The 60-year-old Oscar nominee will play a busker mistaken for rock legend Bob Dylan in the film Kisses, which also stars two Irish schoolchildren plucked from obscurity.

Filming will take place in Dublin over the next five weeks. Production will then move to Sweden for one week.

The movie, produced by Macdara Kelleher and directed by Lance Daly, tells of two young children who run away from home at Christmas.

Two Dubliners, Kelly O'Neill (10) and Shane Curry (11), landed the lead roles after they were chosen from thousands of young hopefuls in auditions which took place last year.

In the movie, the children run away and on their journey, meet a man at a stage door, Des "Down Under" Dylan (Rea) who tells them an anecdote about life.

The children believe the man is music legend Bob Dylan, composer of legendary hits such as Blowin' In The Wind and Forever Young.

The film also stars Paul Roe of Adam And Paul, and Neili Conroy from Intermission.

Rea, who was nominated for an Oscar for his role in Neil Jordan's The Crying Game, is currently appearing in a Sam Shepard play at the Abbey Theatre.

Shooting of the new movie has already got under way and will take place in and around O'Connell Street, Tallaght and Ringsend.

Scenes include the children making their escape and hitching a ride on a boat, which is filmed along the canal from Ballyfermot to Ringsend, as well as Christmas day scenes on O'Connell Street.

Kisses is Lance Daly's third feature film to date. Previous projects have included The Halo Effect and Last Days In Dublin.

Rea, who helped set up theatre company Field Day, has also starred in movies Interview With A Vampire, Breakfast On Pluto and The End Of The Affair.

Kisses is being made by Dublin-based Fastnet Films and has been funded mainly by the Irish Film Board.

It is due for release next year.