SCOTTISH FIlM SPEGIAI.
SCOTLAN D
the movie
If Braveheart brought Scottish film up off its knees, the next few months should see it win the battle for world recognition. Trainspotting star EWAN McGREGOR and a tartan army of actors, directors and producers are banishing forever the memory of Brigadoon. We bring you the cast of SCOTLAND THE MOVIE, kicking off with McGregor himself and wrapping up with the latest on
who is shooting what in Scotland. Compiled by: Alan Morrison
IN THE MODERN film dictionary. for ‘workaholic’. see under ‘Ewan McGregor‘. Last year a new film starring the 26-year-old seemed to hit cinemas every other week. Trainspotting took the world by storm. turning the Crieff—born lad into the pin-up icon forjunkie chic; but rather than resting on his laurels. McGregor diversified into a long-haired literary fop (Emma). a bisexual translator (The Pillow Book) and a horn— playing Yorkshire miner (Brassed Off). After a short stop for breath with his French wife Eve and baby Clara Mathilde. Britain‘s sexiest dad went in front of the cameras again in April to play a Ziggy Stardust-style glam rocker in Velvet Goldmine. Todd Haynes‘s 7()s-set movie marks another image change for McGregor. as it features a ‘steamy’ gay scene with our man and Christian Bale.
For the rest of 1997. McGregor will be working on a series of films back to back. He joins Stephan Elliot. director of The Adventures Of Priscilla. for American indie Eve Of The Beholder. playing a hi-tech detec- tive tracking a female serial killer; in Nora. he‘ll become lrish writer James Joyce. and in the first of George Lucas‘s Star Wars pre- quels. he’ll play the young Obi-Wan Kenobi.
Interestingly. McGregor’s actor uncle
Denis Lawton — the inspiration for Ewan‘s choice of career — played
an X-wing fighter pilot in each film in the Star Wars trilogy.
McGregor also has another three films already
in the can. He stars as a mortuary attendant accused of murder in the US remake of Nightwate/z. due for an American release this summer; in
The Serpents Kiss.
recently premiered in
competition at the
Philippe Rousselot
/’
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'Ewan McGregor has got star quality. You can't take your eyes off him on screen.’
Cannes Film Festival, McGregor is a 17th century Dutch landscape gardener who becomes embroiled in sex and intrigue in an English country house: and in A Life Less Ordinary. he plays a sacde Scot who takes his boss‘s daughter hostage on a dash across America, to find himself chased by assassins and angels.
This last movie, which could receive its world premiere at the Edinburgh International Film Festival in August. reteams McGregor with Trainspotting and Shallow Grave trio Danny Boyle, Andrew Macdonald and John Hodge. ‘l tend to be cast as cynical charac- ters. but A Life Less Ordinary is a love story. albeit of an odd sort. and I play a sweet. innocent guy,’ says McGregor. ‘Everything‘s going a bit weird for him though. and there’s more humour in this than anything I’ve pre-viously done.’
McGregor’s instantaneous rise to world stardom has been remarkable. Twice in a row he won Empire’s Best Actor award. while the British edition of Cosmopolitmz voted him third sexiest man in the world after George Clooney and Keanu Reeves. But before his ego gets too big. this avowed family man has taken practical steps to give his career some shape. Along with fellow actors Jude Law. Jonny Lee Miller and Sean Pertwee. he formed production company Natural Nylon with backing from BBC Films and Canadian company Alliance. They’ve already got their eyes on a film version of Christopher Fowler's dark novel Psvehoville.
So what is the McGregor appeal? Philippe Rousselot. who directed him in The Serpents Kiss defines it thus: ‘lle's got this star quality. which I know is a bit of a cliche. but you can‘t take your eyes off him on screen. He is among those actors that can display a very wide range of emotions by hardly moving their face. It brings back memories of the great actors from the Hollywood era.‘ With praise like this, the boy will go far.
30 May—12 Jun 199mm usrr