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Urgent casting call for major Hollywood movie set to shoot in Ireland as flick needs 1k extras – here's how to apply

Urgent casting call for major Hollywood movie set to shoot in Ireland as flick needs 1k extras – here's how to apply

The Irish Sun22-07-2025
A MAJOR Hollywood movie will begin filming in Ireland later this summer - and production bosses are on the hunt for extras to be in the flick.
The production will be carrying out some on-location shooting in Skibbereen, Co Cork in the near future.
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There is a biopic of Hollywood legend James Stewart in the works
Credit: Getty Images
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Filming is set to start soon in the area
Credit: Getty Images - Getty
The film is a World War II biopic inspired by the life of
West Cork Film Studios, a movie firm based in Skibbereen, have issued a massive casting call for extras on behalf of the production.
The project is set to become the biggest production filmed in Ireland over the coming months.
West Cork Film Studios are looking for in excess of 1,000 extras for the picture, which is operating under the working title
Jimmy.
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The project was first conceived two years ago - then going by the title of A Truly Wonderful Life.
Pennsylvania-born Stewart famously put his film career on hold in 1940 to serve with the
He became the first major
The film, inspired by his army experience, is to be shot in the Skibbereen area.
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West Cork Film Studios have issued a public appeal for cast members for the production along with Extra Extra.
A range of roles are required to be filled, including speaking roles and featured extras roles.
NO RE-USE Erika Christensen: From 'Traffic' Star to Hollywood Mainstay
They said in a statement: 'Extra Extra is currently casting for a major feature film shooting in west Cork.
'We are looking for talented background actors to bring scenes to life. This is a costume period film – all extras will be paid and provided with a fitted costume.'
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The advertisement for the production said extras were being sought to play roles including swing dancers, ballet dancers, Hollywood Oscar party attendees, brass bands, Glenn Miller Orchestra players, town people, airbase crew, bomber pilots, army officers and medics.
BIG STAR
West Cork has a strong tie to the Irish film industry with other movies such as The Wind That Shakes The Barley,
As it currently stands, the Hollywood epic will revolve around Jimmy Stewart's wartime service – and his refusal to be confined to a safe role in uniform in the US.
The actor insisted on enlisting because of his family's long connection with the US military.
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His two grandfathers had served in the US Civil War, and his father served during the Spanish-American War and
The roles can be applied for online through the extraextra.ie website.
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The Menu: Dublin's Big Grill Festival is set to be a delectable BBQ firestarter
The Menu: Dublin's Big Grill Festival is set to be a delectable BBQ firestarter

Irish Examiner

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The Menu: Dublin's Big Grill Festival is set to be a delectable BBQ firestarter

Fifteen years ago, I interviewed a barbecue pitmaster from Tennessee who'd wound up living just outside Clonakilty. My then-experience of live fire cooking was minimal, potentially lethal. So, it was fascinating to meet someone of a similar vintage, with plenty of similarities in our comparatively comfortable upbringings as white, 'first world' westerners, albeit separated by Atlantic Ocean and occasional continent. Yet, he was mostly reared on food cooked over live fire, as our ancestors did for millennia, this entirely primitive practice a fundamental part of his otherwise contemporary childhood. Standing in spiteful grey rain at the back door of his rented rural Irish bungalow, he slugged on a beer, shoved the half-full can up a chicken's arse and perched the bird on its aluminium throne in a bog- standard kettle barbecue — 'beer-butt chicken'. He threw a steak directly onto hot coals, cooking it 'caveman style'. 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Izz Café team on their new book, favourite recipes, Cork, and Palestine
Izz Café team on their new book, favourite recipes, Cork, and Palestine

