Award winning Irish director Shimmy Marcus looks like making his international mark with his debut full-length feature film Headrush, due to begin shooting this spring.

The story – which won Marcus the Miramax International Scriptwriting Award, is loosely described as a caper/crime comedy set against the background of the emerging Tiger economy of the mid ‘90s. The director has signed up Gary Lewis (Billy Elliot) and chief Fun Lovin’ Criminal and cat about town Huey Morgan to play gangster roles in the movie.

Headrush follows Marcus’ short masturbation comedy (!) Ivor The Insomniac which recently played in cinemas in support of Kevin Smith’s Jay And Silent Bob Strike Back, and his acclaimed rock documentary Aidan Walsh – Master Of The Universe, which was the first low budget Irish film shot on video to be granted a cinema release. That debut, which drew favourable comparison with Terry Zwigoff’s 1994 documentary on legendary American cartoonist Robert Crumb, received rave reviews on its release, despite a distinct lack of initial support from RTE or TV3. It also won Best Feature Documentary at the 2001 Celtic Film & TV Festival.

For Marcus, 2002 looks set to mark the beginning of a serious career.