Sean Quinn is currently serving a nine-week sentence in Mountjoy Prison. Photo: Mark Condren

THE tale of Sean Quinn's fall from billionaire to bankruptcy is to be brought to the big screen.

Producer James Mitchell – who masterminded the hit movie 'Ordinary Decent Criminal', starring Kevin Spacey – has given the green light for a screen version of the rags-to-riches-to-jail story of the fallen Fermanagh tycoon.

Double Oscar-winner Spacey is – unsurprisingly – being touted as a candidate for the lead role, with Omagh-born actor Gerard McSorley also in the frame. The cameras are set to start rolling on the as-yet-untitled movie some time in 2013.

Emmy award-winning Belfast man Ron Hutchinson is penning the script for the Quinn film. Dublin-based Soho Moon Productions is behind the planned movie.

Its representative, Sarah Walsh, said the film about the tycoon and his family had been given the green light for production.

She added: "We would hope to start production in the New Year."

James Mitchell, who owns Soho Moon Pictures, has visited Fermanagh on a fact-finding mission.

His previous hits include 'Into The West' and 'Churchill: The Hollywood Years'.

Spacey and McSorley developed a good working relationship with him on 'Ordinary Decent Criminal', loosely based on the life of gangster Martin Cahill.

Tycoon

Tyrone man McSorley, who also bears a strong resemblance to Sean Quinn, is best known for his award-winning lead role in the TV drama 'Omagh' and his recurring part in 'The Tudors'.

Mr Quinn began his career by extracting gravel from the family farm, before setting up an empire that spanned many sectors including cement, glass, hotels, insurance and – disastrously – banking.

However, in an extraordinary reversal of fortunes, he is currently serving a nine-week sentence in Dublin's Mountjoy Prison.

Earlier this year his son, Sean Jnr, served three months in the same jail. The family's business empire fell apart after the near collapse of Anglo-Irish Bank in 2008, which wiped out a substantial slice of the family's fortune.

The IBRC asset recovery bank which took over Anglo-Irish claims that the Quinn family owes it more than €2bn.

The Quinn family were unavailable for comment last night

Irish Independent