In the lush interior of the Regency Hotel where interview sessions with Anjelica Huston and Marion O'Dwyer are about to take place, the scene seems a far cry from the scenario of the film, Agnes Brown. Set in the raw environs of 1960's working class Dublin, this fable chronicles the harsh yet robust life that Dubliners lived then, a far cry from the Celtic Tiger of today.

Huston now comes in and sits down to be primed for another round of interviews. Wearing a crisp, sophisticated Helmut Lang skirt and a Michael Kors blouse, she seems far removed from the character she played and directed in this production (veteran director Jim Sheridan is one of the producers).

For Huston, Ireland occupies a special place in her history; in some ways it's at the core of her being, so doing this film seems a given. "Ireland is my milieu," she says. "It was sort of natural that I would do this story. I was very comfortable doing it with my background." Ireland has this place in me because when I was young I spent several years there; it's a touchstone in my life."

The daughter of the great director John Huston and granddaughter of actor Walter Huston, Huston is an Academy-Award winning actress herself (Prizzi's Honor) who worked with such directors as Paul Mazursky, Nicholas Roeg and Stephen Frears.Though she made films ranging from the camp Addams Family to The Dead (her late dad's last film), she now steps from in front of the camera to behind it--directing her first film for theatrical release (she made Bastard Out Of Carolina--but it only ran on cable TV).

It seemed a natural for her to try filming a book rooted in the Ireland of her early days. She chose to adapt the 1994 best selling book, Mammy a story of hardnosed life in 60's Dublin written by Brendan O' Carroll who went on to collaborate on the screenplay. A treasure house of stories such as those written by Frank McCourt that might seem parochial to the casual observer, captured the gener al public attention because characters such as Agnes Browne are universal.

Such familiarity didn't make filming in Ireland easy."lt was great to work in Ireland because it's such a beautiful country," says the actress/director." But it's not particularly easy to film in because the weather changes all the time. So as soon as you put up a screen to try to filter the sunlight it starts to rain so you're constantly chasing your own tail," the filmmaker notes. "But it's such a beautiful place, the people are great, and the crews are really good there so we had a wonderful time"

Shooting the film there gave Huston a chance to recall the time she spent in the country during the '60s. Though she hardly had the hard-bitten life of her characters, she was familiar with the Dublin of that era. But it was hard to capture the style of the city then with all the changes going on there now.

Says Huston, "lt's changed a lot and there's building going on in Dublin so practically anywhere you stand you'll see cranes on the skyline.'let It's still possible to find pockets of old Dublin--but its becoming more and more rarified." Of course working in Ireland gave her an opportunity to work with such a fine actress as her co star, Marion O'Dwyer. The noted actress has per formed in numerous stage productions on the Emerald Island as well as considerable television appearances.

O' Dwyer is in the other room doing her own set of interviews. She too in a simple dress suit looks hardly the person to play raucous Marion Monks.

"I found it a fascinating experience," says O' Dwyer about her first time in front of the camera for a feature film. "It was a big adventure and I love the change from theater to tilm. I love the intimacy of film work. I had the puzzle of trying to get continuity on the arc of my performance-it was great fun and I just enjoyed every bit. Tony Richmond, our director of photography, was wonderful. He taught me a lot about changing my performance for the camera and I was blessed with the people I worked with."

As her second directorial experience, this film was laden with its own set of tribulations, especially in trying to shuttle between being the director and starring in the film. Says Huston, "It was very mad, I was kind of chasing my own tail. There's always that question of what do you do first thing in the morning--hair and makeup or do you go and set up the shot. You can't be at all places at all times. So you have to try and not hold yourself hostage and be methodical about the work and hope that the weather gods will smile.

As Huston explains, "Agnes Browne has seven children. She's a widow whom you meet on the first day of her widowhood. She works in the vegetable market in Dublin in the 1960's. She has a very good relationship with best friend Marion Monks. Her idol is Tom Jones. For the rest you have to go see the movie," O'Dwyer explains a little further, "My character is Marion Monks, a Market Street dealer, which means she sells fruits and vegetables; she's feisty, she's fun, she's very witty--a lot wittier than I am--and she was a joy and a pleasure to play."

"She's Agnes Browne's best friend and they soldier through many trials and tribulations together. I think one of the gorgeous aspects of the film is that they are both trying to facilitate making each other's dreams come true. It's funny for me because getting this wonderful part in this film was a dream come true for me. To get to work with Anjelica Houston and Brendan O' Carroll who wrote it... It's funny that the film is about dreams coming true and the fact that they can, as they have for me here."

Making the film also gave the two a chance to work with sexy 60's legend, Tom Jones. In the film he is performing a concert in the hall where both Monk and Browne hunger for a ticket. Just as Browne laments about her inability to get tickets before a sell out, Monks pull out a pair from her blouse. This interplay is the charm and great sadness of the film. It is also this relationship between them that transforms the film from a grimy hard life tale into something of a fable.

Tom Jones' presence in the film just adds to the mythic quality of the story. Once the great sex symbol of his age, Jones represented the ultimate fantasy escape to many working-class women. Says Huston about snaring Jones for the opportunity to play himself. "I think he was very well disposed towards the script once he read it. His son is his manager so once you get by Mark, Tom is very easygoing."

As for the experience of working with Jones, O'Dwyer adds, "Well he's a bit before my time--but I'd say I'm certainly a fan now. We were lucky enough that when we were filming the concert that is in this film, he gave us a present of an extra concert and that was a joy and a bliss." This was not the only challenge Huston contended with in making the film. Putting a cast together of Browns's seven kids took special care. Says Huston, "l love casting--it's one of my favorite parts of making a movie.The children were very talented; most of them hadn't worked in film before and I was really impressed by how interested they were in the process and how several of them really developed over the course of making the movie. Usually they say it's very bad for children to act in movies but in this case, it really brought several of them out of their shells and made them nicer people."

The ultimate question was, how well Huston fared as a director. O'Dwyer has her own opinion. "It was bliss from start to finish. It's wonderful when you're working with somebody who knows what they're doing and has such intelligence and clarity and is able to communicate very easily with you."

"Anjelica just liberated me to do the best I could and she just let me do my own thing. And if she saw me during the course it would just be a quiet word in my ear. She's a lady and it was just a pleasure." Watching the film it was clear that both Huston and O' Dwyer enjoyed the challenge of the film and behaved as if they were having fun partying as the characters, hanging out despite the grim life of the very poor in Dublin during those times. Says O Dwyer, "Yes we were. We had a ball as did all the Market Street girls--fat Annie played by June Rodgers and Winnie the Mackerel--all these wonderful characters and names they have. Winnie was played by Jennifer Gibney and Brendan O'Carroll himself plays a role in the film--Shamus the Wine--so we all became firm friends.

"Anjelica, myself, and the gang would go off on Friday night when we'd finish work for the week and have a bit of a party and that was great." Now that this is done and they have moved on, what's the future for both of them! O Dwyer: "I'm doing a television series that I did last year and I'm going home now to do that and also a drama series for the BBC called Rebel Heart And another movie soon. I hope so, Now this is on release I'm hoping I get a few more movie offers cause I really enjoy making them.

As for Huston, she's back to acting."I'm in a Merchant Ivory film, The Golden Bowl that should be out soon. Then I'm off to Prague in May to work on another film--my next acting project." But as to her career as a director, she simply says,"That's it for a while, I think. I'm taking a break from that other thing."

By Roger Wong and Brad Balfour