For actors, all you can hope for are good roles. Whether they be fictional creations, or real life people – it’s that yearning to be challenged artistically which brings about some of the very finest on-screen performances. In Nick Hamm’s The Journey that much is a given, for Timothy Spall and Colm Meaney play Ian Paisley and Martin McGuinness, respectively.
To mark the release of this drama – which sees the two stuck in a car together for a number of hours, ahead of the eventual, significant moment where peace was finally brought to Northern Ireland after the Troubles, we sat down with the talented duo about the joys in getting their teeth stuck into such nuanced, layered roles.
The pair also discuss the blending of fact and fiction, and Meaney tells us if he knows whether McGuinness had seen the movie before his passing. Meanwhile, we ask Spall about this succession of meaty roles he’s undertaken, also portraying David Irving and Turner on screen, while also discussing the affinity you can have towards a real life figure you’ve had to embody. Finally we discuss the pertinency of the production, to celebrate this peaceful agreement during what is a politically tumultuous time.
Watch the full interview below…
The Journey is released on May 5th.
