Disney has begun work on a 10-part series based on the abduction and murder of widowed mother-of-ten Jean McConville, and the aftermath of the crime down the decades.
Filming of the series, planned for broadcast on Disney Plus next year, has taken place in England, including Liverpool and Sheffield, where a housing complex appeared to double for Divis flats.
The producers said the series is set in Northern Ireland during the Troubles but local media was only told it was titled 'Beaumont' and would follow the lives of several characters in Belfast during the 1970s, 80s and 90s.
Industry insiders confirm it is a major production based on Patrick Radden Keefe's best-selling book Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland.
Disney is remaining silent and did not respond following repeated requests for comment from last Friday on the filming of the series.
The book details the life, death and legacy of 38-year-old Mrs McConville, abducted by the PIRA from her Divis flats home in December 1972, shot and buried on the Cooley Peninsula in Co Louth. She was one of the disappeared, her remains only recovered in 2003.
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Following the 2019 publication of the book, the rights were optioned by Color Force, the production company behind The Hunger Games and Diary of a Wimpy Kid. The company entered into a deal with FX Productions, an arm of Disney.
In his only public comments on a planned adaptation, after the option deal was first announced four years ago, Jean McConville's son Michael said the family was "upset and disgusted" on hearing the reports.
Mr McConville said: "Using what happened to our mother for entertainment is sickening. To make money out of her murder and the pain that has been in our lives ever since is cruel and obscene."
He suggested those planning the production believed the family were "just characters in a story to be played with and forgotten about when they move onto the next moneymaker".
"I doubt they even think of us as real people. They call it drama but for us it’s trauma," he said.
Mr McConville did not want to comment further on Tuesday and it is not clear whether the filmmakers have been in touch with the McConville family.
Following the optioning deal, Color Force told the Hollywood Reporter: “We’re always on the lookout for a literary page-turner, and when we started Patrick’s book we couldn’t put it down. We’re very excited he’s partnering with us to tell this story on FX.”
The producers have officially released no details on the series, including around the filming or the cast.
But The Knowledge, a production industry publication, reported in March the series was in pre-production in the UK and set for lengthy filming in 2023.
Prior to filming in the Park Hill flats complex of Sheffield, the UK production partner, Minim, wrote to residents warning "the scenes we are filming will involve loud noises from time to time, characters dressed in military uniforms and the use of fake rubber weapons, so please do not be concerned".
Images show crews in a run-down, boarded-up section of the complex.
In Liverpool, images show scenes of old cars, what appears to be the aftermath of an explosion and characters holding hand guns.
Ms McConville was abducted from her home and driven to the border area by deceased IRA members Dolours Price and Pat McClure. She was then shot and her body buried on a beach.
Dolours Price, who died in 2013, spoke about her IRA activities in an Irish News interview in 2010.
Mrs McConville, mother-of-ten, was accused of being an informer but there was no evidence ever provided to back up the allegation.
Following a campaign by The Families of the Disappeared, the IRA finally admitted the abduction and murder in 1999. Information was provided that led to the remains being found.
Former IRA leader Ivor Bell, of Ramoan Gardens in west Belfast, was cleared of soliciting her murder, the only person charged in connection with the killing.
Gerry Adams, the long-time Sinn Fein leader, was called as a defence witness. He denied any involvement in Ms McConville's death.
"I categorically deny any involvement in the abduction, killing and burial of Jean McConville, or indeed any others," Mr Adams told Belfast Crown Court.
