Robert Carlyle could care less that Liam Neeson was originally supposed to play the derelict Irish father in the film version of Frank McCourt's award-winning memoir, Angela's Ashes.

Opening Friday, the anticipated film is directed by Alan Parker, who quickly handed the part to Carlyle when Neeson backed out. Carlyle says he's pleased with the results, especially acting opposite Emily Watson. She plays the depressed but valiant mother in the profile of growing up in poverty.

Shot mostly in Dublin and McCourt's real hometown of Limerick, Carlyle says the cast and crew braved a flu epidemic and the unrelenting rain.

Less harrowing was his brief appearance in Danny Boyle's The Beach, starring Leonardo DiCaprio. Filmed in Thailand, the film brigade had decent weather, but slogged through three-and-a-half months with lots of media attention.

Carlyle, a Boyle buddy who worked with the director on Trainspotting, says he arrived to do his work near the end. "Everybody was getting burnt out, so I had to perk things up a wee bit," says the diminutive Glaswegian-born actor. "And I think I did."

Besides doing favours for a friend, he's making money, too. Carlyle's big payday -- reportedly $2 million -- came from his Bond villain role in The World Is Not Enough. The part also satisfied his childhood fantasy -- to be in a Bond movie.

"Bobby found out he was doing the Bond on the set of Angela's Ashes," recalls Watson, remembering Carlyle's reaction. "He was so excited. He was going round doing 'dun da da dun dun,' pretending do the Bond theme."


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