"Anjelica visited Moore Street to see what it was like. The dealers gave her a few bananas and told her to stand at the corner. Then they called a copper over and told him she was trading without a licence. She was raging."
Jacko the Box, alias Richie Walker, from Clonshaugh, Co Dublin, describes himself as a "special extra" on the film set of The Mammy, based on the comedy-drama of the same name written by Brendan O'Carroll. The film's main star and director, Oscar-winning actress Anjelica Huston, is very "down to earth", he says.
"She mixes in with the whole lot of us. She may be a big star but she's like you or me or anyone else and she's a very good director. She's up there with Mel Gibson, if not a bit better. She told us there are too many war films going on and she wanted to do a good black comedy. She certainly has captured the real Dublin atmosphere."
The real Dublin atmosphere is exactly what Ms Huston hoped to recreate when she visited the "real" Moore Street recently. She spent some hours chatting to the dealers, soaking in the hustle and bustle, the blaze of colour and the cornucopia of mingling smells distinctive to the street before her set designers transformed Ringsend's Thorncastle street into an authentic replica.
But it's not supposed to be Moore Street as it is now, but Moore Street as it was in 1967, the year in which The Mammy is set. Dealers line the streets with their stalls of goods, food, old furniture and holy relics. It's all headscarves and national health glasses, molls with backcombed hair and old lads with caps and work coats.
"Could we clear the set please, all quiet," cries a member of the set as Ringsend locals clamber around the security barriers to catch a glimpse of the action.
Sally O'Brien's pub on the street has had cosmetic surgery and is now the Aqua Store but business goes on inside as usual. A few locals huddle around the bar eating sandwiches. Only moments before, Ms Huston had popped in to use the toilet.
"She is a lovely, lovely person," said Ms Betty Plunkett, who works in the bar. "But I can't wait for Tom Jones to come here. He is due here in 10 days, I'm a big fan. I think he's brilliant."
Tom Jones will have a small part as the object of Ms Huston's character Agnes O'Brien's desire. Actress Kate O'Toole plays Sr Sister Magdalen in the film, which is being produced by Jim Sheridan, Arthur Lappin, Greg Smith and Morgan O'Sullivan.
