Published: Wednesday, 17th February, 2010 4:50pm

Local girl seals major role in new Irish-made movie

by Karen Downey

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Local girl Vicky Joyce has been cast in one of the leading roles of a new Irish movie, The Other Side of Sleep, which begins filming at the end of March.

Sixteen-year-old Vicky from Carna, Lecarrow, got the call that could change her life from casting director Nick McGinley last Wednesday.

Mr McGinley was also involved in Irish movies Joyriders and Kisses.

Vicky, a pupil of Athlone Community College, was still in shock last Friday afternoon when she spoke to the Westmeath Independent.

"I got the news Wednesday night, I'm still shocked," she said. "I liked acting, but I never did it before."

Vicky first auditioned for Mr McGinley at the community centre in Tormey Villas on January 16 and was called for further auditions in Tullamore, the most recent of which was held on Saturday, February 6.

She explained that the auditions involved improvised acting and she was simply given three different scenarios that she had to act out. Firstly she had to play a pregnant teen, then a girl who had had her boyfriend stolen and finally a student who was wrongly accused of bullying at school.

While Vicky has some experience singing and previously travelled to Vienna with the school choir, this was her first attempt at acting and she explained this week that it was her dad, Leo, who encouraged her to go to the auditions in the first place, which she admitted she was a little reluctant to do at first, but has since discovered she has a flare for acting. While not wanting to give away too much about the movie, which was written and will be directed by Rebecca Daly, Vicky explained that she has been cast in the role of a 15-year-old girl who is the glue that keeps her family together after the death of their mother a few years ago and then her older sister going missing.

A quite modest Vicky said this week she had never really thought about acting before but her dad had encouraged her to audition. She said she is looking forward to filming, which begins on March 29. The film will be shot somewhere in the midlands.

"I'm still shocked, but I'm excited," she said. "It all happened really quickly, I didn't really worry about it."

Vicky thanked her family and friends for being very supportive and thanked, in particular, Amanda, Tracey, Shauna, Bernadette and Seán.