McAleese Gets Hollywood Buzz

It was all glitz and glamour at the movies this week as Irish President Mary McAleese paid a visit to Hollywood.

She met up with representatives of both the Irish and American entertainment and film community.

She even brought some Irish weather too, as, arriving in a downpour at the Warner Brothers' studios in Hollywood, the President joked about bringing the weather to sunny California.

Greeted at the door by the Irish film star from Castleknock, Colin Farrell, she was then sandwiched between a row of 'Oscars' and movie props for the films Batman, Superman and Casablanca, in the Warner Brothers' museum as Farrell, dressed in ripped jeans and a pinstripe jacket and waistcoat, posed politely before bidding the group farewell.

Elsewhere, among the Hollywood celebrities present at a reception to honour Mrs McALeese, was St Elsewhere star Ed Begley Jr and Emmy-award winning Irish star, Fionnula Flanagan.

The Irish President was visiting Hollywood as a host of the Irish Film Board and Enterprise Ireland to promote Irish entertainment and film technology and to encourage more American film and television series to shoot in Ireland.

"Creativity is in the Irish DNA - generations of Irish actors, directors, writers, designers and filmmakers have made their names in Hollywood, and have inspired, excited and entertained so many on the big screen," said Mrs McAleese.

"More recent years have seen the flourishing of that creativity gene in a new generation of entrepreneurs who are technologically innovative and market-intuitive, and they have made their mark on this industry too," she said.

(BMcC/KMcA)