Skreech! The planes fly in all week. Jeremy Irons arrives. The President, Mrs Mary McAleese graces us with her presence. The Corrs are due at any minute. It's whispered that the boys from U2 will be here, any minute. The excitement builds all through the evening.
The Beckett on Film project is the talk of the town. An evening launch for many of the key players at Ely Wine Bar before the celebration proper begins hints at the fun that will be had later on in Dublin Castle. It's the only time when 18 of the 19 directors of the 19 films are all together to party. They include Atom Egoyan, Damien Hirst, Neil Jordan and David Mamet. There's also Anthony Minghella, Patricia Rozema and Karel Reisz.
"To do it in a year was a huge effort," says Michael Colgan, co-producer with Alan Moloney, of the mammoth project. The production, Beckett on Film, is an RTE co-production in association with Channel 4 and the Irish Film Board. "We did it in a year because we really wanted to get it out as near to the millennium as we could. I'm delighted that it's been done. It'll be great fun. They are great film-makers. The contact was made, and that's going to be really valuable for the Gate. We got on really very well under difficult enough times. It was tough enough."
As to himself and co-producer Alan Moloney, well it was true love. "I'm only a gentleman film producer," says the modest Colgan. "I needed someone who knew film. It was like a forced marriage. We've been great friends." Did they need to go for therapy at any stage? "Not yet, but don't say anything about the twitch," he jokes. And you'd hardly notice it, really. In fact, there's twitching all around as heads twist to see the stars. What? where? they go. Not I, they answer.