New Film On War Correspondent Released As Syrian Government Blamed For Her Death

A library photo of Marie Colvin (Picture: PA).

Sunday Times Reporter Marie Colvin was one of the world's most well-known war correspondents.

She died, alongside French photographer Remi Ochlik, in 2012 when a building she was in was shelled.

Now a film has been made about Ms Colvin's life as a journalist on the front line, which has been released in cinemas nationwide.

Her family launched a court case to seek damages from Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's government, in 2016, as they believed the building she was in was specifically targeted.

A US court found that the Syrian Government was liable.

US District Judge Amy Berman Jackson said it was an "extrajudicial killing" and ordered Damascus to pay £231m in damages for an "unconscionable crime".

This is the first time Mr Assad's government is held to account for a war crime.

Judge Jackson said that Ms Colvin's killing was part of the regimes long-standing policy of violence against the media and that they had found Syrian military and intelligence tracked the broadcasts of the journalist covering the siege of Homs.

In the film 'A Private War', her character is played by Rosamund Pike alongside Jamie Dornan, who plays her war photographer Paul Conroy.

Rosamund Pike and Jamie Dornan on 'A Private War'.

Rosamund Pike said she felt "elated" after hearing the news about the courts ruling: 

"We've gone on this journey with Paul (Conroy) and Marie's sister, I mean you know, we felt the outrage, you know we just felt that Marie's death was not an accident".

Jamie Dornan also described it as an emotional moment for himself and his fellow cast members, who told them both about the result of the court case:

"To hear it from Paul this afternoon, you know and when he told us it was just highly emotional stuff... I still feel a little bit shocked by it all".

The film is based on an article written for Vanity Fair in 2012 "Marie Colvin’s Private War" written by Marie Brenner which shows Ms Colvin's fearless approach to her work which she believed gave a voice to the voiceless.

Tom Hollander and Stanley Tucci star alongside Jamie Dornan and Rosamund Pike - who was nominated for a Golden Globe for her portrayal of the journalist. 

Paul Conroy, who worked with Ms Colvin as her photographer, said seeing the actress play the part of Marie made the hairs on the back of his head stand up:

"Initially when I met Ros, physically there is no resemblance between Rosamund and Marie but then six months later I saw her in Jordan walk out of this trailer on set, and I was just bowled over by the physical resemblance, but also the way she held herself, the way she used her pen the way she walked, the way she drank her coffee and smoked her cigarette. It was Marie down to a T.

"When I heard her deliver her dialogue, I was just like 'woah', it did freak me out a bit".    

Mr Conroy worked as the official set photographer and said the only time he couldn't watch filming was for the very last scene where Ms Colvin dies: "They had filmed the actual explosions that killed Marie and got me, but it when it came to the scene where you see Marie, Remi dead in the rubble and Jamie crawling towards them, Jamie actually took me aside before they filmed that and actually took me into another room and said you really don't need to see this at this point in time.

"I am glad he did that, I am glad he took me away because I think I had pushed it to that point."

The film will be released in cinemas nationwide on 15th February and 'For One Night Only, Q&A' with Rosamund Pike, Jamie Dornan, Paul Conroy and Matthew Heineman, will broadcast live to cinemas 4 February.