19/04/2006

John O’Donoghue, Ireland’s Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism, paid a surprise visit to the set of Julian Jarrold’s ambitious new film Becoming Jane [+see also:
trailer
film profile], currently filming in the Dublin, Offaly and Wicklow region.

The film, written by Kevin Hood and Sarah Williams, was inspired by the true events of a little known romance between the young Jane Austen (played by Brokeback Mountain star Anne Hathaway) and a young Irishman (James Mc Avoy from The Chronicles of Narnia) before becoming a famous writer.

The new film by the director of Kinky Boots also stars Dame Maggie Smith and Julie Walters. It is a UK/Irish co-production being produced by Ecosse Films with Blueprint Pictures, Octagon Films and Scion Films, with co-financing from the Irish Film Board, 2Entertain, the UK Film Council, Scion Films and Miramax Films. Some 106 Irish cast and crew members have been hired for the film and the direct investment in local jobs, goods and services has been estimated at approximately €7.1m.

"The Irish economy continues to directly benefit from having major feature films such as Becoming Jane shoot on location here", said Minister O’Donoghue. "As well as the direct benefits to the local economy such as job creation and tourism, it is also important to have images of Ireland screened to international audiences around the world. Encouraging feature films to shoot in Ireland remains a major priority for the Irish government and we hope that the recent changes to Section 481 will mean that Ireland remains a competitive international location for feature film".

Simon Perry, CEO of the IFB, also stated: "Becoming Jane is one of six feature films currently shooting in Ireland. This is good news for the Irish film industry but in an increasingly competitive and challenging international environment for film production we cannot get complacent and must continue to monitor our level of competitiveness".

Becoming Jane is being sold internationally by Han Way Films.