Not Another Happy Ending to premiere at EIFF

EIFF to close the 2013 Festival with World Premiere of 'Not Another Happy Ending'

Edinburgh International Film Festival (EIFF) is proud to announce NOT ANOTHER HAPPY ENDING starring Karen Gillan and Stanley Weber (alongside Amy Manson, Iain de Caestecker, Kate Dickie, Freya Mavor, Gary Lewis and Henry Ian Cusick), as the Closing Night film of the 67th edition of the Festival.
The red carpet will be rolled out at the Edinburgh Festival Theatre on 30th June when the stars and filmmakers attend the World Premiere of this indie romantic comedy set in Glasgow.
Read more at The Fan Carpet

Also reported by STV, Screen Daily, The List, Radio Times, The Edinburgh Reporter, and many others.

Karen Gillan

 Karen Gillan on the set of Not Another Happy Ending.

Interview: Karen Gillan on Amy Pond, Doctor Who and Not Another Happy Ending
Roles in upcoming rom-com and horror drama Oculus
Source: The List
Date: 31 October 2012
Written by: Eddie Harrison

After she played Amy Pond in Doctor Who, many wondered what Karen Gillan would do next. Eddie Harrison speaks to the Inverness actor about making the leap to the big screen with her first lead role in Glasgow-set film Not Another Happy Ending

Even if you’ve been hiding behind your couch for the last few years, (and viewers of Doctor Who are well known for doing exactly that), Karen Gillan needs little introduction. Playing Amy Pond opposite Matt Smith in the BBC’s highest-rating drama, the Inverness girl has become a genuine household name. Now making the transition from television to feature films, she spent part of the summer of 2012 shooting Not Another Happy Ending, a romantic comedy developed by Scottish company Synchronicity Films.
‘Actually, this film came about because my director John McKay, back when I was working on television for We’ll Take Manhattan,’ said, “You’re really good at falling over, you should read this script,” and gave me Not Another Happy Ending. I suppose I am one of life’s naturally clumsy people, I don’t drop stuff all the time, or break things, but I’m just generally a bit flustered.’
In Not Another Happy Ending, Gillan plays Jane Lockhart, an author who has hit writer’s block after the success of her first novel.
‘The problem is she can only write when she’s a bit miserable, and she’s now a huge success,’ says Gillan. ‘So her publisher Tom [Stanley Webber] goes on this secret mission to make her life a misery, and it’s all about how their relationship develops.’
Playing the role gave Gillan the chance to immerse herself in the rom-com genre, and enjoy a crash course in the most romantic comedies in cinema history.
‘I watched in chronological order the greatest rom-coms of all time, starting with His Girl Friday, then The Apartment, which is amazing, and then I was naughty because I watched a later one because I couldn’t wait to see Manhattan, then back to Annie Hall and then When Harry Met Sally... what I took from seeing them all was just how important the chemistry is between the two lead actors.’
With Howard Hawks, Billy Wilder, Woody Allen and Rob Reiner setting the bar high in terms of getting chemistry from their leads, Gillan’s viewing left her plenty to ponder, not least how to create the right kind of connection with her leading man.
‘How do you create chemistry? If only I knew that! Some people say it’s a natural thing that you have with someone, and maybe it is to do with that, but I think you can work on it. We’ve been so lucky with Stanley Webber, because he’s so spontaneous and inventive, so I have no idea what he’s going to do next.
‘I’m used to shooting at this momentum and pace from working on Doctor Who, so coming onto this film with the busy timeline we have feels quite natural. I was allowed to jump on the sofa if I wanted to, so I just did, because it just felt right in the moment. There’s lots of improvisation in the film, we spoke about it with the director, and came to the conclusion that it was better when it was just free, and things could just pop out.’
Gillan’s next project takes her to Los Angeles for a horror drama Oculus, but she’s setting her sights even higher: she’d like to appear in darker, more dramatic films, and says her dream is to work with the Austrian director of The White Ribbon and Hidden, Michael Haneke, whose 2001 film The Piano Teacher is Gillan’s own favourite film. But for now, she’s keen to keep developing her craft, and Not Another Happy Ending gives her the chance to expand her repertoire with a coveted leading role.
‘Acting is all about finding the truth within whatever world you’re in,’ she says. ‘You just have to keep it truthful, rather than all this heightened acting. These are things that I’ve learned from watching the episodes of Doctor Who, just learning how to pitch a scene, so that you felt that you were doing enough to give the audience what they want at that moment.
‘I watched all the episodes as they were airing. At first, when I saw myself, I really did cringe, but that’s how you learn and get better. Now, I feel like I understand acting so much more, I’ve learned so much from working on Doctor Who and that’s really coming into play on Not Another Happy Ending.’
Not Another Happy Ending is due for release in early 2013.
Source (including photo): The List

