Sex and the City actor Chris Noth said today he is hopeful that the Titantic drama he is involved in will show another side to the well-known story.
Speaking at Howth Castle in Dublin, where he is filming the television mini-series Titantic: Blood and Steel, Noth said he hopes it will chronicle the story of how the doomed liner got to be made and the controversies around its construction.
The 12-part drama, directed by Irish pair Ciaran Donnelly and Robert Quinn, ends with the sailing of the Titantic rather than its sinking on its maiden voyage across the Atlantic in April 1912.
The series, which is costing €22 million, is set in Belfast and the United States. Part of the series is being filmed in the Republic, while it is also being filmed in Serbia, which stands in for the Belfast shipyards.
It stars Neve Campbell, Kevin Zegers and the well-known Shakespearian actor Derek Jacobi. The cast also includes Irish actors Liam Cunningham, Michael McElhatton and Martin McCann.
Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht Jimmy Deenihan visited the set today and said getting the show was a major win for the State.
The Irish Film Board granted the producers some €300,000 to help secure filming in Ireland. The majority of the €12 million raised in the Republic towards the production was raised through Section 481 finance, which extends to television as well as film projects.
“It proves that Section 481 is like our corporation tax rate and there is certainty to it too. It is guaranteed up to 2015 and that should be extended after that. It is a unique selling point for us,” he said.
The series is being filmed in Howth Castle along with other locations in Dublin including Henrietta Street, the Guinness Factory, Earlsfort Terrace, Palmerstown House, the Botanic Gardens and Clancy Barracks.
Noth is playing the well-known banker JP Morgan who financed the Titanic.
He arrived in Ireland for filming at the weekend. “I love it, I love to travel, I spent a lot of time in a lot of shows in New York. I’ve enjoyed the opportunity to come here,” he said. “I had two beautiful gorgeous days, Ireland is certainly is beautiful in the sunshine. I should say Dublin because I haven’t been outside of Dublin, but rain seems to accommodate the city quite well also.”
He also said he has moved on from Sex and the City but acknowledges people still recognise him for being Mr Big the love interest of Carrie Bradshaw in the long-running television series and movie franchise.
“It is just out of your life, but for it to have such a long shelf life is hard to try and rediscover new ways for yourself to be excited about it,” he said. “Most of the dramas have all been about the sinking, ours is about the birth of it, the promise. It gives a sense of what was happening in labour, in politics and in the lives of ordinary people.”