Jim Sturgess stars as a young Belfast man who becomes an IRA informer in Kari Skogland's thriller Fifty Dead Men Walking. Jim Sturgess stars as a young Belfast man who becomes an IRA informer in Kari Skogland's thriller Fifty Dead Men Walking. (Colm Hogan/TVA Films)

Kari Skogland gets full marks for chutzpah. The Canadian filmmaker knew next to nothing about the Troubles in Northern Ireland when she threw herself headlong into a feature film based on IRA informer Martin McGartland’s memoir, Fifty Dead Men Walking. She emerged with a dark, dirty, intense thriller that evokes both the war-zone atmosphere of 1980s Belfast and the chilling risks of playing a spy in the midst of sectarian violence.

'It's not a political movie. It's about a bunch of humans, often with common interests and common stories, that collide on opposite sides of the fence.'

— Director Kari Skogland

Skogland’s film is concerned not with the roots and reasons for the conflict between the Catholic Nationalists and Protestant Unionists, but with the struggle faced by a young man who chooses to betray other members of his community for what he sees as the greater good. (The title refers to the number of potential IRA victims whose lives McGartland likely saved by working undercover as a British agent.)

The movie stars up-and-comer Jim Sturgess (Across the Universe, 21) as Martin, an enterprising Catholic lad who dares to become a reviled “tout,” and the venerable Sir Ben Kingsley as Fergus, the shadowy policeman who recruits him. The cast also includes Natalie Press as Martin’s girlfriend, Canadian Kevin Zegers as the mate who helps him join the IRA and Rose McGowan as the organization’s seductive “Mata Hari.” A Canadian-British-U.S. co-production, the picture was shot on location in Belfast and environs.

Making it was by no means easy. Before filming, Skogland and her actors had to first gain the trust of the Belfast community, still raw after three decades of conflict that cost more than 3,500 lives on both sides. Then there was controversy prior to the premiere at last year’s Toronto International Film Festival, when McGartland denounced the movie as inaccurate and threatened to sue. (The producers settled with him after tweaking some scenes and adding a closing-credits disclaimer.)

For Ottawa native Skogland, the film is a significant step in her burgeoning international career. It finds her blending the thriller and action genres she’s familiar with (Men With Guns, Liberty Stands Still) and the more dramatic concerns of her previous movie, the big-screen version of Margaret Laurence’s The Stone Angel. Skogland took time to discuss Fifty Dead Men Walking, from the movie’s relevance post-9/11 to McGartland’s complaints and Sturgess’s funny moustache.

Writer-director Kari Skogland. Writer-director Kari Skogland. (Star PR)

Q: It seems like a good time to be examining the conflict in Northern Ireland, both because it has recently ended and because it reflects current sectarian clashes in places like Afghanistan and Iraq. Did you have that in mind when you embarked on this film?

A: It’s not a political movie. It’s not intended to be. It’s intended to walk the line politically, to not present itself as for or against the IRA or the other side, the RUC [Royal Ulster Constabulary – the Northern Ireland police]. The idea is that it’s a bunch of humans, often with common interests and common stories, that collide on opposite sides of the fence. So what happens when you as an individual must look to your own personal moral and ethical code? You, at the end of the day, have to look at yourself in the mirror. And one day there will be peace and you have to reflect back on how you acted during times of conflict. That to me was really the story that I wanted to tell.

Q: Did you feel a bit presumptuous as an outsider in Belfast, making a film about the Troubles?

A: No question. I had to gain their trust. And I did quite quickly, once they realized my whole mantra was that it needed to be about the truth. I couldn’t afford to be necessarily accurate on all points, because there were legal issues and it wasn’t a documentary on the book. But I did have to make sure the spirit of the truth was in everything I did. And they really hooked on to this. Also, we were right on the heels of when [Sinn Fein leader] Gerry Adams and [Unionist leader] Ian Paisley shook hands for the very first time ever, so we were very much on the cusp of this change that was sweeping through. Finally, truly, peace was declared. So people were ready to tell their stories.

Q: McGartland took exception to some of the changes you made to his story. Was he involved in the film when you were making it?

A: I spoke to him for many, many hours while we were filming, and I’d spoken to him before that. The thing about Martin is that the story kind of morphed a little bit as a result of what had happened since the original book was written in 1999. A lot more information was coming out about what had actually gone down, and who had been involved. So I realized I had a slightly bigger story to tell. As well, I think Martin was more politicized than I wanted to be. He wanted me to make an anti-IRA movie, and that was just not the movie I wanted to make. Having said that, once he saw the film, he then loved it and was terrifically complimentary.

Q: Jim Sturgess is terrific in the role of Martin. He has this vulnerable, weedy quality that makes you really afraid for what will happen to him if he’s found out.

A: I met him and just knew he was absolutely right for the role, in part because he had that vulnerability and likability. Because he was going to have to play someone who, inherently, as a snitch, a rat, an informer, was going to have to do heinous things. So we had to like him and it had to be part of the fabric of who he was. And Sturgess is just such a gentleman, such a nice man, that it comes through in his acting. I think he’s a very strong talent that we’re going to hear a lot more from in the future.

Fergus (Ben Kingsley, left) meets with Martin (Sturgess) in a scene from Fifty Dead Men Walking. Fergus (Ben Kingsley, left) meets with Martin (Sturgess) in a scene from Fifty Dead Men Walking. (TVA Films)

Q: I loved that funny little moustache he wears. It makes him look slightly goofy and endearing. Was it his idea?

A: [Laughs] It was his idea. He really wanted his look to be quite different from Across the Universe and 21. It took him a little while to convince me that the reinvention of the ’stache was going to be a good thing. It’s a big commitment to hide your lead actor’s face. But I think it was the right decision — it did change his look enough, it was also period-relevant, but it also gave him the licence to be someone that he hadn’t been before.

Q: Then there’s Sir Ben Kingsley. I understand he was your first choice to play Fergus.

A: A handler has to play his cards very close to his chest. Their whole MO is to control and spin, to push and pull, and ultimately make the informer dance the way they need to. The role needed someone who could do that without fighting for space onscreen. And one of the things that Ben does so fantastically is just that. Think of him in, say, House of Sand and Fog. I knew he had that wonderful nuance. I just couldn’t think of anyone better for the role. And he brought a lot to the party. We had a lot of conversations on who this character was. I have to say he was such a pleasure to work with and such a pleasure to watch. It taught me a lot as a director.

Q: I was struck by the guerrilla way you shot the action sequences, like a combat cameraman caught in the middle of a war zone. It feels as if Belfast was Baghdad during the invasion. Was that a conscious analogy?

A: Absolutely. And Belfast really was like that. As I did all my research I realized how intense the situation was there. You had these small communities that were like encampments, they were walled-in, literally — you couldn’t go out at night. There were helicopters 24/7 overhead. It was a true war zone. And I wanted the action sequences to feel organic and real. I didn’t want them to sniff of Hollywood in any way. So we worked very hard at achieving that kind of irreverent, happenstance style that had a kind of newsreel quality to it.

Q: I imagine things have changed a lot in Belfast since those days. What is the mood like there now?

A: It’s very much one of forward thinking, of putting the past behind. You have a Catholic community that is no longer disenfranchised the way it was. There are doctors and lawyers; many of them have gone away to be educated and then come back there. So you have a power shift that’s economic as much as anything. I have to say this was one of the most challenging projects I’ve done to date, creatively speaking, but also one of the most enjoyable on the social front.

Fifty Dead Men Walking opens in Calgary, Edmonton, Halifax, Moncton, Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto and Vancouver on Friday, July 31.

Martin Morrow writes about the arts for CBCNews.ca.