Filming has started in Northern Ireland today on a new film charting the unlikely friendship between Ian Paisley and Martin McGuinness.
The Journey, which stars Timothy Spall as Paisley and Colm Meaney as McGuinness, will look at how the two men put their past behind them to facilitate the peace process in the North.
Paisley, the late Northern Irish First Minister and Democratic Unionist leader, was once dubbed Dr No for his reluctance to co-operate with the opposition. But he did eventually say yes, agreeing to share power with Sinn Féin in 2007 – a moment which some view as one of the most groundbreaking in Irish history.
McGuinness, the North's Deputy First Minister, was regularly pictured with Paisley enjoying a joke. Their blossoming friendship was plain to see at many public functions, leading to them being nick-named the “Chuckle Brothers”.
Early footage shows the resemblances between Spall and Meaney and their political counterparts. Spall appears to capture Paisley’s posture expertly, while Meaney pulls off McGuinness’s furrowed brow.
Toby Stephens plays Tony Blair
The movie, which is written by Co. Down novelist and screenwriter Colin Bateman, will also star Toby Stephens as British Prime Minister Tony Blair and John Hurt as Harry, a veteran political fixer overseeing the St Andrews Agreement.
Filming will take place around Belfast as well as in Scotland.
