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Canuck director scores with ‘Fifty Dead Men Walking’
Friday September 12th 2008TORONTO – Sir Ben Kingsley had some hair issues on the set of “Fifty Dead Men Walking,” the gripping new drama by Canadian director Kari Skogland.
Asked to lose his goatee for this spellbinding film the bald actor jokes, “My hairdresser and I thought we could pull a fast on one on Kari. But alas we couldn’t do it.”
Kingsley, along with actors Jim Sturgess, Rose McGowan and Canadian Kevin Zegers round out the cast for this real-life tale about Martin McGartland, a Belfast hustler who was recruited by British police in the 1980s to infiltrate the IRA and rat on their activities.
The 22-year-old informer fired countless tips to the Brits that foiled deadly murders and bombings hatched by IRA higher-ups. The film’s title, in fact, refers to 50 men that were saved by McGartland’s cleverly won information.
Yet for all his survival smarts McGartland’s cover was blown in 1991. The wily young spy was kidnapped and brutally interrogated. Remarkably McGartland escaped his captors – an ending perfectly suited for great Hollywood fare.
“Unlike World War II there are people alive today who lived through Belfast in the ’80s and we were able to talk to them. That first-hand experience was such a benefit,” Sturgess told reporters at the Toronto International Film Festival.
Sturgess spent 11 weeks in Belfast soaking up the local flavour before shooting began on the Canadian-British production inspired by McGartland’s bestselling 1997 memoir. He grew a moustache to be true to the film’s era and had his brown hair cut into a mullet. Sturgess also perfected his Irish accent, so much so that the locals did not realize the 27-year-old actor from “21” and “Across the Universe” was British.
“From the minute Jim and Kevin met in Belfast they never dropped the Irish accent. They never knew what their real voices were like until the film wrapped,” says Skogland.
“It was a little tricky for me,” says Sturgess, who spent time with members of the IRA getting a feel for the times. “I really tried to let everyone around me know that I wasn’t taking sides.”
As Sturgess says, “There were many complex issues that had to be dealt with in this film. The movie isn’t pro-IRA and it doesn’t show its members as crazy, evil people. The times weren’t black and white. At the end of the day I love that Kari didn’t treat them as such.”
Source: CTV.ca
Front Page, Industry News
Canuck director scores with ‘Fifty Dead Men Walking’
Friday September 12th 2008TORONTO – Sir Ben Kingsley had some hair issues on the set of “Fifty Dead Men Walking,” the gripping new drama by Canadian director Kari Skogland.
Asked to lose his goatee for this spellbinding film the bald actor jokes, “My hairdresser and I thought we could pull a fast on one on Kari. But alas we couldn’t do it.”
Kingsley, along with actors Jim Sturgess, Rose McGowan and Canadian Kevin Zegers round out the cast for this real-life tale about Martin McGartland, a Belfast hustler who was recruited by British police in the 1980s to infiltrate the IRA and rat on their activities.
The 22-year-old informer fired countless tips to the Brits that foiled deadly murders and bombings hatched by IRA higher-ups. The film’s title, in fact, refers to 50 men that were saved by McGartland’s cleverly won information.
Yet for all his survival smarts McGartland’s cover was blown in 1991. The wily young spy was kidnapped and brutally interrogated. Remarkably McGartland escaped his captors – an ending perfectly suited for great Hollywood fare.
“Unlike World War II there are people alive today who lived through Belfast in the ’80s and we were able to talk to them. That first-hand experience was such a benefit,” Sturgess told reporters at the Toronto International Film Festival.
Sturgess spent 11 weeks in Belfast soaking up the local flavour before shooting began on the Canadian-British production inspired by McGartland’s bestselling 1997 memoir. He grew a moustache to be true to the film’s era and had his brown hair cut into a mullet. Sturgess also perfected his Irish accent, so much so that the locals did not realize the 27-year-old actor from “21” and “Across the Universe” was British.
“From the minute Jim and Kevin met in Belfast they never dropped the Irish accent. They never knew what their real voices were like until the film wrapped,” says Skogland.
“It was a little tricky for me,” says Sturgess, who spent time with members of the IRA getting a feel for the times. “I really tried to let everyone around me know that I wasn’t taking sides.”
As Sturgess says, “There were many complex issues that had to be dealt with in this film. The movie isn’t pro-IRA and it doesn’t show its members as crazy, evil people. The times weren’t black and white. At the end of the day I love that Kari didn’t treat them as such.”
Source: CTV.ca
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Front Page, Industry News
Canuck director scores with ‘Fifty Dead Men Walking’
Friday September 12th 2008TORONTO – Sir Ben Kingsley had some hair issues on the set of “Fifty Dead Men Walking,” the gripping new drama by Canadian director Kari Skogland.
Asked to lose his goatee for this spellbinding film the bald actor jokes, “My hairdresser and I thought we could pull a fast on one on Kari. But alas we couldn’t do it.”
Kingsley, along with actors Jim Sturgess, Rose McGowan and Canadian Kevin Zegers round out the cast for this real-life tale about Martin McGartland, a Belfast hustler who was recruited by British police in the 1980s to infiltrate the IRA and rat on their activities.
The 22-year-old informer fired countless tips to the Brits that foiled deadly murders and bombings hatched by IRA higher-ups. The film’s title, in fact, refers to 50 men that were saved by McGartland’s cleverly won information.
Yet for all his survival smarts McGartland’s cover was blown in 1991. The wily young spy was kidnapped and brutally interrogated. Remarkably McGartland escaped his captors – an ending perfectly suited for great Hollywood fare.
“Unlike World War II there are people alive today who lived through Belfast in the ’80s and we were able to talk to them. That first-hand experience was such a benefit,” Sturgess told reporters at the Toronto International Film Festival.
Sturgess spent 11 weeks in Belfast soaking up the local flavour before shooting began on the Canadian-British production inspired by McGartland’s bestselling 1997 memoir. He grew a moustache to be true to the film’s era and had his brown hair cut into a mullet. Sturgess also perfected his Irish accent, so much so that the locals did not realize the 27-year-old actor from “21” and “Across the Universe” was British.
“From the minute Jim and Kevin met in Belfast they never dropped the Irish accent. They never knew what their real voices were like until the film wrapped,” says Skogland.
“It was a little tricky for me,” says Sturgess, who spent time with members of the IRA getting a feel for the times. “I really tried to let everyone around me know that I wasn’t taking sides.”
As Sturgess says, “There were many complex issues that had to be dealt with in this film. The movie isn’t pro-IRA and it doesn’t show its members as crazy, evil people. The times weren’t black and white. At the end of the day I love that Kari didn’t treat them as such.”
Source: CTV.ca
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