- Title: USA: DIRECTOR THADDEUS O'SULLIVAN TALKS ABOUT HIS FILM "NOTHING PERSONAL"
- Date: 5th February 1997
- Summary: BEVERLY HILLS, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES (FEBRUARY 5, 1997) (RTV - ACCESS ALL) THADDEUS O'SULLIVAN (SOUNDBITE ENGLISH) SAYING I THINK IT'S UNUSUAL IN THE SENSE THAT IT DEALS NOT WITH THE IRA, IT DEALS WITH NORTHERN IRELAND, BUT NOTHING TO DO WITH THE IRA. IT DEALS WITH PROTESTANT PARAMILITARIES, WHICH IS A SIDE TO IT THAT PEOPLE PROBABLY DON'T KNOW MUCH ABOUT. I THINK
- Embargoed: 20th February 1997 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: BEVERLY HILLS, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES/ FILM LOCATIONS
- Country: USA
- Reuters ID: LVADUYQXQ87RCSNEO85D2LO5EBEQ
- Story Text: Film director Thaddeus O'Sullivan was recently in Los Angeles to speak about the more personal aspects of the making of his film, "Nothing Personal." The film has been described as an intense and revealing portrait of a divided community in Belfast, Northrn Ireland.
Set in 1975, it chronicles one day during a tense truce between Protestant and Catholic militias.
"The reason I made the film," O'Sullivan said, "was to talk of the effect of the war on ordinary people, and that sense, the film can be understood as an anti-violence film. I think it's quite easy for people to see that even though it's about Northern Ireland." O'Sullivan said his film was unusual because it dealt not with the IRA, but with protestant paramilitaries - anaspect of the conflict not often portrayed in film.
"I think it's different also in the sense that it deals pretty much with the war itself rather than personal stories, which most of the films about Northern Ireland have been about, human stories on the edge of conflict." "My film deals more directly with what's happening on the streets, of the war with ordinary people, that's why it's different," he added.
Once childhood friends, but now divided by more than just the jagged metal wall which splits their neighborhoods, Protestant paramilitary Kenny (James Frain) and Catholic single father Liam (John Lynch) are both caught up in the chaos that occurs following the bombing of a Protestant pub.
Leonard (Michael Gambon), respresenting the political, more rational wing of the Loyalists (Prostestants), negotiates a ceasefire with his IRA counterpart. But Kenny and his paramilitary unit, feeling betrayed, ignore Leonard's call for peace and pursue revenge against their Catholic neighbors.
Following a violent street clash, Kenny's men spot Liam making his way home and abduct and beat him, accusing him of being an IRA member. From that point on, new levels of conflict, including those within their own factions, are introduced and defined in the eyes of each person involved. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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