Karen Gillan: Big Issue interview

Karen Gillan: My New Frontier
Karen Gillan has seen off Daleks, killed Hitler and even taken Manhattan in her spare time. So what happens after Amy Pond? 

There will be floods of tears next week, as a nation’s children – and many of their parents, grandparents, aunties, uncles, cousins and neighbours – tune in to the last ever Doctor Who adventure to feature Amy Pond. Karen Gillan, the flame-haired, razor-sharp Scottish star is waving goodbye to one of the most coveted roles on British TV.

She will leave behind the Tardis, her ‘raggedy man’ Time Lord, and probably the only part she will ever play that involves her interacting with Adolf Hitler and Vincent van Gogh, being scared to blink lest she’s ravaged by sinister statues and discovering she has given birth to a corkscrew-haired time traveller old enough to be her mother.

Though her adventures with the Doctor have taken up the lion’s share of her time since she first stepped foot in the Tardis, ex-model Gillan has also found time to impress rebel Cockney photographer David Bailey, both with her gazelle-like legs and her acting.

Playing Bailey’s muse-mistress Jean Shrimpton, she was stunningly ’60s in BBC Four’s We’ll Take Manhattan. It gave a taste of the bright future for the 24-year-old once she says goodbye to Amy Pond.

I first meet her in Almeria, Spain, on the set of last weekend’s Wild West Doctor Who adventure. Karen is sitting at the piano of a saloon bar, regaling an empty room with showtunes. After following up her turn on the keys with a knees-up around the stage, she says that she’s always ready to bang out a tune, though she doesn’t guarantee that it’ll get the party started.

“I think I was playing a song from Fame,” she laughs. “I’m usually like the weirdo at a party who plays really depressing music. I really like Chopin. Dark stuff like that. My party piece? I have my own composition, which is an easy one to remember, so I always whip that one out, but everyone is like, ‘Mood killer!’”

Five months later and The Big Issue catches up with Karen again. She has completed her final Tardis scenes and is about to jet off to New York for a fancy screening in front of the increasingly obsessive US fans who will, she assures us “scream and cry”.

Her final moments on set have been teary too. “It was just so sad. The last scene we filmed was me, Matt Smith and Arthur Darvill just walking into the Tardis together,” she says. “It is insignificant in terms of the episode, but was so huge for us. It was dark inside and we just hugged. It was lovely. Then I milked it for all it was worth and cried.”

Fans will also be bereft, but Karen at least leaves Doctor Who on a high, and on her own terms. The new series has ditched the complex story arcs in favour of individual, self-contained weekly adventures, each with its own movie-style poster and redesigned logo (for the first the title was styled like a Dalek, for the second it was a dinosaur and so on) – and both viewers and critics are responding favourably. After a final run-in with the Weeping Angels in Manhattan, Karen’s character will never return.

“It will be a real shock to the system when I realise I am not in it any more,” she says. “But I knew what I was getting into when I took the job. This is a show in which the cast changes regularly and that is why it is so long-lasting. I am going to feel sad, but I have had a pretty good run in the companion role, which makes me happy. It is a weird thing to be leaving, but you never really leave the Doctor Who family.”

