| Big screen Brits escape to Ireland’s
fair city  By
Siobhán Breatnach
BRITISH convicts are descending upon Dublin but no need to run and hide
just yet as it’s part of a major film production being shot in the
city.
Fresh from hosting the recent Irish Film and Television Awards actors Brian
Cox and Damian Lewis are shooting the feature film The Escapist in Dublin.
Produced by Parallel Film Productions and Picture Farm UK the movie is supported
by the British Film Council and the Irish Film Board.
The Escapist is a tense, prison escape thriller set within the subterranean
tunnels beneath London.
A spokesperson said: “The film is being directed by Rupert Wyatt and
scheduled to shoot in Dublin for four weeks.”
Brian Cox, a Scottish-born actor of Irish descent, plays a life convict
who has become institutionalised after spending 13 years behind bars.
On learning the tragic news that his estranged daughter is near death in
hospital he becomes desperate to make peace and so hatches a plan and enlists
a group of inmates to help him escape.
Golden Globe and two-time Screen Actors Guild nominee Cox is probably best
known for his roles in the Hollywood blockbusters Troy and The Bourne Identity
and is currently in cinemas across Britain in the dramatic comedy Running
With Scissors.
The Emmy award-winner first came to attention in the early 1970s with performances
in numerous television films but his big break was as Dr Hannibal Lecter
in the 1986 film Manhunter.
Cox is no stranger to Ireland and he has appeared on the big screen with
many of the country’s top actors including Cillian Murphy in Red Eye,
Brendan Gleeson in Braveheart and Jonathan Rhys Meyers in Match Point.
Cox’s co-star London actor Damian Lewis is also a familiar face to
British audiences.
In 2001 Lewis was cast as Richard Winters in the Steven Spielberg-directed
mini-series Band Of Brothers for which he won the Golden Globe Award and
had other nominations.
Irish actor Liam Cunningham also stars in The Escapist.
Cunningham who was an electrician in the mid-80s, only happened on acting
by chance after he saw an ad for an acting school and decided to give it
a try.
His first film role was as a policeman alongside Gabriel Byrne in the Irish
adventure drama Into The West.
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