Liam Neeson was involved in Irish history with Michael Collins, where he played one of the men who led that nation’s brave struggle for independence. Now he’s returning to his homeland’s turbulent recent past with Five Minutes In Heaven, a movie about The Troubles, the period of strife in Northern Ireland that lasted from the 60s to the 90s.
He’s joining James Nesbitt – also no stranger to Irish history, as he starred in Paul Greengrass’ almost miraculously good Bloody Sunday – in a movie about ‘two men wracked by the violence that plagued Northern Ireland from the late 1960s through to the peace process in 1998, and how they attempt to come to terms with the Troubles’ aftermath.’ When I was in Belfast last year I took a tour of spots from The Troubles, and my driver – who sounded quite a bit like someone who had been involved in some of this shit first hand – spun moving stories about how both sides of the conflict were devastated, and how moving on in peacetime has been tricky and strange.
What’s especially interesting about this project (as if these two actors weren’t enough) is that it sees the return of Oliver Hirschbiegel, who got assraped by Joel Silver on The Invasion. Hirschbiegel directed the terrific Das Experiment and then the incredible Downfall, but his foray into Hollywood was a disaster for everybody involved. I’m excited to see him back behind the camera and not on a movie where he’ll be replaced and have most of his footage reshot.
Five Minutes In Heaven is shooting right now in Ireland, the most beautiful place I have ever been. That wasn’t between your mom’s legs, anyway. Oh snap!