Having experienced as much variety as any TV role offers, she is now looking to the future, starting with an indie rom-com, a cop show spoof and a US horror film…

So how on earth do you follow Amy Pond – adventurer, time traveller, ass-kicker, memorably worth “at least two men”? Well, I feel like I’m prepared for all the possible genres after playing Amy. And I certainly want variety, that’s for sure. What I enjoy most about acting is being versatile. I like actors like Robin Williams, who can do crazy, absurd characters. I would love to be an actor like that. The one I am really getting into recently is Olivia Colman. She does Peep Show and is brilliant at comedy, but I just watched Tyrannosaur – oh my god! I was on a train going through the Highlands of Scotland crying my eyes out. I want to play character roles, generally. That is my main ambition.

Have you talked about your plans with your on-screen hubby, Arthur Darvill and with ‘Doctor’ Matt Smith? Yeah, we talk about all that stuff. We are very close. It is like having two brothers with Matt and Arthur – the two brothers I never had, because I’m an only child. So it is kinda nice for me.

So you were in Glasgow recently filming Not Another Happy Ending with Life on Mars director John McKay. A low-budget Scottish indie comedy – it is not the most obvious next step… I was just passionate about the script and the role. It all came from playing Jean Shrimpton in We’ll Take Manhattan last year with John. He said I’d be perfect for this role in his film Not Another Happy Ending – because I kept dropping stuff and falling over. It wasn’t a grand plan; it was in the pipeline for a long time and we shot it as soon as I was available. I didn’t know Glasgow that well, although my mum is from there, but I’ve fallen in love with it and want to settle down there. I just love the people – I laughed so much.

You’re playing a novelist – has it made you want to write a book? I don’t think I have a book in me, but I reckon I have a screenplay. No ideas yet, I just like the idea of writing a screenplay. Hopefully I will do that in the future.

You want to settle in Glasgow, then, but where is home for you right now? Cardiff? London? Inverness? I don’t have a house at the moment and I don’t really have a home city. All my possessions are in a storage unit in London. I have a suitcase with a few pieces of clothing, so I’m completely free and home is wherever I end up working, really, and at the moment that is the best feeling in the world. I don’t feel like I need any material possessions. I’m free. I love it so much and I’ve realised that it is quite liberating living without all your material possessions. I’m working in Alabama for the rest of the year, which will be cool, and we will have to see after that. I just go with the flow.

Alabama? Sounds intriguing… Yes! I’m so excited about Oculus. It’s a horror film about a brother and a sister, filming in Alabama. It’s all so varied, which is great, but I’m doing things that I really care about. I’m getting to do so many things I wanted to do, so I’m really happy.

Does this mean Hollywood is on the agenda? If there is good stuff over there for me to do, then yes, of course I would. But I don’t want to do something for the sake of working, if I’m not that into it. When I was about to start on Oculus, I got the script for Charlie Brooker’s A Touch of Cloth. We were able to move the dates forward so I could do that as well. It is really clever at the same time as being ridiculous. It is right up my street, comedy-wise, as we are playing it completely straight and intensely, even though what we are saying is utter nonsense. All those detective dramas we know so well, we will never be able to watch them quite the same again after this.

When you catch your breath, what do you think will you miss most about Doctor Who? Working with my best friends every day has been amazing. I am certainly going to miss getting to do all the Doctor Who acting. It is all quite high-octane... creatures to be running away from – I don’t know how often I’m going to be able to do that in my future jobs. Tennis balls on a stick pretending to be monsters, before the CGI, I won’t be doing much of that in the future. I remember in my first episode someone had written ‘the scrotum’ on the tennis ball, which was a little off-putting. That was a nice welcome!

