Production Commences on 'The Truth Commissioner' Starring Roger Allam and Sean McGinley
A new film and political thriller, The Truth Commissioner, commences principal photography from this week in Belfast and Dublin. Adapted from the award-winning 2008 novel by David Park, the powerful picture is produced in association with Northern Ireland Screen, BBC Northern Ireland, Bord Scannán na hÉireann/the Irish Film Board and The Broadcasting Authority of Ireland and stars: Roger Allam (The Queen, Endeavour, Tamara Drewe, The Book Thief, The Thick of It); Sean McGinley (Michael Collins, Braveheart, The Wind That Shakes the Barley); Tom Goodman Hill (The Imitation Game, Mr Selfridge); Conleth Hill (Intermission, Salmon Fishing in the Yemen, New Amsterdam, Game of Thrones); Ian McElhinney (Game of Thrones); Bird Brennan (Shadow Dancer) and Barry Ward (Jimmy's Hall).
Directed by Declan Recks (Eden, Big Swinger, Quando, Pure Mule, The Clinic) and produced by David Collins (Once, Run & Jump, The Sea), Eoin O'Callaghan (Five Minutes of Heaven, Before You Go) and Kevin Jackson (Falling For a Dancer, Amongst Women, Behold the Lamb), the edgy and compelling film looks behind the rhetoric surrounding the Northern Ireland peace process. Produced by Belfast-based production company BT9 Films for Big Fish Films and Samson Films, The Truth Commissioner will be filmed for a period of five weeks across locations spanning Belfast and Londonderry in Northern Ireland and Dublin and other parts of the Republic of Ireland. Prestigious and historic locations will include Derry-Londonderry's Guildhall setting for the Bloody Sunday enquiry and Belfast's Stormont Castle - seat of the Northern Ireland Executive.
Set in a post-Troubles Northern Ireland, The Truth Commissioner follows the fictional story of Henry Stanfield, played by Roger Allam, a career diplomat who has just been appointed as Truth Commissioner to Northern Ireland. Eager to make good as a peacemaker, the Prime Minster urges a commission following the South African model of Truth and Reconciliation. But, though Stanfield starts bravely, he quickly uncovers some bloody and inconvenient truths about those now running the country; truths which none of those in power are prepared to have revealed.
The story revolves around the lives of three men who are directly or indirectly involved in the disappearance, 20 years earlier, of the fifteen-year-old Connor Roche. Stanfield calls the three men to testify: Francis Gilroy, played by Sean McGinley, a government minister and former IRA leader; retired policeman James Fenton, played by Ian McElhinney, who recruited Connor as an informer; and Michael Madden, played by Barry Ward who, though now living in America, has come back to Belfast to admit to Roche's murder. Stanfield is forced into the historic web of lies, and the truth, which is shaped by the four men's different pasts, remains as elusive as ever. In a society trying to heal the scars of the old, a secret past conspires to destroy what we would build in the present. For the Truth is often less about what might be gained rather than what might be lost.
Big Fish Films' Eoin O'Callaghan said: "David's Park's prescient and provocative novel about the unintended fallout from a peace process has made a profound impression on commentators and governments wherever the idea of Truth Commission has been mooted. It is hardly a surprise that all the major film funders in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland have put their weight behind this important film. The film has a brilliant and believable script. The characters and situations are vividly drawn and the Northern Ireland setting really brings to life this compelling moment in history. With Declan at the helm, it's going to be a beautiful picture."
The Truth Commissioner will be broadcast on BBC Northern Ireland later in the year.