text: Controversial IRA film screened at Venice festival . Vera Haller VENICE , Italy 1996-08-31 Dublin-born director Neil Jordan says he never lost more sleep over a film than over " Michael Collins " , his controversial epic about the IRA which has its premiere on Saturday at the Venice Film Festival . The film , starring Liam Neeson and Julia Roberts , recounts the life of Michael Collins , the Irish Republican Army 's Director of Intelligence who fought for Irish independence from 1919 to 1921 . Although not due for release in Britain until early next year , some politicians have already said they feared it would fan sectarian tensions in British-ruled Northern Ireland . Jordan defends his decision to make the film , whose screenplay he wrote himself after years of research , saying it was " more about history than any political statement " . " The film spares neither the Irish nor the British in its depiction of the savagery of the time , " Jordan said in a statement released by Warner Bros . " How often has independence been achieved without bloodshed ? Very rarely . " Jordan , whose 1992 film " The Crying Game " also came under fire for what was perceived as a sympathetic portrayal of the IRA , said Collins was more than just a revolutionary . " He developed techniques of guerilla warfare later copied by independence movements around the world , from Mao Tse-Tung in China to Yitzak Shamir in Israel , " Jordan said . " Collins would never be a proponent of contemporary terrorism as practised today . He was a soldier and a statesman and , over time , a man of peace . " Leeson , the Northern Ireland-born actor who was nominated for an Oscar for best actor for his performance in " Schindler 's List " , plays the lead role in Jordan 's film . Aidan Quinn portrays Harry Boland , Collins ' best friend , and rival for the love of Kitty Kiernan , played by Roberts . Much of the film was shot on location in Dublin with Jordan using thousands of its citizens as unpaid extras . A set , however , was used for the fighting scenes . Noting that information about Collins was " as mysterious as the existence he maintained " , Jordan said he made some historical assumptions in the film . " I have made choices about certain events based on my own extensive research into his letters and reported speeches , " he said . " I wanted to make this a story as accurate as possible without killing it dramatically and I think I have . It is a very true film . " One of the assumptions is his interpretation of the murky circumstances surrounding the shooting death of Collins , who had broken with his comrades when he sought a negotiated settlement with Britain , in an ambush in 1922 . " I have never lost more sleep over the making of a film than I have over ' Michael Collins ' , but I 'll never make a more important one , " Jordan said . " In the life of one person you can tell the events that formed the north and south of Ireland as they are today . "