President visits film studios

PRESIDENT MARY McAleese visited Warner Brothers studios in Hollywood where she met Irish actors Colin Farrell and Fionnuala Flanagan…

PRESIDENT MARY McAleese visited Warner Brothers studios in Hollywood where she met Irish actors Colin Farrell and Fionnuala Flanagan at a reception hosted by Enterprise Ireland and the Irish Film Board yesterday.

“Creativity is in the Irish DNA,” the President told an audience of actors, producers and directors.

“Generations of Irish actors, directors, writers, designers and film-makers have made their names in Hollywood, and have inspired, excited and entertained so many on the big screen. More recent years have seen the flourishing of that creativity gene in a new generation of entrepreneurs who are technologically innovative and market-intuitive, and they have made their mark on this industry too.”

The reception was held next to the Warner Brothers museum, where exhibits include the piano in Casablanca, costumes from Batman and props from recent films such as The Departed and Syriana.

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Mrs McAleese was ending a week-long visit to the West Coast of the US. She added that as well as hosting film productions and nurturing an indigenous film industry, Ireland had also produced flourishing companies producing digital media and video games.