ALTHOUGH Lynda La Plante devised Prime Suspect, the powerful, multi-layered script for the final drama in the series, which concluded last Sunday, is the work of Irish writer Frank Deasy, who made his film debut with the 1988 Irish thriller, The Courier. He also scripted The Grass Arena, an emotionally raw drama directed by Gillies MacKinnon, which was nominated for a Bafta and was an award-winner at the 1991 Edinburgh festival.
Deasy's other credits include Angela Pope's film Captives, Prozac Nation with Christina Ricci and Jessica Lange, and the TV dramas Looking After Jo Jo, which starred Robert Carlyle, and the recent England Expects, featuring Steven Mackintosh.
Prime Suspect: The Final Act is a prime contender for next spring's Bafta awards, where Helen Mirren is likely to pull off a double as best actress in a TV drama and in film for The Queen. In a line delivered with a knowing smile by Mirren in Prime Suspect last Sunday, she said, "Don't call me ma'am. I'm not the bloody queen."
Fest fans out across London
As The London Film Festival goes into its final week, the event's 50th anniversary celebrations will expand the annual Surprise Film slot to 50 venues across the city next Sunday night. A selection of unannounced movies will be shown at various cinemas and in such unlikely venues as Holloway Prison, St Thomas's Hospital and Heathrow Terminal 4, where access will be limited to inmates, patients and passengers with valid boarding passes, respectively. www.lff.org.uk
Return of the original Rocky
The Rocky Halloween Extravaganza starts at 9pm tonight in Dublin's Sugar Club. It's not an all-night marathon of Sylvester Stallone's Rocky Balboa movies, scary as that prospect is, but a welcome return of camp classic The Rocky Horror Picture Show, which played weekend latenight shows for more than 20 years at the former Classic cinema.
A cast of "mismatched misfits" in full drag, so to speak, will perform scenes from the film, and there will be fire-eaters, instructions on how to do the Time Warp, and prizes for the best costumes.
Bond, James Bond for charity
Want to be the first to see Daniel Craig playing James Bond? Casino Royale will have its Irish premiere at the Savoy in Dublin on November 15th, two days before it goes on release around the world, and there will be a pre-screening champagne reception. Proceeds from the premiere will benefit the LARCC Cancer Centre. Tickets, costing €50 each, are available from Presence Communications at 01-6761062.
Film fests honour shorts
What If, a comedy about two stuntmen in the Irish film industry, has collected the Screen Craft Award for best short film in the Los Angeles edition of the New York Independent Film & Video Festival. Directed by Alan Walsh and produced by John Phelan, it features cameos from John Boorman and Jim Sheridan.
Meanwhile, Monaghan native and Irish Times sub-editor Gary Quinn was back on home ground at the Clones Film Festival last weekend for the opening night screening of Electric Fence, a darkly humorous short film which he scripted and was directed by his wife, Davorka Naletilic, a multi-media lecturer at Dublin City University.
Year of French in Waterford
Five recent French films will be screened next week as part of Imagine: Waterford Arts Festival 2006. Showing at the city's Cineplex, the strong line-up features 36 Quai des Orfèvres (released here as 36), À Tout de Suite, L'enfer, Vers le Sud (Heading South) and Lemming. On Sunday night at Greyfriars Gallery, the festival will present QuickShoot, a selection of new short films, each made in 24 hours or less, with prizes for the best entries. For full details, log onto www.waterfordartsfestival.com.
Blood in the cause of art
Aficionados of the Saw franchise may be eager to learn that the merchandising for Saw III, which opens today, includes posters made by mixing red ink with blood from the veins of Tobin Bell, who plays the sadistic Jigsaw character in the series. This is, quite understandably, a limited edition.
