Review of film: “FIFTY DEAD MEN WALKING” + Q&A with JIM STURGESS (star)

2009, 08-20 =

Review of film:  “FIFTY DEAD MEN WALKING” + Q&A with JIM STURGESS (star)

          –  Being a Double Agent can be TWICE as Troublesome & Painful! =

                               Rating =  8.5 of 10 stars (based on an advance screening).

The Trouble in Northern Ireland impacted huge numbers of people during the 1970’s-1990’s.  This film is based on the true story of a Catholic man recruited by the British to be a SECRET AGENT to insinuate himself into an IRA group, with the goal of spying & providing “inside” information designed to try to save lives on both sides…

…  That man named Martin is very effectively played by JIM STURGESS, his British contact is Fergus (SIR BEN KINGSLEY), & his violent IRA buddy (“mate”) is Sean (KEVIN ZEGERS) who he tries to keeps out of harm’s way. Jim gets the money he needs to live, & soon moves in with his girlfriend Lara (NATALIE PRESS)…

… Little by little, as a driver & semi-planner, he moves higher up in the IRA hierarchy, & his life becomes increasingly dangerous as he becomes more & more involved in major operations. He has to keep meeting with Ben to keep him apprised of things, & starts to see that Ben is LIMITED in what he can control & what protection he can offer him, his family & friends if he’s “found out”…

…  This is a tense, taut, tight thriller, exceptionally WELL-acted (& subtitled to help smooth out any difficulties with accents).

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Report on Q&A TALK with star JIM STURGESS:

            …  After the showing of the Phase 4 independent film, JIM STURGESS appeared in person for a lengthy Q&A session hosted by “Capone” from Ain’t It Cool News. Jim was very relaxed, easy-going & humorous thruout the session, first asking the audience to go “easy” on him since he was still “recovering” from having just had a Chicago-style Deep Dish pizza!…

                  …  Capone asked various pertinent questions, & pointed out how, from previous talks they’d had, he knows the film had been done a while ago after the release of “21”. Jim said yes, it’d been done around the end of 2008, &, while it had been released in England & Ireland (where it’d gotten a good reception), being an indie film, it takes time to get the money & distribution set-up here…

  (… As the President of the film company said before the screening, there’s no budget available for big ads--  they needed word-of-mouth to help promote the film.  He personally told me they’d been to some other cities like Boston, & would be going with Jim tomorrow to New York for the formal nationwide premiere…).

                     …  During the talk, Jim spoke of how he had been hired by Director KARI SKOGLAND, &, unusually quickly (1 week later!) he was in Belfast, Northern Ireland to do pre-planning re the film. He & Kari (& at times KEVIN) went all around the area, to get a “feeling” for the city & people, & to help get residents sort of “familiar” with them so that they (& especially IRA people they talked to) would be TRUSTING of them & their project…

                         …   That acclimation time not only made them feel comfortable for what they’d be doing, it also helped him work on his Northern Irish ACCENT, which he found somewhat difficult to do at first…

                               …   He & Kevin eventually got the accents down so well, they could go into various pubs & be accepted as “locals”— from a generally “unknown” area they made up. He’d purposely try to stay “in character” with his accent, using it all the time--  to the point that, when he’d call his MOM in England, she’d complain to him about the accent & demand that he “Speak PROPERLY!”…

                               …  In response to questions asked, Jim said he felt the character became the double agent in part because it provided him with needed money, & in part to be “noticed” and try to save & protect lives (such as saving the 50 men who’d be dead if it wasn’t for him, as indicated by the title) . He said the character “Fergus” is a “combination” of various people, & some other characters & incidents are a bit changed at times…

                                     …  Jim related how people with the film had frequent CONTACT with the REAL Martin McGartland, who wrote the book about his life on which the film is based / “inspired”. Martin is still on the “RUN” (since being a “tout” was most unpopular), & he’d communicate by PHONE with people involved with the film thruout their work…

