Jamie Dornan says 'special' to tell stories from home ahead of Belfast film release

Jamie Dornan and Caitriona Balfe feature in this week's UTV Life.
Jamie Dornan and Caitriona Balfe feature in this week's UTV Life. Credit: UTV

Hollywood star Jamie Dornan has told UTV Life how special it was to tell a story from home ahead of the general release of the Sir Kenneth Branagh film Belfast.

The Co Down actor pays tribute to Van Morrison who provides all the music for the film.

He jokes: "If you’re not a ‘Van fan’ this is a tough watch.

"His music is part of the tapestry of the place, it makes sense to have it ‘drowning in Van.’ His voice is Belfast,” he said.

“I’m all for telling stories about home, it felt special.”

Actor Ciaran Hinds also joins Pamela Ballentine for this Thursday's show.

He paid tribute to Sir Kenneth's writing.

"It lifted off the page, bypassed my head and went straight to my heart," he said.

The movie premiered in Belfast in November as part of the Belfast Film Festival before going on release in the USA and Canada.

It has already been well received with fans and critics and last week Sir Kenneth won a Golden Globe award for ‘Best Screenplay'. The film has already been touted as a potential Oscar winner.

The film tells the story of a nine-year-old boy Buddy, played by child actor Jude Hill, whose childhood is turned on its head when he starts to see for himself the impact of the Troubles in 1969.

The film features an all-star cast, with Jamie Dornan playing Buddy's 'Pa', Caitríona Balfe as Ma, Dame Judi Dench playing Buddy's grandmother, and Ciarán Hinds playing his grandfather.

This week's special UTV Life kicks off with Sir Kenneth talking to Pamela just before the red carpet event last year.

He talks about his hometown and how “Belfast has kept me cheerful in many places around the world".

Ciaran Hinds, Jude Hill and Lewis McAskie. Credit: UTV

Pamela sits down with Ciaran Hinds, Jude Hill and Lewis McAskie, who plays Buddy’s big brother.

They confess to Pamela there was lots of banter on set, with the Belfast humour and accents sometimes being lost on some of the English crew members.

  • Join Pamela for this ‘UTV Life’ film special on UTV on Thursday January 20 at 7.30pm.