THE buzz around Limerick over the filming of a major movie starring Hollywood actor Liam Neeson are only just the beginning of the Treaty City’s stardom on the silver screen if the film industry in the Mid West is supported to grow.
That’s according to Paul C Ryan, regional film manager of Film in Limerick, who said that the ongoing production of 4 Kids Walk into a Bank is the most complex production ever shot in Limerick.
Taken star Liam Neeson was spotted in the city’s Georgian Quarter last week, with many city landmarks being transformed for the comic book-inspired black comedy.
Gleeson’s Spar on Catherine Street was transformed into ‘Caruso’s Mini Mart’ for the production, while Sarsfield Credit Union was sporting signs for ‘City Grand Bank’.
Vintage cars with Massachusetts number plates were also seen lining the streets, with the former Ulster Bank on O’Connell Street understood to be serving as the location for the interior shots of the film’s titular bank.
The film, inspired by a comic book of the name name, follows Neeson’s Danny, a former bank robber who has turned over a new leaf, who gets dragged back into his old ways when figures from his past catch up with him and he is once again roped into a bank heist.
It is up to his daughter Paige and her friends to save the day in the unlikeliest of ways – robbing the bank themselves.
Speaking to the Limerick Post, Paul C Ryan said that this excitement could be repeated in the future if Limerick and the Mid West is supported to grow its film industry.
“This is the biggest and most complicated production ever to film in the city,” he said.
“It’s great for the city to show that we can double as the Mid West of the US, rather than the Mid West of Ireland,” he added.
Pointing to another big budget movie that features Limerick and the Mid West, the new WWII spy thriller Bonhoeffer, Mr Ryan explained that film in Limerick is taking the US by storm.
“That film is came out last week in the US, and it’s number four in the box office. It’s filmed in Pery Square, Cleeves, down by the docks, and all over Tipperary.
“It filmed at Swiss Cottage in Cahir. It was filmed all over Clare, it also filmed in Belgium, but the majority of the filming took place in the Mid West of Ireland. And that film is on over 2,000 screens at the moment.”
Before Film in Limerick was set up, Mr Ryan said that “we had nothing and and then the Council prioritised film. They set up a film office.
“We have a great crew locally. We now run a ‘crew academy’ for the Munster region, training people up and developing the crew base, and we’ve seen massive impacts from that.”
Another production currently being shot in the city, One Night Only, using the former Royal Cinema on Cecil Street, is seeing the benefits of the crew academy, with 80 per cent of the film’s crew coming from Limerick.
“We have two big features shooting at the same time in the city and we’ve got stars in the city. We’ve got more shows we’re trying to bring here, and more movies and, and it’s creating local jobs – on One Night Only, over 80 per cent are local crew. We’ve lots of people on 4 Kids Walk into a Bank as well. It’s just brilliant to see,” Mr Ryan said.
“We have the support of Screen Ireland, Limerick and Clare Education and Training Board, and due to working together with all different partners, we’ve really seen sort of a lot of success,”
“But we’re only just starting.”