                                           …    But, yes, he personally was very SURPRISED when Martin (who was their “consultant”) took the position after the film was made that lots of elements in it were “UNTRUE” & that he supposedly knew “nothing” about the script & all.  Jim thinks it may be because of the still “touchy” nature of how Martin’s life had been [to protect himself, etc.]…

                            …  When an audience member asked how it was to work with BEN KINGSLEY, he said it was a thrilling experience, & he deeply appreciated how open & collaborative he was to work with, happily talking over various ways they could do things, & treating him on an “equal” level.  He said, he & ED HARRIS were the two people he was most impressed to work with in the acting field, since they had such great attitudes and inherent helpfulness…

                        …  At times, people in the audience asked him about other films he’d done, such as “ACROSS THE UNIVERSE” & “21”, & Jim readily answered all their questions.  As to loving Beatles songs, he remarked that he at times walks along HUMMING some of their work…

                          …  To a question, he spoke of helping do some preliminary work on creating & preparing the new “SPIDER-MAN” Broadway show, & yes, they did want him to APPEAR in the Show (seemingly as Peter Parker)--  but he felt it best to NOT do that at this point, because such a show takes a long time-commitment, & that tended to conflict with a bunch of his planned FILM work… 

                            …  Jim said yes, he LOVES doing indie type films--  but, they’re frustratingly hard to get made & promoted at times due to financial difficulties, especially in today’s economy.  He loved the script for “FIFTY DEAD MEN WALKING”, being “hooked” as soon as he read how it started with him being shot 6 times!  And, the fact that Sir Ben Kingsley was involved with the project confirmed his feeling that it was likely to be a QUALITY venture…   

                          …   When asked if he gets “tired” being constantly “RECOGNIZED” & “BOTHERED” by the public, showing his very down-to-earth & unaffected nature, Jim said, it DOESN’T bother him at all, because he’s almost NEVER “recognized”!...

                                …  He related how, after completing “21”, he was in Las Vegas where it was “centered”. He walked thru a certain hotel, & his FACE was imprinted on all the KEYS of the hotel at that time.  Further, his face was also shown on each blackjack table, & periodically shown on VIDEO clips shown on screens at the hotel…

                                    …    Yet, despite that, when he walked thru the hotel, people were for some reason “never paying any ATTENTION” to him, not really recognizing that it was him there in person!…  (Later, after the talk, when my friend Tim commented to him that, “I recognized you!” here in Chicago, Jim kidded, “Oh, you’re just SAYING that!…”)

                              …  At one point in the Q&A, I asked Jim if there was much footage that was left OUT of the film we’d seen that he’d either like to have included in it or which might show up on the DVD version…

                                   …  He replied that, one of the things he most liked about working on the production was the way director KARI & others would talk over things with him & others beforehand to try to come up with the BEST possible way to do things, shooting was carefully planned out according to those talks, & thus virtually EVERYTHING major that they shot is IN the film we saw…

                             …  As to his UPCOMING film projects, he spoke of having worked on a film [in post-production] called “HEARTLESS” [as character Jamie], which he described as an unusually “bizarre” & “horrific” film that also stars Colin Farrell & Ed Harris…

                                   …  Also, he’s in “THE WAY BACK” [as Janusz, in post-production for a 2010 release] about a guy who has to travel from a Siberian forced-labor camp to India, & as a voice in an animated Australian film [in post production for a 2010 release] called “GUARDIANS OF GA’HOOLE”…

                                …  To a question from the audience, he said, while he’d love to do the fascinating script of “SIDNEY HALL” [as the title character], it’s had some problems being “put-together” (getting really started).  In any case, he likes to do a VARIETY of different roles in his acting work, rather than playing the same type character over & over…

                        …  After the formal Q&A, Jim very graciously spoke to audience members in the hallway, signed things for them (including posters & DVDs), and posed for pictures with people (including in a better-lit area I pointed out to him)…

                              …  I commented he’d been very “patient” with all the questioning (to which he said, no, he ENJOYED it all!), & I said I hoped the film did very WELL for all involved, for which he thanked me…      

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