How would you like Amy Pond to be remembered? I love this girl. I would be too scared to act like her, but I get this artistic licence playing her. I love her dry sarcasm, wit and grumpiness. I’m not a grumpy person. I want to see her go out in flames of glory, where we see her at her absolute best. I just want people to look back over the Pond era fondly. I have had the best years of my life on this show, hand on my heart…

Your last episodes have been described by writer Steven Moffat as his love letters to the Ponds – this sounds pretty terminal… That doesn’t necessarily mean death, but it will be very final. So, yeah, you are going to cry. I hope so, anyway. I like making you cry. That makes me happy…

Source: Big Issue


The Mirror says Karen's moving to Hollywood
The Daily Record says she's moved back to parents

Karen Gillan: new project, 'Doctor Who' screening and interviews, Alex Day video

• A Touch of Cloth

Karen Gillan has revealed that she has signed up to star in the Sky1 comedy A Touch of Cloth.

The actress made the announcement that she would be appearing in the spoof police show to Digital Spy at a Doctor Who screening,

However, Gillan did not give away any further information about her character, but added that she will begin filming for the programme soon.

The spoof police TV drama is written by Charlie Brooker and Daniel Maier and stars John Hannah and Suranne Jones as detectives.

A two-part story has been shot and will air later this month, but two further episodes have already been commissioned by Sky1 and are expected to air in 2013.

Gillan is set to depart her role as Amy Pond in the BBC series Doctor Who this series.

Source: RTE Ten 

Also reported by Kasterborous and Unreality Primetime and many others!

• Karen Gillan turns down Hollywood for independent movie

Karen Gillan knocked back one of Hollywood’s biggest starmakers to keep a promise to make a low-budget film in Scotland.

The 24-year-old Doctor Who star was offered the lead in a TV series by the creator of three of America’s highest-rated shows.

But the actress – who is quitting the TARDIS after three years as the doctor’s companion Amy Pond – had already agreed to film Not Another Happy Ending.

And she loyally kept her commitment to the Glasgow-based romcom despite the chance of a glamorous job in Los Angeles.

LA mogul Shonda Rhimes – the woman behind medical drama series Grey’s Anatomy – said: “I’m very upset.

“When I heard Karen was leaving Doctor Who, I tried to hire her. I think she’s really, really talented. But apparently she’s doing a movie next, so we couldn’t get her.”

Rhimes – named by Time magazine as one of the 100 people who help shape the world – runs her own mini-studio scriptwriting and producing for stars such as Anne Hathaway, Britney Spears and Jada Pinkett-Smith. She is a huge name in TV with syndicated shows around the globe.

Rhimes said she wanted Karen for a new project but refused to divulge further details.

“That’s top secret,” she added.

The Scot’s agent, Troika’s Michael Duff, said yesterday: “It’s true that Shonda wanted to hire Karen. “I’m afraid I can’t comment in more detail though.”

Indie comedy Not Another Happy Ending stars Karen, Stanley Weber, Lost’s Henry Ian Cusick and Edinburgh-actress Freya Mavor from Skins.

It began shooting last month in the west end of Glasgow.

Karen, from Inverness plays Jane Lockhart, a chick-lit author who is struck down by writer’s block after her successful debut book.

The movie has been filming in locations around Glasgow, including the famous Necropolis cemetery.

Jane’s desperate publisher Tom Duval – played by Weber – needs another hit or his company goes bust and decides she is too happy to write.

But as he tries to make her unhappy, he realises he has fallen in love with her.

The movie is being made by Synchronicity Films and directed by John Mackay, who made the BBC Four film We’ll Take Manhattan with Karen playing supermodel Jean Shrimpton.

Although backed by Creative Scotland and BBC Films, the filmmakers have also been fundraising on Facebook.

Synchronicity declined to comment yesterday, but a source close to the production said: “A lot of young actresses would be tempted by such an offer to work in Hollywood.

“It reflects very well on Karen that she honoured her commitment. Opportunities like that don’t come along very often.”

Karen has already shot her spectacular exit from Doctor Who along with Arthur Darvill, who plays her screen husband Rory Williams.

Source: Daily Record 

Also reported by Scotsman 

• BBC America Announces 'Doctor Who' Season 7 Advance Screening

Fans in New York City will get a chance to see the season première later this month!

Earlier this week, the British Film Institute screened "Asylum of Daleks," the first episode from the upcoming seventh season of Doctor Who. But fans in America will have their chance soon enough.

