‘IT'S A BUDDY MOVIE AND A COUNTRY POEM'
Monarch of the Glen
Paul Dale meets one of Scotland’s finest living film and theatre actors and now guitar hero lain Glen
t's the eyes. I‘m sitting in an lidinburgh
member‘s club. and I‘m looking at the 46-year-
old lidinburgh born actor lain (ilen. I'm trying to work out what has compelled me to follow his career since his remarkable turn as poet. artist and Barlinnie inmate Larry Winters in David llayman‘s excellent l‘)‘)() biopic Silent Scream. It‘s those eyes —~ watery aqua blue. full of pain and seriousness set above impressive aristocratic cheekbones. It‘s not hard to see how he came to be cast as Richard The Lionheart in The Kingdom of Heaven. and it‘s no surprise that he has just wrapped on ('liurt'liill at War. an HBO special in which he plays King George V to Brendan (ileeson‘s w'hee/ing Churchill.
He's come to sip a latte and talk about Small [frigate Repair. a micro budget lrish film about an aging country singer’s thwarted attempts to make it in the music business. It‘s a slow. low-key. idiosyncratic
affair that brings to mind Bruce Beresford‘s 'Ii'mli'r
Mercia and Bob Rafelson‘s live lz'axy' Pier-vs. ‘lt‘s quite elegiac in feel. I really admire [writer and director] Niall Heery' for trustng himself internally and letting things unfold gently and slowly.‘ (ilen talks with the clarity and enunciation of someone who has spent a lot of time with dialect coaches. his Edinburgh accent having long faded away.
One of the draws of the film for (ilen was the fact that it called on him to perform musically. ‘l‘ve played guitar since my early teens but never utilised it professionally so it was lovely to involve those skills.
38 THE LIST 6— 20 Set‘ 2007
It was a huge bonus for me having a script this good and being able to work on the music as w ell.~
Another reason for doing the film for (lien was a chance to work with rising star Steven Mackintosh l'l'lir' .lai‘lu'l. .S'iigarlioilvi'). ‘Steven and I realised quite
quickly that though we had never worked together there was a strong connection and an awareness of
each others work. which is really important because the lilm is a buddy movie about these two small town characters. about their friendship and betrayal. It's a country poem.'
(ilen. who spends as much time working in theatre as film has three films coming out in the next few months. Besides Small ling/"ire Repair there‘s .llry Rare/[lids Revolution in which he stars with (‘atherine late as an ardent British communist who conyinces his wife to go and liye in the (il)R with catastrophic results and Resident [ill/S litiinr'lion where he returns to his well trodden role as Dr Issacs. l'ltimately' he knows where his heart lies. ‘lt's a cliche but the reason I wanted to get in to acting was becatise I saw De Niro in a double bill of Raging [full and lllt' King alt'onmlv. and that sense of complete transformation appealed to tne. But to access that kind of yariety' you need the very best writing. and the finest scripts come with the lowest budgets. that‘s just the way it is.' .-\s he lowers his cup. disappointment fills those remarkable eyes.
Small Engine Repair, Cameo, Edinburgh and selected release from Fri 7 Sep.
llit >l<
THE BEST FILM & DVD RELEASES
>1: 12:08 East of Bucharest Clever and funny satire of delusron in which a group of Romanian men try to remember the revolution of 1989 live on radio. See revrew. page 41. GFT. Glasgow from Fri 7— Thu 13 Sep. 2’- Superbad Hugely enjoyable comedy about two teenagers search for booze and a Wild party from the team behind Knocked Up and 40 Year Old Virgin. See revrew. page 39. General release from Fri 14 Sep. =‘r- Atonement Impressive adaptation of Ian McEwan's popular romantic novel about accusation and regret. See review. page 40. General release from Fri 7 Sep.
5:- 3:10 to Yuma James Walk the Line Mangold's very good remake of visceral SOs western based on an Elmore Leonard story starring Russell Crowe and Christian Bale. See review. page 41. General release from Fri 14 Sep.
“4 The Legacy Eerie Georgian rural horror from the director of 13 (Tzamati). See profile, page 40. GFT, Glasgow from Fri 14 Sep.
2 Small Engine Repair Compelling low-key Irish music scene drama starring lain Glen. See interview, left. Cameo, Edinburgh from Fri 7 Sep.
>3< Knocked Up lndecently funny unwanted pregnancy comedy. General release from 24 Aug.
2 The Serpent Pacy and competent French psycho thriller. See Olga Kurylenko interview, page 39. Filmhouse, Edinburgh from Fri 14 Sep.
* 2 Channel: A Magnificent Obsession Brilliant documentary about the short life and times of the influential LA based cable TV station dedicated to the art of film gets a long overdue DVD release. See review, page 42. Out now (Metrodome).
* Ken Loach Collection Vol 1&2 Near complete collection of Loach's features from Poor Cow to The Wind That Shakes The Barley. An epic but necessary purchase. See review, page 42. Out now (Sixteen Films).