Neil McCormick is very nervous about the film’s April 1st release.  Not least because a film version of his early life will go on nationwide theatrical release, but also because the term ‘loosely based’ became more and more apt as the film’s script work evolved. “Nick [Hamm] said to me, ‘The problem with your life darling, is that there’s no third act’,” he explains. Thus ‘Porridge’ scribes, Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais were duly brought in and, poetic license in hand, invited to give the film more comic and dramatic body. “It’s a lot more entertaining and dramatic than anything I could have concocted for myself,” Neil admits.

Martin McCann as Bono

Where a biopic such as this is concerned, casting is an essential factor. As painstakingly explored in the film, neither Neil nor Ivan McCormick is famous. The big question was always ‘Who is going to play Bono?’ “The edge wanted Danny deVito to play Bono and for Brad Pitt to play him,” Neil reveals. In deVito’s stead, Belfast actor and recent IFTA winner Martin McCann (Swansong – Story of Occi Byrne) was brought in to bring the rocker to the screen.

“Martin was the only actor I auditioned for the role,” Nick Hamm (Godsend) confirms. ”I refused to audition a lot of people who were interested because I knew they wouldn’t be able to do it. Then Pete Postlethwaite rang me and suggested Martin who I then brought in to see me. What happened then was that I offered him the role on the spot and, as I saw more of him, upped how much Bono features in the movie. Initially we were only to see Bono when he was 18/19 years old but I brought him right through to the Joshua Tree era because Martin just nailed the part so well.” Postlethwaite previously starred alongside McCann in Richard Attenborough’s 2007 feature ‘Closing the Ring’.

Pete himself also features in the film, as Neil and Ivan’s camp London landlord. Cast and crew alike bore witness to the great man’s final film role before his death from pancreatic cancer in January. ”It was bittersweet because he was so ill,” Ben Barnes recalls. “It was such an honour for me to act with him and also he didn’t know how much time he had left and I really thought it was amazing that he spent his last while challenging himself with a role like this one.”

Ben Barnes & Pete Postlethwaite in Killing Bono

Both Ben and Robert had to send in audition tapes for their respective roles as both were filming. “I had to get a man called Ulrick to do the offlines for me,” Robert starts. ”I was shooting in Hungary at the time so I asked Ulrick to read Neil’s part. They actually offered him the part of Neil but he said no. So really, Ben Barnes was their second choice,” he jokes. Ben’s tape sounds equally interesting, “I did four scenes for the audition tape, none of which made it into the film in the end,” he says. ”Then I sang a Rolling Stones song into my laptop with one of the minotaurs from ‘Narnia’ playing the guitar. It was all very odd.”

The film shot for six weeks, moving from Belfast to London and back again. Director Nick Hamm warned Neil and Ivan away from set for the sake of the actors playing them and also prevented Robert and Ben from meeting their factual counterparts prior to the shoot. “Nick told me that he didn’t want me to meet Neil beforehand because he said that Neil was too annoying and, if I was too like him in the film, no-one would go to see it,” Ben laughs. “It was really quite freeing and I ended up just nicking things from other films such as Colin Farrell’s ‘Oh my gods, life is AMAZING’ enthusiasm from ‘In Bruges’ with a touch of ‘Withnail and I.”

Neil and Ivan did briefly join the cast towards the end of the shoot for a cameo in a scene set in a strip club. Any nerves Robert Sheehan may have had about playing a man only a few feet from him paled in comparison to the seedy setting of the club. “I’m not even acting in that scene”, he exclaims. ”It’s a genuine mix of fear and catholic shame! I wanted to save them all, just like in ‘Pretty Woman’!”

Neil McCormick, Robert Sheehan, Ivan McCormick & Ben Barnes at the film's European Premiere in Dublin

I broach the subject of Neil McCormick’s take on the completed film. He saw it for the first time at a private screening in Soho and doesn’t pause before replying “The first time I watched the film it was highly traumatic, my head exploded!” he says, a reaction Ben Barnes seems to have expected. “I think he freaked out because we made him a real plonker – I gave him some really dodgy moves on stage and made him as annoying as hell!” he explains, a slight touch of pride in his voice. Neil has seen the film several times since, with each viewing becoming slightly less overwhelming. So much so that he talks excitedly about the upcoming Irish release: “I can’t wait to see how Irish audiences respond to it though,” he says. “Because, of all audiences, they will get every nuance. And because, at its core, the film really is a celebration of that era in Ireland.”

Following this round of publicity for the film Ben Barnes is looking forward to a short break whereas Laois man Robert Sheehan is already back in business, currently shooting the second series of ‘Love/Hate’ in Dublin and then prepping ‘Romeo and Britney’ in which he will appear opposite ‘Dr Who’s Karen Gillen. The film is set to start shooting in June. Asked about whether his acting methods have changed since the first series of ‘Love/ Hate’ I am told they absolutely have not. “You just wing it, don’t you?” he says. “That’s basically what I do for a living, I just guess. But sure, that’s what postmen and milkmen probably do a lot of the time too and they get the job done!”

• ‘Killing Bono’ is based on Neil McCormick’s autobiographical book ‘Killing Bono: I was Bono’s Doppelgänger’. Produced by Nick Hamm, Mark Huffam from Generator Entertainment (Mickybo and Me, executive producer of The Hours), U2’s former agent Ian Flooks (Confetti) and The Salt Company’s Piers Tempest (Like Minds), the film, was edited in London by Bill Sneddon (Four Lions). The film had a budget of €3.4 million and was funded by Northern Ireland Screen amongst other groups.
  
• The film’s cinematographer was Kieran McGuigan (The Other Boleyn Girl) with Tom McCullagh (Hunger) on board as production designer and Lorna Marie Mugan (East is East) as costume designer. Mark Lowry (Ondine) was the film’s art director.

• The film goes on national theatrical release on Friday, April 1st. For screening times see local press.