(5) The It’s A Wrap Thermostat

Peter Jackson cast Saoirse Ronan as the lead character in his film ‘The Lovely Bones’ based on an audition tape she sent in from Ireland. They were so impressed by the tape that they did not even meet her prior to offering her the role.

What’s boiling hot in the world of entertainment, according to us…

1 – Irish director Jim Sheridan looks to have scored some high-profile stars for his new flight of fancy, ‘Dream House’.

Rachel Weisz will join Daniel Craig and Naomi Watts  in what’s being described as, “a suburban nightmare of a movie.”

Craig plays a successful publisher who quits the New York rat race to set up home with his beautiful wife (Weisz) and their two daughters in a quaint New England town.

But – hang on – all is not as it seems.

Their perfect new dream house was home to another mother and her two children who were brutally murdered. The twists just keep on coming, huh?

As we speak, an early 2011 release looks to be on the cards.  

2 – Navan’s one and only claim to cool, Pierce Brosnan, has revealed that he may be reprising his role in ‘The Thomas Crown Affair’ sequel. Brosnan played a high-class art thief in the 1999 thriller, knee-deep in a cat and mouse game with an investigator played by Rene Russo in the movie, which is a remake of a 1968 film starring Steve McQueen.

According to Moviefone.com, the former James Bond star revealed that a screenplay has been written for a follow-up, and he’s weighing up a deal with studio bosses.

“We have a script and a structure that is good and I hope we can do it, but it’s not a definite,”.

3 – This may or may not be old news to you, but I could hardly deny the Granny O’Grimm crew a mention after their – wait for it – Oscar nomination. From the people that brought you ‘Give up your aul sins’ came ‘Granny O’Grimm’s Sleeping Beauty’ - a six minute slice of comic wizardry that’s been nominated in the Best Animated Short Film category. The film received funding through the ‘Frameworks’ scheme from RTÉ, the Irish Film Board and the Arts Council. But it was the enviably creative folk at Brown Bag, coupled with the hilarious tones of comedian Kathleen O’Rourke, that put the points on the board.  

Meanwhile, ‘The Door’, produced by Octagon films, joins the Grim Granny in the same category, with the ‘The Secret of Kells’, featuring the voice of actors Brendan Gleeson and Mick Lally, also getting the nod in the animated feature film section. Not bad for a patch of grass in the Atlantic, huh?