But it just helps the audience and it helps everyone understand how dangerous it was for him and how brave and how difficult circumstances were for him so once he understood these little bits that came into the film that may not have been specifically part of his life.

Do you think a film like this will help the peace process?

It's a story about conflict in any scenario.

You presumably see it beyond a specifically dated story and one that speaks in a bigger way or do you think it is specific?

No to me it illustrates in a time of conflict its not just black and its not just right and wrong, when I was younger and growing up in England and given imagery of the IRA and what that stood for it was just presented to me as thuggish terrorism until I got to Belfast and I met some people from the IRA and they were some of the nicest, infectious people I’ve ever met so then I was confused and I was just 'how is this possible'?

That really just helped with my struggle in the film because if I could feel so confused and so pulled by these personalities and these great characters that I was meeting while I was there then how would Martin have felt growing up with these people and that strong sense of community that he was having to go against in that way so it's just about the mass grey area that lies in between the black and white of any conflict really.

When you were shooting in Belfast did you get stories you didn't read in your script about Martin McGartland, were your ears bent on the matter?

We were filming in a predominantly Republic, Catholic area so he wasn't looked upon as a hero for a lot of those people but I was told that I was too good looking to play a tout.

Was the love scene a bit of light relief?

It was very romantic, another classic Kari moment. Originally this scene was meant to be in the back of a car but she goes 'no Jim I've got this great idea we're going to do it on the top of the Europa Hotel in the pissing rain'.

Fifty Dean Men Walking is out on DVD now.

Interview by Quentin Falk

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