Return of the Jedi to Skellig ‘not scheduled’

The Hollywood rumour mill is at it again — this time with a report that the company making the latest Star Wars film is to return to south Kerry for further filming.

Movie website Latino-Review.com says the production team will come back to Skellig Michael in November, where it did a three-day shoot in late July.

But the Irish Film Board — which would normally be in the know about such matters — last night said it had heard nothing about the reported second coming.

“Bord Scannán na hÉireann/the Irish Film Board can confirm that no filming has been scheduled for Skellig Michael in the coming months. Any comment on the international blogs with regard to this matter is pure speculation at this stage,” said Louise Ryan, the board’s marketing and communications manager.

Lying about 12km off the coast, Skellig Michael contains monastic ruins dating to the sixth century and is a Unesco world heritage site.

It is essentially a barren rock exposed to the full rigours of wind and wave and can be difficult to access even in summer, never mind in winter when it is usually closed to visitors by the Office of Public Works, the State body responsible for it.

However, movie buffs are saying the production team need not necessarily be wishing to get on the rock — they might instead be focusing on exterior scenes that could be filmed from a helicopter and would not necessarily call for the presence of actors.

Feathers were ruffled when director JJ Abrams, some cast members, including Mark Hamill and Daisy Ridley, and the production crew arrived in July, amid concerns by environmentalists.

BirdWatch Ireland, for instance, said it would have been preferable if filming took place when the bird breeding season was over. Skellig is an internationally recognised seabird colony.

The rock was also closed to visitors for three days and was at the centre of a 3km exclusion zone which was patrolled by a naval vessel.

The spectacular Skellig is expected to be seen on Star Wars: Episode VII for one or two minutes and the blockbuster is being flagged as a boost to tourism in the south-west.

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