‘Jolene’ director Dan Ireland dies at 57

Filmmaker Dan Ireland, who co-founded the Seattle Film Festival has died. He was 57.
Ireland died on Thursday at his home here. While the cause of his death is remains unclear, his manager Paul Nelson confirms the filmmaker had been suffering from flu-like symptoms, reported People magazine.
Born in Vancouver, Ireland moved down to Seattle to co-found with Darryl Macdonald the Seattle International Film Festival, which they ran from 1975 to 1986. They also opened an arthouse, the Egyptian, in Seattle.
His directorial debut, “The Whole Wide World” helped launch the career of his lead actress, Renee Zellweger.
Ireland also directed actress Jessica Chastain’s debut film “Jolene,” in which she played an orphan, who spends a decade exploring the country.Chastain took to Twitter to express her condolences.
“The sweetest angel left us. Called his voicemail just to hear his voice once more. I’ll miss you baby,” she wrote.
Ireland was set to helm Bill Paxton and Ashley Judd starrer “Life Briefly”. Based on the story of real-life musician Brian Knapp, the shooting of the project was scheduled to begin in January but was postponed due to financial issues.