning jumping from landing craft and wading through the choppy Irish Sea.
On the menu, when The Irish Times inspected the troops, was steak, potatoes and runner beans; the food is all bought locally and devoured by the hungry extras.
Down on the beach itself, some curious onlookers braved the genuine D- Day conditions (ear-tingling winds and overcast skies apparently) in order to catch a glimpse of the film's star, Tom Hanks. Security is tight, but their wait in the cold is rewarded with the occasional explosion and the ensuing black smoke which billows over the sea.
Saving Private Ryan is certainly a dream come true for the electricians and plumbers, butchers and bakers, carpenters and security guards who are all getting work from the shooting, which continues over the next 2 1/2 weeks.
In Wexford town the proprietor of a pizza restaurant was delighted to receive an order worth Pounds 70 from the film crew; they also bought the entire stock of diving gear from a shop there, and from Rosslare to Gorey the guesthouses are packed with the Saving Private Ryan entourage.
The film is certainly a bonus for the Cloneys, who own a number of holiday homes and, crucially, the 10 acres of land on which the filming is taking place. Seamus Cloney says the crew is "extremely considerate" and is making obvious efforts to ensure that the estimated Pounds 8 million to be spent during filming stays in the county.
His father Denis has been "well compensated" for the use of the land.
Denis Cloney bought it decades ago from a German. "Of all people!" remarks Seamus. "He must be rolling in his grave."