This month in Scottish Entertainment / Actor News, Helygen has all the news from the world’s best Scottish actors, including casting updates from Irvine Welsh’s ‘Filth’, trailers for Gerry Butler’s new films and the latest movements of Tennant, Scott, McKidd and more:

James McAvoy and Alan Cumming join the cast of Filth

The lead character of Irvine Welsh’s Filth sounds like a dream job for any actor. Bruce Robertson is a Scottish cop and misanthrope who is addicted to sex and drugs and would rather spend his days pranking his fellow police offers than doing his job. It’s nothing you wouldn’t expect from the author of Trainspotting, but what performer wouldn’t want to try their hand at playing someone like that? In that sense, James McAvoy has just won the lottery.

The Playlist has received confirmation from Welsh himself that casting has begun for an adaptation of Filth, and McAvoy has landed the lead role. What’s more, Jamie Bell and Alan Cumming have both come on-board as well, starring as Ray Lennox (Robertson’s partner) and Chief Inspector Bob Toal (Roberton’s boss), respectively. The project is being directed by Jon S. Baird, who only has one feature credit to his name, but it impressed Welsh to the point that he knew he wanted the filmmaker on board. “Jon did a biopic of Cass Pennant, a film called Cass, which was well received in the U.K,” Welsh said. “It was compared favourably by some of the critics to This Is England. It was the same kind of style and really kind of a beautiful little film.”

Baird has also done a rewrite on the script, which Welsh called “absolutely brilliant”. The project is scheduled to start production in January 2012. Given the three actors that have already been wrangled, this is definitely a project to watch.

Source: Cinema Blend

Gerard Butler fires away in Machine Gun Preacher

Gerard Butler is showcased in a new trailer for Machine Gun Preacher. His character finds a purpose in life after he tangles with a Sudanese warlord in an effort to prevent him from enlisting children in his army.

The plot sounds so Ramboesque it’s hard to believe, except it’s based on a true story.

Read more at The Improper

httpv://youtu.be/eddnloOFjwY

In other news, Gerard Butler may be circling submarine thriller Hunter Killer.

Shortly after the trailer for his drug-dealer-turned-freedom-fighter drama Machine Gun Preacher reached the Web, we’re seeing a story that links the burly 300 star to another thriller that would cast Butler as the captain of some butt-kicking Navy SEALS.

The story would be Hunter Killer, the name given to an adaptation of Don Keith and George Wallace’s novel Firing Point, which has been optioned by producer Neil Moritz’s Original Films with a potential to be distributed by Relativity Media. Coming Soon posted the news that Butler’s name was being considered for the role of Joe Glass, the captain of a submarine who must lead a team behind enemy lines in Russia to stop an adversary from launching an all-out war against the United States. At least they’re not officially calling it a remake of Crimson Tide or The Hunt for Red October.

Read more at CinemaBlend.com

David Tennant – news and new projects

David Tennant camps it up in ginger wig and yellow jacket for wedding planner role in new TV comedy

He’s currently starring as a very camp and flamboyant vampire killer in the remake of the 80s horror Fright Night. And flouncing around in outrageous – and let’s face it, tasteless – clothes clearly appeals to David Tennant as he’s gone and done it again. The former Doctor Who star sports ginger hair, paisley drainpipe trousers and yellow and gold platform heels for a new TV role in the comedy series This is Jinsy, due to air in the UK next month.

Read more at Daily Mail

– – – – – – – – –
David Tennant joins voice cast for new CBeebies animated series

Former Doctor Who star David Tennant is teaming up with another veteran of the time-travelling show for a new animated children’s television programme.

Sophie Aldred, who played Ace alongside Sylvester McCoy as the seventh doctor, is going to be the voice behind Tree Fu Tom in the CBeebies series of the same name.

It follows the adventures of an eight-year-old boy who is transformed into a hero by putting on a magic belt. Tennant will play his sidekick, Twigs, in the show which follows the pair’s adventures in a magic world called Treetopolis.

CBeebies controller Kay Benbow said: “We have a fantastic cast on this show who work brilliantly as a team. Their rapport permeates through to the programme reflecting the characters as a group of friends working together.

“We are delighted to have David on board as part of the team. The physical energy in his performance works so well for animation and his sense of fun and cheeky humour will delight the older CBeebies audience.

“We have many incredibly talented actors on CBeebies – in shows and the Bedtime Hour – because the very young deserve the very best. It’s about seeking out great performances and offering the best possible quality to our viewers.”

Source: Daily Record

– – – – – – – – –
Doctor Who’s David Tennant Celebrated on DVD

David Tennant is about to feel the love.

The man voted as our personal favorite Doctor of all-time will receive this wonderful box set in his honor, containing every episode starring Tennant as the Tenth Doctor — allons-y! It’s truly hard to crack what makes the Tenth Doctor so iconic, but one of the many reasons we loved him is his ability convey all emotions, to go from wise-crackin’ and enthusiastic to richly dark and completely sinister on a whim. Now you can experience every adventure the Tenth Doctor had with this box set.

