Hollywood returns to Connemara
admin 
By JOHN FALLON
One of the most famous Irish films ever is to provide the backdrop as Sir Roger Moore brings Hollywood back to Connemara 60 years after the shooting of ‘The Quiet Man’.
A romantic comedy is to be shot in Cong on the Galway-Mayo border based around the excitement created in the region back in the 1950s when John Wayne and Maureen O’Hara flew in to shoot their oscar-winning classic.
Sir Roger Moore will be executive producer of ‘Connemara Days’, a romantic comedy based around an 18-year old girl who falls in love with one of the assisant directors of ‘The Quiet Man’.
The new film is set to provide a much-needed tourism boost for the Connemara region with a host of top actors lined up to star when shooting begins this summer.
Aidan Quinn (Legends of the Fall), Geraldine Chaplin (The Wolfman), Sarah Bolger (In America) and Thomas Dekker (Sarah Connor Chronicles) will star in the new film.
And Stacy Keach (Escape from LA) will play the legendary film director John Ford in the film which is based around the novel of the same name by UK author Steve Mayhew.
The film will feature the trials and tribulations of the O’Dea family, who have lived in Cong for decades, and revolves around 18-year-old daughter Heather who falls for one of John Ford’s assistant directors.
Sir Roger Moore said he was greatly excited at the prospect of returning to the scene of the greatest cinematic work to be produced in Ireland and he is looking forward to reliving the excitement created back in 1951.
“The Quiet Man was undoubtedly the best movie John Ford ever directed. It is also one of my all-time favourite films.
“The opportunity to revisit the time when Hollywood arrived in Ireland to shoot it was simply too delicious an opportunity to miss.
“I’m greatly looking forward to stepping in front of the cameras in Cong and to being a part of this delightful project”, he said.
It will be produced by Belfast-based Causeway Pictures and directed by Kevin Connor (Marco Polo, The Wish List, Black Beard).
Failte Ireland Client Services Manager, Brian Quinn yesterday welcomed the announcement of the project.
“Over the years since it was first screened, the benefits of the filming and global distribution of ‘The Quiet Man’ to the area around Cong and Connemara have been remarkable,” he said, adding that the stunning Connemara scenery would again provide a magnificent backdrop this year.
