ABOUT 800 people queued up hoping for a chance to feature in an upcoming €50 million movie starring Gérard Depardieu and Catherine Deneuve.
Scenes from the fourth instalment of the Asterix and Obelix series, God Save Britannia, is to shoot over two weeks in the Burren in early September.
In advance of the mainly French production arriving, casting events for extras were held in the north Clare towns of Ennistymon and Lisdoonvarna at the weekend.Extras co-ordinator Ciara Lyons said yesterday the hopefuls “came in their droves . . . We would have had around 800 men between Lisdoonvarna and Ennistymon.”
Ms Lyons said the men came mostly from Clare “but also from Cork, Kerry and Limerick”.
The production requires 200 males to form the ranks of disputing Roman and Norman armies for a stand-off to be shot by the Cliffs of Moher near Doolin.
The Burren landscape is understood to be a major factor in the movie producers choosing Co Clare as the location.