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Brothers to attend special screening of Star Wars in Bantry today

December 14th, 2017 9:44 AM

By Siobhan Cronin

One of the Southern Star front pages left by Mark Hamill and Daisy Ridley at the house on Brow Head.

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TWO very special Cork boys will be among a select group of chosen people invited to a special preview of the new Star Wars movie in West Cork today.

TWO very special Cork boys will be among a select group of chosen people invited to a special preview of the new Star Wars movie in West Cork today.

Tom (4) and Jack (5) Cunningham received an invitation from Lucas Film to the special screening in Bantry’s Cinemax today.

The boys were among the luckiest Star Wars fans in the world because the big stars of the movie stayed in their grandad Danny O’Keeffe’s house on Brow Head, during filming in May of last year.

While the home was under strict security and could not be visited by the family during filming, when Danny returned home after Mark Hamill (Luke Skywalker) and Daisy Ridley (Rey) had moved to the Kerry shoot, he found something very unique left behind.

Danny found two copies of a recent Southern Star – featuring our special ‘Star Wars Mizen’ front page – that had been signed by both Mark Hamill and Daisy Ridley, and dedicated to Tom and Jack.

The actors had been using the house for hair, make-up and time out between scenes.

 ‘Hey Tom, Force Yourself, All the Best! Mark Hamill’ wrote Mark on one, while  Daisy had written ‘Thank you for letting us use your house. Hope you enjoy the film.’

And, on a separate front page for Jack, Mark had autographed: ‘The force is with Jack! Your pal, Mark Hamill.’ While Daisy had written: ‘Woop! Hope you are feeling the force!’

Now the two will join a select group of locals, including their grandad, who worked on the movie, or helped the crew with supplies, locations or equipment, at a screening in Bantry today.

Some fans who have seen the movie in the UK and the US have already dubbed it the ‘best Star Wars movie ever’ but Irish audiences will have to wait until this week to see if shots of Brow Head and the Mizen Peninsula made it to the final cut.

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