Plans for a major international film studio in Ireland have moved forward after public bodies bought a 350,000-square-foot facility in Limerick for €6m (£4.25m), reports the Irish Times.
Limerick city and county council is in talks with the country’s largest film and television facility, Ardmore Studios, about the future of the former Dell building in Castletroy. Based in Bray, County Wicklow, Ardmore has hosted the production of such films as Braveheart, My Left Foot and Veronica Guerin over the past 30 years.
“There is a clear and urgent demand for large-scale studio space and support buildings in Ireland, and many of the preconditions necessary for the creation of studios already exist in Limerick,” said the area’s chief executive Conn Murray. “We hope this is just the start of a project that will create a new industry and a huge number of jobs locally. It’s also a logical legacy of Limerick’s year as national city of culture in 2014 and its bid to become European capital of culture for 2020.”
The news comes a fortnight after Hollywood producer Philip Lee, known for Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Cloud Atlas and The Dark Knight, was seen in Limerick scouting for a $120m science-fiction movie titled Inversion. Directed by Need for Speed’s Scott Waugh, the film examines a future in which gravity begins to diminish on Earth, leading to chaos.
Saving Private Ryan, Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince and 2004’s King Arthur are among the Hollywood movies to have been shot in Ireland. In Scotland, meanwhile, plans for improved facilities also seem to be moving apace after details emerged earlier this month of rival bids from consortiums in Edinburgh and Dundee to build the country’s first major studio.
