MAKING the new Lockerbie drama had a “real impact” on Oscar winning actor Colin Firth.
In his career he’s played kings, spies, Regency heart-throbs, villains, lawyers, and much more.
But taking on the role of Jim Swire, a bereft father, has been intense.
Explaining what drew him to the show, Firth said: “I think anyone of my age, certainly based in either the United Kingdom or the United States, will remember this in a way that’s really quite impactful. It’s obviously a very long time ago, and I think time plays strange tricks on you, because there’s a part of me that couldn’t believe that it was more than 30 years ago. Then in another way, it feels like so much has happened since, particularly as 9/11 happened in the intervening years.
“And so, to find oneself brought back to that moment of hearing about it had a real impact. It was trying to trace back to what one thought and felt at the time, and what one has felt subsequently; how much that’s remained in one’s mind, given all that’s happened since.
“And that’s speaking as a bystander, of course, and realising that this has been a profound part of many, many people’s lives ever since.”
He admits to knowing very little about Jim Swire beforehand, saying:
“Reading the script led me to look him up. I was just overwhelmed by the relentless sadness of his journey. The twists and turns of it; and revisiting what I thought I knew about the trial, about the investigation and all of the subsequent events.
“I thought it was the most remarkable story, a painful one, but also in many ways an impressive one.”
On making the drama, Firth said: “It was emotionally sometimes quite disturbing.
“This is a man who, according to my understanding, had a basic trust in institutions and the institutions in which we live. He wasn’t a natural activist, as far as I can see. He isn’t someone who inherently distrusted establishment. I think he made the assumption that governments seek to tell us the truth, as do law enforcement and the legal profession. That was his starting point.
“Obviously, we find Jim in a state of very raw emotion and profound grief. His motivation was to find out the truth and also to gain understanding. So, I think he set out in good faith looking for answers, which he fully expected to be forthcoming as far as possible. Doubts crept in once he realised that they weren’t as forthcoming as he expected them to be.”
Filming in Scotland and North Africa, “brought home” to Firth the extent of the journey that Swire and all the investigators have been on.
“The scope of it is enormous in terms of time, in terms of experience,
in terms of the search for answers and the information that comes in,” he added.
He admits that many of the scenes were “striking”, adding: “There were ones which I think I needn’t spell out, which one always avoids. “It’s always a huge challenge because you know, who the hell are you to really try to represent a moment that is beyond your comprehension, but in this profession it is what we’re supposed to do and so you do what you can to draw on your own understanding and sense of empathy and your sensitivities to try to inhabit something which is very extreme.”
Jane Swire is portrayed by Catherine McCormack, well known for her role in Braveheart.
She was 16 when the Lockerbie bombing happened and said she remembers news footage on the TV at the time.
However, the scripts were still “a revelation to me.”
The actress described being offered the role as a real honour, saying: “It was also a rather daunting prospect playing a real life person who had suffered such a great loss.”
Meanwhile, Jim Swire himself has been giving his thoughts on the end production. He said: “The thing that mattered was that it seemed to me that it was an honest representation of what the UK family group had tried to do, and the small amount that we’ve managed to achieve as private individuals, which has been enough to show us just how vulnerable the official version is to proper probing of what really lies behind this terrible atrocity.
“What this process is doing, seems to be joining up what we need, with the questions that need to be answered on an international basis.”
Photos Graeme Hunter/Sky/Carnival