Irish Examiner

time3 hours ago

  • Irish Examiner

Izz Café team on their new book, favourite recipes, Cork, and Palestine

With their glorious pops of colour on the cover and their compact A5 size, the Blasta Books cookbook series is rapidly becoming an iconic Irish 'brand'. Featuring alternative voices, they have captured imaginations at home and abroad — including gushing praise from Jamie Oliver and Nigella Lawson — upending the traditional cookbook market and some, such as Goldie chef Aishling Moore's Whole Catch, have sold exceptionally well. However, I'd suspect the latest in the series may well eclipse the sales of all 14 previous books combined. That book is Jibrin, by Izzeddeen Alkarajeh and Eman Aburabi, of Cork's renowned Izz Cafe — in collaboration with their head chef Habib Al Ostaz. Husband-and-wife team Izz and Eman are Ireland's most famous Palestinians. Arriving to Ireland and into the direct provision system in 2016, they began with a stall at Mahon Point Farmer's Market, eventually opening a proper bricks-and-mortar home, Izz Cafe, on Cork City's George's Quay in 2019. Even through the pandemic, their star still rose, entailing an expansion of the premises last year, and when travel restrictions eased, diners flocked there from all over Ireland. However, it is Israel's ongoing genocidal onslaught on Gaza that has placed Izz Cafe and the couple front and centre, and both are active campaigners for Palestine. Eman's recent Coffee for Palestine drive, created with co-campaigners Clare Condon (Good Day Deli) and Deirdre Breen (Studio Boon) aimed to raise €5,000, and topped out at €100,000. The cafe is the spiritual HQ for the especially passionate Cork Palestine Solidarity campaigners. Izz and Eman Alkarajeh pictured at Izz Café, Cork City, as chef Habib Al Ostaz pours traditional Palestinian coffee. Picture Chani Anderson. On a gloriously sunny afternoon in Izz and Eman's back garden in Bishopstown, we and Habib are drinking Palestinian coffee, grazing on Palestinian treats. 'We made a list representing different areas of Palestine,' says Izz, 'and we also wanted to add an Irish dimension by inventing a recipe that combines Ireland and Palestine. Habib came up with the Paddy-stinian croquettes [including Tayto crisps] — I think it's his signature on the book. Everybody suggested different recipes, we got 40 and chose 30 of them.' Sometimes they had to fight for a dish's inclusion. 'Sumigayya [sumac stew], for example,' says Eman, 'It was impossible for me to try it, [I hate] cold meat, ugh! It is the only dish served with cold meat. And it is very important for me to see lots of colours in the food but it is just brown and red. The first time, I was saying, 'oh my God, I can't, no, impossible,' but Habib said, 'just taste it,' and when I did, it was amazing and now I love it.' 'We had to decide,' says Izz, 'would we only include dishes that have ingredients easily available in the West, because we are writing for people in Ireland and the West in general. But we decided to go with recipes as they are and in Izz Cafe we try to sell Palestinian ingredients that are rare in Europe.' 'I want to thank Izz and Habib,' says Eman, 'they worked very hard on this book. For me, the hardest thing was the weights and measures because I usually cook [as opposed to bake] by hand — and working out how many servings from each dish.' Habib may be an employee but the couple treat him like a beloved younger brother, fussing over him and teasing him in equal measure; he responds happily in kind. Eman Alkarajeh pictured with a cake baked using a recipe from the new book Jibrin at Izz Café, Cork City. Picture Chani Anderson. 'Everywhere I've lived, I've been a refugee' Eman's own family lives in exile in Jordan, while Izz's family live in the West Bank. Habib's parents, his sister, and three of four brothers are still trapped in Gaza — another brother, Ramzi, also works in Izz Cafe. Habib arrived in Ireland in late 2021, making his first 'pilgrimage' from Dublin to Cork, to Izz Cafe. 'I was born a refugee in Gaza,' says Habib. 'Everywhere I've lived, I've been a refugee: Palestine, Greece, Ireland. March 25, 2022, was my first visit as a customer. I had heard about it and did my research and found they had my favourite dishes there, za'atar manaeesh [flatbread] — and Palestinian coffee. In my first hour in Cork, I had to find the cafe — and it was perfect. I couldn't express my feelings about trying the coffee for the first time since I left Gaza. "Six years without our own coffee. It's mad. [Izz Cafe] was amazing.' Eman gently prods: 'Tell us about your feeling when you first opened the door.' 'In our country,' says Habib, 'we used to smell the manaeesh from far away, which brings a feeling from the nose to the soul. Ireland smells different and then smelling the manaeesh … it makes you feel like home, to have the perfect coffee, the perfect manaeesh. Za'atar manaeesh is not just a meal, it's identity, it's the most beautiful thing. I said, 'oh, I'll spend all my money here and so I planned to work in the kitchen and then everything will be free'.' 