I'll turn Ireland into new Hollywood, says Brosnan

Bond star Pierce Brosnan is to spend millions of pounds of his own cash... turning Ireland into a Hollywood-style movie mecca.

The screen heart-throb is trying to persuade top US producers to switch their film-making operations to Ireland.

His big selling point is the stunning scenery and the giant strides Ireland had made in building state-of-the-art studios to compare with anywhere in the world.

Brosnan is studying scripts commissioned from leading screen- writers for a series of films he plans to direct himself.

He will fly to Ireland to check out locations as soon as he finishes his new Bond film, Tomorrow Never Dies.

And there is speculation in Hollywood that his 007 co-star, sexy Teri Hatcher, will star in at least one of his Irish productions. Brosnan's company, Irish Dreamtime, is expected to grow dramatically over the next couple of years.

Dreamtime's first movie, The Nephew, will be released soon. And film experts expect it to be a big box office hit.

Brosnan and a friend raised more than pounds 3 million to set up the production outfit.

But he now plans to pump more of his own cash into the venture to boost the budgets for major films.

The star is fiercely proud of his Irish heritage and is convinced his home country can become one of the world's top movie-making nations.

"He's making a pile from the Bond movies and is very confident he can turn the Irish movie scene into a big winner," said a film industry insider.

"Pierce could soon be Mr Big in film production and he looks like making Ireland his base.

"He and his girlfriend Keely Shaye Smith have been hopping over to Ireland every few weeks - whenever he gets a break from the Bond schedule.

"Tomorrow Never Dies should be wrapped up in a few weeks and after that he'll concentrate on Ireland.

"He sees it as an extremely exciting project which will further boost Ireland's growing reputation as a movie- making centre."

Top producer Steven Spielberg has also given Ireland a massive vote of confidence as a location.

The Oscar-winner will shoot Saving Private Ryan there this summer. It will star Tom Hanks and Meryl Streep.

Jim Sheridan's The Boxer and Noel Pearson's Dancing At Lughnasa will keep Ireland in the movie production spotlight this year.

Made-for-TV films like Sweeney Todd and Oliver Twist are also being lined-up.

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