1 THE Acln nous:
V and put back on the transfer market by his boss. Drowning his sorrows in a shady boozer,
"‘ he runs into God in the form of an old piss- head who, in classic Biblical style, visits his wrath upon Boab by transforming him into a bluebottle fly. Old Testament meets Old Firm or what?
'The Granton Star Cause' was first screened in its own right on Channel 4 last year, prompting outrage with its potent mix of blasphemy, police. brutality and graphic sex. However, the main talking point was a barrage of bad language. Channel 4 broadcast a discussion programme on the subject, provoking a mixed response from the film's star.
’It was a great buzz when people were
they’d ever seen,’ says McCole, who was BAFTA-nominated for his performance. 'The folk on the programme were condescending pricks though, saying that no one talks like that in Scotland, that only people who go to football matches or are stuck in bad jobs talk like that.
' 'But your average guy on the street thinks it’s great, thinks it's very real. That’s the way people speak, d’you know what I mean? The folk on the programme were saying that a well-placed "fuck" or "cunt" is great in a situation, but that the film’s a bit much. No, it's not. You don’t go, "Where will I put a 'fuck' into this sentence?” It just comes out. It’s a natural thing.’ \
Stephen McCole can be seen doing what comes naturally in a number of forthcoming _ projects. He has a leading role in Peter ' Mullan's directorial debut Orphans; co-stars {with Charlie Sheen in Post Mortem, a serial- . killer flick set in Glasgow; and plays a school ""bUIIy in Rushmore, a Disney movie starring Bill " “fMurray. .For the moment, however, you’d be advised to catch him in The Acid House, a film he reckons it’s impossible to be ambivalent about. '
'You're never gonna go away from the cinema after The Acid House going,
"Well, it was so-so",’ says McCole.
’You’re either gonna go "Fucking
disgusting!" or "Fucking brilliant!" That’s always the sign of a good film, lthink.’
The boy next door
IMAGINE THE WORST SHAG YOU EVER HAD. divide it by a thousand and you‘re still nowhere near it. This is the prevailing feeling in ’A Soft Touch', the central film in The Acid
films which bookend it, 'A Soft Touch’ is a bleak, unrelenting tale of poverty, violence,
weakness, stupidity and angry sex.
2 It’s a film where human relations are as flat, cold and dilapidated as the Edinburgh housing scheme it is set in. If Trainspotting’s cheery social-decay-as-pop-promo schtick was effortlessly co-opted into the Cool Britannia landscape, -'A Soft Touch’ stands out as a
Continued over page
17 Dec 1998—7 Jan.1999 THE “8121
phoning in to say it was one of the best things.
House triptych. In stark contrast to the two.