'You smell the mountains,' says Izz, 'you smell the countryside, you smell Palestine.' Chef Habib Al Ostaz reads from Jibrin, the new cookery book co-authored with Izz and Eman Alkarajeh, at Izz Café, Cork City. Picture Chani Anderson. Habib began cooking in the asylum centre in Greece, during the pandemic: 'I started doing recipes, watching YouTube and I made my own setup in the kitchen. And I loved it. 'It became my favourite thing to do. I didn't cook as a child because my mom wouldn't let anybody get into the kitchen. And that's the mom's tradition in the Middle East.' Habib waxes lyrical about favourite childhood dishes before talking about the melange of regional variations to be found in Gaza: 'Because most are refugees, they bring together recipes from different cities, so there are lots of options, different recipes, and you could even find in the same house [shared between several families], let's say, magloubeh [rice, meat and veg in a single pot, inverted on to a large serving dish]. For example, if you are married to a woman from a different city and your brother's wife is from another city, they both have different ways, both delicious but both different. Some use cauliflower, some use aubergine, some use lamb, some prefer it with chicken.' Izz says: 'And Habib shared his recipe for sumagiyya [beef or lamb sumac stew] which I used to hear about growing up in the West Bank.' 'It was my grandmother's recipe,' says Habib, 'one of the most traditional recipes in Gaza and really hard to make. So that's why I did my research, YouTube, reading books, asking friends, then putting my own touch on it and it was successful.' A Palestinian cake prepared at Izz Café, Cork City, from one of the recipes featured in Jibrin. Picture Chani Anderson. 'I am still stateless' Habib is a gentle, even shy soul, polite, softly spoken, although he has a wicked sense of humour, taking great delight in embellishing for comic effect a tale of 'stealing' coffee cake from the cafe that has the four of us falling around with laughter. Yet, those same eyes, just a moment ago glinting with mischief, cloud over with pain and sadness as he talks of his family still trapped in Gaza. How are they? 'Hungry,' says Habib. 'I find it hard, really hard to ask them about the current situation — or even to talk to them. I know how hard it has been for two years — how can I still ask every day, how are you? It's ridiculous. When I call, I make sure that they're still alive and that's it. I feel very guilty, making food in a place where food and everything else is so easy to get while they cannot. Even if I send money, food is too expensive. And you cannot protect them — I cannot handle that. "They love to hear about me. They say, if you are OK, we are OK. And that's … It just doesn't make any sense, I still feel [their situation] in my heart. They can't feel safe like I do just walking in the street. In the market, I think about how they can't go to the market. Even if they do, there is no market, nothing to buy. "The most painful thing is we are all on the same planet but in an absolutely different situation. I haven't seen them in nine years now, and I want to see them again.' 'And we are his family as well,' says Eman softly. 'When I moved to Ireland,' says Habib, 'and found all the [Palestinian] flags everywhere, it made me feel more comfortable. I didn't know it then but I am the luckiest man on earth — they moved me to Cork and I didn't know that I would be in this restaurant with these people, but that's God's plan, and I'm so thankful — but I am still stateless.' A glimpse into the kitchen at Izz Café, Cork City, as Iman Alkarajeh prepares a traditional Palestinian cake featured in Jibrin. Picture Chani Anderson In a few days, Izz will return to the West Bank to see family. But even as an Irish citizen since 2023, Israeli authorities still impose stringent restrictions on entry. Even the book's title could prove contentious. 'I think they are not happy with the name,' says Eman, 'Jibrin was [the first Palestinian town occupied by the Israelis in 1948] where my family came from [before they were forced into exile in Jordan].' While they dream of peace, freedom, and sovereignty for Palestine, Izz and Eman view Cork as home. 'Cork people are very supportive,' says Izz, 'very kind, very social. They approach you. They tend to hear you, your stories, your pains, and the Palestinian cause makes them even more engaging because it touches their humanity, so you feel them close to your heart. Becoming Irish citizens has been one of the most transformative experiences in our lives — not just legally, but emotionally and culturally as well... In Cork, we celebrate every aspect of our Palestinian heritage openly which amazes people in Palestine. People here have embraced us wholeheartedly, giving us space to be ourselves fully. 'This is why we fell in love with Cork and we feel we want to give back even more, to the community." Jibrin, the new cookery book by Izz and Eman Alkarajeh and chef Habib Al Ostaz, pictured alongside freshly made dishes from the book at Izz Café, Cork City. Picture Chani Anderson.

