"The story of Bobby Sands and the hunger strike he died from while imprisoned by the British government at the Maze prison in Northern Ireland in 1981 is not for the faint of heart. Michael Fassbender, as Sands, takes your heart nearly to the grave with him in a miraculously dedicated and brave performance. The politics of the strike, orchestrated to protest the unwillingness of Margaret Thatcher to recognize the IRA inmates as political prisoners, is a quiet backbeat to the action and is never demagogic. But like with all great films containing shattering performances, your feelings for the cause of the IRA at the hands of the British government circa 1981 cannot help but be brought into sharper focus. McQueen won the BAFTA Award for most promising new filmmaker for this film."

"We came across the song 'Strangely Strange But Oddly Normal’ on a psychedelic compilation and fell in love with it. I just thought, “Who could write a chorus of, 'Strangely strange but oddly normal’, and make it a really catchy song?” The whole thing was sort of irrationally brilliant, and later we found out that one of them went off to Japan and tried to become a Zen priest. Of course, when we considered the history of literature in Ireland, with James Joyce and everyone, it started to all gel. And then we found out Joe Boyd was involved. They did the first one in one afternoon, because he didn’t think it would sell. We’re not sure which, who and when, but there was some exchange of personnel with the Incredible String Band at certain times"

"When I was a kid, my dad read all the time, mostly westerns and thrillers. I was fascinated by the books, even though I knew they were too ‘adult’ for me, that I wasn’t quite ready to read them. When I turned fourteen, my dad gave me a birthday gift—a book called A Prayer for the Dying by the great Jack Higgins. It was a concise, powerful page-turner about a world-weary IRA hitman trying to do the right thing. I loved the characters and the plot, plus it was set in Ireland, where my dad’s family emigrated from. That book sent me down the road to reading more and more thrillers. And then eventually writing them. I still have that now battered paperback and re-read it from time to time just to feel connected to my dad."