Film talk not flattering Paisley

Ian Paisley has said he has not approved any film

DUP leader Ian Paisley has not approved any movie which is being planned about his life, he has said.

Northern Ireland's first minister designate said he was not flattered by reports that rival film-makers wanted to tell his story on the big screen.

The 81-year-old Democratic Unionist leader said his family had not approved any projects.

"I am sure the people who want to make these movies are trying to catch the public eye," he told PA news.

"I have survived worse than that in my day. But no, we are not making any movie.

"I do hope, though, we will have the material for a good movie after we have been in office for some time."

A few weeks ago, Belfast writer Gary Mitchell said he had been asked by the Paisley family to work on a biopic of the first minister elect.

A second production company - Holywood Productions in County Down - has now announced that Belfast playwright Graham Reid is to write a script.

The Northern Ireland Film Commission and the Irish Film Board have approved the Reid project.

Billy plays

Mr Reid wrote the BBC's Billy Plays which helped catapult Belfast-born Kenneth Branagh to stardom.

Mr Mitchell, who is working on the other script, has received rave reviews in Dublin and London for a number of acclaimed hard-hitting plays about loyalism, including As The Beast Sleeps.

He was forced out of his home in Rathcoole, north Belfast, by loyalist paramilitaries angered by his work.

Mr Paisley said while he did not find the attention of film-makers flattering neither was he worried about it.

"I'm not flattered by this at all," he said.

"I don't think a man in public life, if he behaves himself, needs to worry.

"It never has done me a button of harm and no man has had worse publicity than I have had."