There's only one chaste kiss with Bob Carlyle in Angela's Ashes, but it was "heaven", according to Emily Watson who was at the Dublin premiere of the film during the week. She was jetting off to Los Angeles early on Thursday morning "to talk about this movie". "I've talked about this movie more than I've had hot dinners," said the tall actor, who did look a bit thin at the pre-screening drinks party mid-week. Wearing a grey trouser suit by Adolfo Dominguez, she said, "I look like the back end of a bus in the film."
Wet, soggy socks is the over-riding memory that director Alan Parker has of the three months spent filming Angela's Ashes. It was the Dublin premiere this week rather than the Washington, New York or London ones which "I am most nervous about", he says. "I hope they (the Irish audiences) like it."
Pauline McLynn, who plays "Frank's cranky Aunt Aggie" in the film, arrives on the arm of her husband, theatre producer and Kilkenny's own Renaissance Man, Richard Cook, "who sounds very AngloIrish," she says. "I hope I don't corrupt him with my own flat accent." Her first novel, Something for the Weekend, will be in the shops on Monday, she says. The part of Grandma Sheehan in the film is played by Ronnie Masterson, who is accompanied by her son, broadcaster Aonghus McAnally. The event carried on well into the night with a bash at the Burlington Hotel and music by the Corrs. 'Tis far from soggy socks they look tonight.
Actor Liam Carney, formerly Michelle's husband in Glenroe, is here with his partner Karmel Daly. Their "nearly two years old" twins, Sean and Oisin, who are not wheeled forth to meet the the paparazzi, feature in the film. Some of the other young actors include Ciaran Owens (13) from Killeshandra in Co Cavan and his friend Joe Breen (9) from Ferns, Co Wexford. They're asked to sign a copy of the script. Were they asked to sign many autographs in the US? "Hundreds," says the young Joe, without missing a beat.
A RealAudio version and a full transcript of Michael Dwyer's public interview with Alan Parker will be available from Monday at The Irish Times Website: www.ireland.com/dublin