AFTER six relatively quiet months in film production here, the second half of the year gets off to a very busy start next week with four feature films going into production within eight days of each other. On Monday Neil Jordan begins filming The Butcher Boy in Clones, Co Monaghan. Based on the novel by Patrick McCabe, who collaborated on the screenplay with Jordan, the film features young newcomers Eamon Owens and Alan Boyle, along with Stephen Rea, Ian Hart, Fiona Shaw and, as the Virgin Mary, Sinead O'Connor.

Monday is also the start date for The Serpent's Kiss, which marks the directing debut of the French lighting cameraman, Philippe Rousselot who, coincidentally, was the cinematographer on Jordan's The Miracle and Interview with the Vampire, and won Cesar awards for his work on Diva and Therese and an Oscar for A River Runs Through It.

Produced by Robert Jones, who produced The Usual Suspects, and written by Tim Rose Price, The Serpent's Kiss is described as "an emotionally charged story of 17th century love and deception". It deals with a young craftsman who is commissioned by a wealthy landowner's wife to create a garden and becomes involved with her and her daughter.

Fresh from his triumph in Trainspotting, the gifted young Scottish actor, Ewan McGregor, will play the craftsman, costarring with Greta Scacchi. The strong cast also features Pete Postlethwaite, Richard E. Grant, Carmen Chaplin, Charley Boorman, Donal McCann, Britta Smith and Ruaidhri Conroy. The film will be shot in Sixmilebridge, Co Clare.