Anyone attending the Virgin cinema on Parnell Street on Wednesday must have been a little bemused by the hordes of cowboys flooding into Screen 1. It was the Irish premiere of The Horse Whisperer in aid of the Rape Crisis Centre and its director, Olive Braiden and her team had decreed that plaid shirts and cowboy hats were more fitting than the usual premiere uniform of cocktail dress and lounge suits.
Of course, some made an extra special effort - music critic Ian Fox and set designer Jim Harkin looked great in matching ten gallon hats and chaps while Suzanne MacDougald of the Solomon Gallery went for a more subtle look and donned a fringed suede jacket and shoe string necktie. The theme continued right through from sheaves of wheat tied to the cinema staircase to a fully fledged barn dance in the RDS afterwards. Music was provided by the Fleadh Cowboys, with a special appearance by Allison Moorer. Robert Redford particularly requested not only that Allison's song, A Soft Place To Fall, be used in The Horse Whisperer but that Allison would appear singing it.
Allison, who looks all of 18, sings at a pivotal moment in the film and her rendition of the same song at the RDS went down a storm.
As for Robert Redford, "He's a real gentleman, very open, very friendly," she grinned.
Guests who came along to check out the film and support the Rape Crisis Centre included the Minister for Public Enterprise, Mary O'Rourke; actress Victoria Smurfit; Renault MD Bill Cullen; Norma Smurfit; Eileen Murphy, and Mary Banotti MEP.