UH/1618

McSorley for lead role in Omagh bomb film
BY JOHN McCUSKER

OMAGH born actor Gerard McSorley has landed the leading role in a full-length feature film on the bombing atrocity which devastated his home town just over five years ago.
Filming is due to begin in early December on the £3 million Anglo-Irish project that is expected to be screened by Channel 4 and RTE next spring.
This weekend scriptwriters plan to hold separate meetings with relatives in the town before a finalised draft of the script is presented at a collective meeting in early November.
The film will focus on the relatives' quest for 'truth and justice.' Gerard McSorley takes on the role of Michael Gallagher who lost his 21-year-old son Aidan in the bombing and who now heads the Omagh Victims' Support Group. Filming will take place at locations in and around the Dublin area.
Mr McSorley has recently appeared in a number of major cinema releases including The Boxer, Bloody Sunday and Veronica Guerin where he portrayed a powerful role as gangster John Gilligan.
Script editor Lucy Dyke explained to the Ulster Herald how those involved in the Omagh project had painstakingly consulted the bereaved and injured during a series of sensitive meetings over the past year. In the course of the consultations, she said, there was a consensus that the full horror of the bomb attack should not be glossed over.
"Most feel we should not shy away from just how horrendous this was," she said. "But that is not what the film is about. The story focuses on the families' campaign for truth and justice. Although we wanted to tell everyone's story, the script centres on Michael Gallagher and his family as well as members of the support group.
"We have met with everyone depicted in the film to inform them of what is happening and to make sure they are happy with the content. As yet we do not have a final script. We will be speaking to relatives separately to talk them through how they are to be presented and then we will gather families together to read the finalised script.
"We want them to be prepared for what they will come across in the final film," she added.
Ms Dyke said those involved in the film project had a ' really positive' response in their efforts to compile the script. And many of those affected, particularly members of the support group, felt that this was a film which 'had to be made."
Although a number of the central character parts have already been assigned, casting director Dan Hubbard is still anxious to recruit as many local actors and actresses from the Omagh area as possible.
Award-winning director Paul Greengrass -whose projects have included Bloody Sunday and The Murder of Stephen Lawrence - is producer and co-writer of the film. Don Mullan, who worked with Greengrass on Bloody Sunday, will assist in the production role. Ed Guiney will also be involved in the production and the film will be directed by Pete Travis.
The project is a joint collaboration between Dublin-based Hell's Kitchen International Productions and London company Tiger Aspects.