One of the unlikely stars of 'The Banshees of Inisherin' is now running with a pack of miniature donkeys.
Jenny the Donkey has become a celebrity in her own right, after being thanked at the Golden Globes on Wednesday.
The film took home three awards, including Best Picture and Best Screenplay.
Rita Moloney was chief handler for Jenny on the set of the film.
She told Moncrieff that writer and director Martin McDonagh fell for Jenny straight away.
"Martin had actually seen the donkey prior to me ever meeting her myself," she said.
"I had to go with Martin and one of the Irish producers to try and source a double for Jenny for insurance purposes... and just company for Jenny.
"Martin saw her maybe about September two years ago, and she was only three at the time.
"He was besotted by her, and she was very different and she was very petite - but only a baby.
"He just fell in love with her, so he just wanted her.
"We worked around Jenny to try to find a double, which was very hard to do.
"We eventually sourced as near... in England, but that was a few months down the road".
'She was different'
A double was eventually found, nicknamed 'Nosey Rosey'.
"She was a beautiful creature, she was well-handled, she was well-socialised, loved people, loved being involved," Rita said.
"Nosey Rosey: she named herself, really.
"Rosey was confident whereas Jenny - everything was new to her".
She said Jenny is unique owing to her size.
"She's smaller than an Irish Wolfhound," she explained.
"She's a miniature, but she was very different because she was just tiny for a miniature.
"She was different, and because she was different I think Martin fell in love with her too".
Rita said several other miniature donkeys were brought in as a 'complete body double' for Jenny - but none could compare.
"Whenever Martin was in Ireland he would come here and have a look at them - but he never saw anything, he was blinkered about Jenny."
She said Jenny came in to start training in January, with shooting due to start in August.
"When I got to meet her first she knew nothing.
"She wasn't leading, she'd never done anything - so we had to teach her how to learn things, and that was alien to her."
'Colin was brilliant'
Rita said Jenny did learn a lot in her time on-set.
"You could only kind of work at her pace at the beginning," she said.
"Then when she started to learn... it could not be done in a harsh manner or fast or anything like that.
"You had to take everything at her pace, and when they start to learn - it's like everything else - they start to offer you up stuff.
"You know that the curtain is starting to come up: and she did learn a tremendous amount".
Colin Farrell and Jenny the Donkey in The Banshees of Inisherin. Picture by: LANDMARK MEDIA / Alamy Stock PhotoOn building a bond with the actors - Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson - she said: "Colin was brilliant at doing that.
"There was a huge call on their time for pre-production rehearsals.
"Even when the lads were down in Galway and we were already on Inis Mór... Colin and Brendan would come over every now and again and spend time with the animals.
"They had no problem doing that, because they needed it to work".
'Bigger than Colin'
Rita said Jenny always got her way during shooting.
"In Jenny's head, I think she became bigger than Colin to be honest with you," she said.
"She learned that two legs bad, four legs good - and what Jenny wanted Jenny got."
Rita said Jenny won't be making any more films, at Martin McDonagh's request.
"He just loved her and he didn't want her then to be commercialised after, no matter how well it was going to do," she said.
"Martin asked if the owner would allow him, or the production company, to rehome her forever now just to be a donkey.
"She's running with a pack of about five other miniature donkeys - Martin knows exactly where she is," she added.
