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Ronan Keating Live
Exclusive: Irish singer talks his screen debut and beyond

09 February 2004

It's amazing who you run into in the long halls of Empire Towers. While we at Empire Online have become accustomed to sharing our lift with celebrity guests and exchanging puzzled glances when familiar faces cut in front of us in the queue for the vending machine, we were still forced to do a dramatic double take when Ronan Keating popped by the office one morning.

While fielding interviews and signing headshots from our colleagues on other esteemed publications, Keating popped his head round our door and we took the opportunity to collar him for information about his imminent foray into the world of acting: London-based crime film, Guns, Money and Homecooking.

"It's all being shot now in Bray, Wicklow in Ireland," he told us. "It's mainly an Irish shoot but with a little bit maybe in London."

Co-starring Vinnie Jones and Anna Friel, the film stars Keating as an inexperienced gangster who, after a hold-up goes wrong, is forced to hole up in a lighthouse with three accomplices, the only other occupant of which is an eccentric old lady.

"There are two people who haven't confirmed so we can't announce them yet but if they do then that will be pretty stunning." Who? We asked, our interest piqued. "I want to tell you but I can't. She's an Irish actress and it's a pretty big deal if it happens."

While Guns, Money and Home Cooking is the singer's acting debut, it's not for lack of trying. Keating's been determined to appear on our screens for some time. "I've been trying to get into movies for a while. I went to audition for Moulin Rouge and Jerry Bruckheimer and Antoine Fuqua brought me in to read for Lancelot in King Arthur. I got down to the last few in that and it would have been fantastic but it didn't happen. It went to Ioan Gruffud and I know he'll be very good."

"In the summer I'm shooting another movie - a Hollywood one about music. We're shooting that in Ireland too. LA, Nashville and Dublin."

The acting gig may not have worked out for All Saints and the less said about the S Club movie the better, but, if the Irish crooner's determination is anything to go by, Ronan Keating may yet make a go of it on the screen.


http://www.empireonline.com/News/story.asp?nid=15577

Ronan Keating - Ronan's Edgy Film Debut
16 October 2003

Ronan's Edgy Film Debut

Pop good guy RONAN KEATING is set to shock when he makes his big screen debut - he'll be playing a gun-toting criminal.

The former BOYZONE singer, known as one of the nicest men in pop, has signed up to play a dodgy bank robber in new film GUNS, MONEY AND HOME COOKING. The NADIA TASS-directed flick will also star footballer-turned-actor VINNIE JONES and ME WITHOUT YOU beauty ANNA FRIEL.

Ronan says, "This is a new adventure for me and I'm really excited. The first day will be very nerve-wracking. I hope it works out, but music is still my number one priority."

And a movie insider confirms, "We wanted someone to play one of the robbers who you just wouldn't expect. I think it's fair to say you wouldn't tag Ronan Keating as a gun-wielding crook.

"But we think it will work. He is actually a very good actor."