Poetry review: The fine art of surprise
Poetry review: The fine art of surprise

Irish Examiner

time3 hours ago

  • Irish Examiner

Poetry review: The fine art of surprise

Bernard O'Donoghue's latest collection, The Anchorage, contains a familiar mix of reflections on rural life combined with scholarly references. The poem L'Aiuola, for instance, begins with a quote from Dante before moving into an achingly tender recollection of his schooldays: 'In the morning it was raining, so/we were sent unwillingly to school'. As so often with O'Donoghue, a seemingly simple opening to a poem leaves us unprepared for what's to come. In this case, later in the day, his father's hat is seen 'framed in the dim glass/of the classroom half-door, motioning to us'. The speaker's sister, we learn, is about to die and he and his siblings must be brought home. In the poem's closing lines we are left to contemplate 'the flower garden/that Theresa had tended all her short life'. These poems, while gentle in tone, are acts of remembrance; monuments to people, to communities, to ways of life now passed. Even a glance at the list of contents, containing titles such as Kate's Magic Egg and Jim Cronin Recalls his Parting from Denis Hickey, gives a strong indication of what's in store for the reader. The act of poetic naming is a tradition that runs deep in Irish literature. It's a surprisingly difficult skill and O'Donoghue does it better than most. Walking the Land is a particularly fine example. The first lines, predictably, set us in the past: 'In the days before the auction of the farm/the cold March of 1962,/I led potential buyers through the fields'. Of course, the speaker doesn't want to part from these fields that are so much a part of him. Each one must be called upon in turn: 'the Gate Field; Jackson's; the Western Field;/the Stone Field…The Cottage Field…The Well Field…and the Furzy Glen/where we had seen long-eared owls/winging mystically through the twilight'. Potential buyers, however, see the land very differently: 'none of these were considerations/that weighed much with…the men/who were pondering a bid for our farmland'. This sense of something precious being lost pervades the whole collection. Every ghost summoned makes the reality of change more poignant. The characters in this collection are portrayed with affection and empathy but their lives are never romanticised; there's a darkness hidden beneath the surface of many of these poems. In Safe Houses, the speaker tells us a straightforward story about visiting a relative in the communal area of a nursing home before closing with the ambiguous lines: 'not grasping what they've been exiled from,/some corner where the serpent cannot reach'. The Pulsator, a poem which quietly draws attention to religious and social divides, offers a similarly enigmatic ending. In this poem 'A man called Joyce from Galway' comes to repair the milking machine and has to stay the night. The following morning, Sunday, he is asked if he wants to get up for Mass: 'But he said that he was Church of Ireland,/And turned his back.' The poems in this collection are almost whispered to us, as if O'Donoghue is afraid that speaking too vehemently, or being too consciously artful, will break the spell they hold over him, and us. At times, though, a change of tone and pace would be welcome. In fact, some of the very best poems in the collection come when O'Donoghue strays from his comfort zone. Unbroken Dreams is a superb, hopeful, meditation on death while Immortelles, a poem ostensibly about carnations at the end of summer, brilliantly evokes Larkin's Love Songs in Age. The Anchorage, mostly, offers us the kinds of heartfelt poems that O'Donoghue has built his reputation on. Its very finest moments, however, come when he surprises us.

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