Titled Doctor Who: The David Tennant Years, the box set will contain Series 2, Series 3, Series 4, The Complete Specials and even the two animated endeavors, The Infinite Quest and Dreamland, just to prolong your love affair of Tennant, a true fanboy to the series who brings as much passion to the lore as an actor as he does a viewer to the benefit of everybody.

Warner Home Video and the BBC will be bringing this one out exclusively on DVD come October 11, 2011, leaving those clamoring for a Blu-ray release someday a little sad. The mega set will contain 26 discs that are holstered inside of a spiffy collector’s book, and should contain all of the special features from the prior releases. No word was mentioned on our promotional flyer regarding new special features, but the price is set at the MSRP of $199.98.

We hope to have images of the box, the book it comes in, and all sorts of packaging very soon. Stay tuned to IGN DVD for more information about this and other upcoming releases!

Source: IGN

Dougray Scott’s ‘My Week With Marilyn’ to premiere at 2011 New York film fest

‘My Week With Marilyn’, a film about Marilyn Monroe’s time in England in 1956, will be premiered at the New York film festival in October.

The film revolves around the brief meeting between Monroe and British writer Colin Clark while she was on honeymoon with her husband Arthur Miller and filming the romantic comedy ‘The Prince and the Showgirl’ opposite Laurence Olivier.

‘My Week With Marilyn’ stars Oscar nominee Michelle Williams as Monroe, Eddie Redmayne as Clark, Kenneth Branagh as Olivier, Dougray Scott as Miller along with Judi Dench, Emma Watson and Dominic Cooper.

The film will premiere during the two-week long film festival in New York starting from October 9, with the film being released in UK cinemas on 14th November.

Source: TruthDive

First Look: COMES A BRIGHT DAY starring Kevin McKidd

First set of images for Simon Abound’s romantic thriller arrive.

Against the backdrop of an armed robbery that goes badly wrong in one of London’s most exclusive jewellers, hostages Sam and Mary, flung together by deadly circumstance, discover their true feelings for each other.

Simon Abound makes his feature debut with the romantic thriller Comes A Bright Day, helming from his own original script. The movie stars Craig Roberts (‘Submarine’), Imogen Poots (‘Fright Night,’ ‘28 Weeks Later’), Kevin McKidd (‘Bunraku,’ ‘Grey’s Anatomy’), Timothy Spall (‘Harry Potter’) and newcomer Anthony Welsh (‘Red Tails’).

Read and see more at Movies.ie

This is Fake DIY also have images, and making-of videos.

Billy Boyd in Moby Dick – caps & photos

Basically Billy Boyd has a new gallery of screen caps and behind-the-scenes photos featuring Billy Boyd in Moby Dick – check out the site to see more

Coriolanus trailer featuring Butler and Cox


In Ralph Fiennes’ directorial debut, watch the UK trailer for CORIOLANUS starring Fiennes, Gerard Butler, Vanessa Redgrave, James Nesbitt, Jessica Chastain and Brian Cox. The film showed In Competition at the 61st Berlin International Film Festival earlier this year.

As to CORIOLANUS’ Academy Awards hopes, Anne Thompson of indieWIRE recently wrote, “Vanessa Redgrave, as his Machiavellian mother Volumnia, could win the Oscar for best supporting actress. She is extraordinary as a naturally beautiful older woman who is powerful yet maternal, wicked yet loving, logical yet insane.”

Synopsis:

Caius Martius ‘Coriolanus’ (Ralph Fiennes), a revered and feared Roman General is at odds with the city of Rome and his fellow citizens. Pushed by his controlling and ambitious mother Volumnia (Vanessa Redgrave) to seek the exalted and powerful position of Consul, he is loath to ingratiate himself with the masses whose votes he needs in order to secure the office. When the public refuses to support him, Coriolanus’s anger prompts a riot that culminates in his expulsion from Rome. The banished hero then allies himself with his sworn enemy Tullus Aufidius (Gerard Butler) to take his revenge on the city.

httpv://youtu.be/e4WoXmXfBJQ

Based on William Shakespeare’s tragedy, The Weinstein Company will release the film in the U.S. on December 2, 2011.

Source: We Are Movie Geeks

 

Weekly schedule for Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson

Mo 8/22: Hugh Laurie, Saffron Burrows
Tu 8/23: Lewis Black, Amos Lee
We 8/24: Regis Philbin, Vera Farmiga
Th 8/25: Kunal Nayyar, Alice Eve
Fr 8/26: Shirley Mason, Jerry Ferrara

www.cbs.com/late_late_show

Watch UK TV Live and On Demand Now

Buy Scottish films from the Dear Scotland Shop here:

For more from Helygen check out her website here and follow her on twitter @helygen.