TOM HANKS has got the Irish people all wrong with his brilliant story from his Saving Private Ryan days.
Meryl Streep and Tom Hanks were on The Ryan Tubridy Show on RTÉ Radio 1 this morning ahead of the release of their film The Post next week.
Both actors have shot films here, and happily shared with Ryan their memories of the time they spent in Ireland.
Tom spoke about working on Saving Private Ryan in Wexford, and how he formed a very noble impression of Irish people through this small observation:
"We were staying in Gorey town, and came home one night after work – everybody was outside the pub and they were all drinking, and I thought it would be lovely to meet them, and I wished I could sit down but I had to go to work.
"The next morning, driving in just as the sun was coming up, we passed the same pub. And there on all the benches and ledges outside the pub were the pint glasses that had been drunk and were waiting to be collected. And I thought, in Ireland, they don’t steal the pint glasses. This would never happen in the United States of America.
Now, Tom, we hate to burst your bubble but you might be being slightly too complimentary of the moral compass of the Irish people. Irish people do steal pint glasses. All of the bloody time! They also steal the bar mats, the signs, the ashtrays, and anything that isn’t nailed down, basically. How do we break this to him?
Meryl, for her part, recalled the days she spent in Donegal while shooting the film adaptation of Brian Friel’s Dancing At Lughnasa:
"We were in a town and the kids at the school got up and danced for us. And we had a little Guinness as well, on the way in. It was one of the most magical afternoons of my life. Unforgettable.
"And I found out that some of my family came from there, my daughter Grace is named after Grace Strain… and all of the Strains I understand are from Donegal.
