Minister pays visit to Lassie
by Annika Pham
The Irish Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism John O’Donoghue has paid a visit to the set of Charles Sturridge’s new Lassie film currently shooting in Ireland until the end of July.
The European co-production between Element Films (Ed Guiney), Firstsight Films (UK), Davis Films (France) in conjunction with Classic Media, stars Academy Award nominees Peter o’Toole and Samantha Morton, as well as Jemma Redgrave and Steve Pembridge. The director has written a new version of the famous franchise based on Eric Knight's classic 1940 novel Lassie Come Home, set in Great Britain on the eve of World War II.
In total, the production in Ireland will employ approximately 175 crew, 55 cast, and over 1,000 extras.
'LASSIE is the latest in a series of high profile movies to shoot in Ireland', said Irish Minister O’Donoghue. 'The direct benefits for the local economy and for our filmmaking industry are huge and the potential knock-on rewards from tourism receipts are immense. It is a major priority for the Irish Government and for the Irish Film Board to continue to encourage major international studios to choose Ireland as a film location and we will be increasing our resources in the US, with the appointment of a Deputy Film Commissioner to further this work'.
Irish Film Board CEO Mark Woods who was part of the official delegation on the film set added: 'In an increasingly competitive marketplace, Irish producers continue to attract international productions due to their excellent reputation on the international stage and Element Films was key in bringing Lassie to Ireland'.
Other international productions currently shooting in Ireland include Ken Loach’s new film The Wind that Shakes the Barley, also co-produced by Ed Guiney.
Lassie will be released in the UK next Christmas by Entertainment Film Distributors, and Odyssey Entertainment who is handling international sales licensed the film’s rights to several foreign territories in Cannes, including France (Metropolitan Filmexport through the French co-producer), Benelux (Belga Films), Portugal (LNK Audiovisuals), Greece (Village Roadshow), and Iceland (SamFilm).
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