Updates! Screen Daily reports that Martin McGartland has settled his case and will not pursue any legal actions anymore:

I have today been given a copy of the film, which I have also viewed. As a result, I can now confirm that I am happy with the film. Furthermore I have today entered into a confidential agreement, with filmmakers (and other third parties), and I have also waived my moral rights.”

“The matter is now concluded and no further statements will be made by me on the matter, nor will any of the parties disclosed any further details concerning the agreement.

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Last time, we reported that Jim Sturgess is one of Hollywood's most sought-after young actors. This time, his latest movie - Fifty Dead Men Walking and reportedly, his finest performance yet - may encounter a hitch as a lawsuit has been filed by Martin McGartland, the man who is the focus of the story.

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Over at Filmstalker, the controversy was revealed. Says Richard Brunton:

The story of a British agent who worked for years undercover in the terrorist group the Irish Republican Army (IRA) has been stopped from being shown on Friday, just a week before the film première at the Toronto International Film Festival .

The organisers of TIFF are adamant that they will go ahead with the screening, despite the man who is the subject of the story refusing to waive his rights over his life story.

On Friday British lawyers for Kari Skogland's Fifty Dead Men Walking met in London with the man who is the focus of the story, Martin McGartland, and offered him GB £10,000 and the waiving of his moral rights over his life story to allow the film to be shown. However he refused the deal and the discussions have ceased. [ read more ]

It will be a shame if we don't get to watch this movie from Canadian filmmaker Kari Skogland, who made her directorial debut with The Size of Watermelons in 1996. Her latest two features are The Stone Angel (released in 2007) followed by the controversial Fifty Dead Men Walking.

More details from The Hollywood Reporter follows:

An eleventh-hour bid to get a former British spy to waive his moral rights before Wednesday's Toronto International Film Festival screening of a story based on his memoirs has failed.

Moral rights laws, which have been introduced in the U.K. and Canada, protect an author from having their life story distorted in such a way that would harm their name or reputation.

Lawyers for the British co-producers of Kari Skogland's "Fifty Dead Men Walking" met Friday in London with Martin McGartland, a former IRA mole whose 1998 autobiography provided the basis for the British-Canadian co-production.

McGartland, who provided information to Britain's Special Branch before his cover was blown in 1991, insists that fictionalized scenes in the movie infringe his moral rights by portraying him as an accessory to torture and murder when he claims he aimed to save lives. [ read more ]

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On Jim Sturgess, who plays the lead role as Martin McGartland - this review at the Toronto Fest:

Jim Sturgess (dynamic in last year's Across the Universe) turns in a star-making performance opposite Ben Kingsley in Fifty Dead Men Walking, a sweeping political thriller that gives a face to what Northern Ireland wryly calls “The Troubles.” Directed by Kari Skogland with grit, precision and a focus on the human drama, this widescreen story highlights the personal toll wrought by the larger civil conflict. Martin (Sturgess) is a small-time Belfast hustler working in the late eighties. Part of a tight group of mates, he's more concerned with regular pub attendance and easing his way through British military checkpoints than with the reasons the checkpoints stand there in the first place.

As such, he makes a prime target for British intelligence. Recruited by a complex, wily agent (Kingsley), Martin starts feeding information about Irish Republican Army activities to the British. With every success, he intensifies the danger posed to himself and his family. The IRA is shown to be ruthless in its retribution; once an infiltrator has been found out, he becomes a “dead man walking.”

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The Latest on the Controversy: Updates from THR says: "Despite a legal threat from the spy drama's main subject, the world premiere of Kari Skogland's "Fifty Dead Men Walking" at the Toronto International Film Festival will go ahead as planned... "

On the cast and crew: "Skogland and her cast, which includes Ben Kingsley, Jim Sturgess and Kevin Zegers, will be on hand for the September 10 Toronto festival bow at Roy Thomson Hall. "

[ THR Coverage of Fifty Dead Men Walking ] [ Movie Details at Toronto ] [ IMDb Movie details ] [ Hollywood's 15 Most sought-after young actors ]

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What's on your mind? Have you read the book by Martin McGartland? What can you say about Jim Sturgess? Have you watched any of his previous movies? How about Canadian filmmaker Kari Skogland?

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Comments (3)

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Jim Sturgess rocks.

Debra , September 07, 2008

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I'm going to the TIFF screening. They'd better not blow me up.

Colleen , September 07, 2008

I recently saw the movie 21...

...and absolutely loved Jim Sturgess in this...He and Kevin Spacey (who's in my top 5 of fave actors) worked so well off of one another. So, I'm sold on Jim Sturgess, and can't wait to see more with him!

blearyeyedmesgirl , September 08, 2008 | url

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