BBC America has announced that the U.S. première screening of "Asylum of Daleks" will take place on Saturday, August 25 at 6pm in New York City. Series stars Matt Smith and Karen Gillan will be on hand with Doctor Who producer Caroline Skinner for a Q&A session after the episode.

Tickets for the event will be 11 cents, as a symbolic nod to Smith's Eleventh Doctor. However, there will also be a one dollar surcharge.

"Doctor Who" season 7 is expected to debut on BBC America in September.

Read more at Crave Online 

Update from Doctor Who News:  

The demand for tickets for the upcoming New York preview of Asylum of the Daleks has been heavy enough to cause major problems for the ticketing site, where all 800 available tickets were sold in less than twenty minutes.

Read more at Doctor Who News

• Doctor Who series 7 interviews

From Holy Moly! -

"Awkhero"

by Tim Chipping

We didn't film this. The court order doesn't let us anywhere near these people. But since it's the London premiere of the first episode of series 7 of Doctor Who tonight (are you going? We're going. Are you not going?) we thought we'd share this funny  video that some Americans have made, where they interview the cast and crew about the show and all the new things that are going to happen, and everyone is very charming and amusing. And Karen Gillan sounds like she's about to burst every time she speaks.

Source: HolyMoly!

• Interview with Karen Gillan

It’s Karen Gillan’s last series as Amy Pond. Having travelled through space and time for three years, she is about to hang up her TARDIS key. Here she gives us a glimpse at what is to come in episodes 1 to 3, from Daleks to Dinosaurs, and some thoughts on her departure.

It was AMAZING! We have totally made them scary again. I expect everyone to be watching from behind their sofas, I know I will... Karen is talking excitedly about the return of the Doctor’s most fearsome and famous enemy the Daleks. The opener to series 7, Asylum Of The Daleks, will feature the most Daleks ever to be seen on screen and from the different decades, including a special appearance form Russell T Davies’ Dalek, I am so pleased that he now owns an official Dalek, it was a real honour to act opposite him and I think he is going to go far! she says rather cheekily.

I think my favourite is the 1960s Dalek with the white and blue armour, she continues, there is something more menacing about them as they are smaller and they just look so original. If I was going to own one, it would be one of those, Karen concludes, I would keep it in my kitchen.

This series has been done in really interesting way with five stand alone epic episodes, like a movie a week, all building to the departure of the Ponds!

We actually kick-off the series with Amy and Rory’s relationship in a sticky situation; it is less than marital bliss.

Those scenes were really interesting to do, she explains, because they created such a different on-screen atmosphere between Amy and Rory, something that the viewers wouldn’t have seen before. That is the good thing about Doctor Who, it gives you the chance to shift the character, and you never know what is going to happen from episode to episode.

But it isn’t all upset for the Ponds, as the adventures continue in episode two with Dinosaurs On A Spaceship, written by Chris Chibnall. That was a crazy filming adventure, exclaims Karen, with all the adventures that I have been on through-out the show that was perhaps the most surreal! There was a lot of running from things we couldn’t see, which is always fun, BUT a couple of the cast got to ride a dinosaur.

And Mark Williams comes along for the ride as Rory’s dad Brian Williams, He was so fantastic, naturally funny and such great casting, you could totally imagine Rory having a dad like that. This series has some great guest stars, characters and of course monsters, she teases.

Guest stars making their Doctor Who debut are James Bond baddy, Steven Berkoff, Jemma Redgrave and Ben Browder. Alex Kingston as River Song makes her return in episode 5, just in time to say goodbye to Amy.

While the majority of the filming was done in the home of Doctor Who, Cardiff, the cast and crew found themselves in the perfect spaghetti western location of Almeria, Spain, giving Toby Whithouse’s episode 3, A Town Called Mercy, a truly authentic western feel.

So much fun, claims Karen, using a location that had actually been the set for other westerns made everything feel so much, well, realer. In the episode Amy Pond gets her hand on a gun, something Karen agrees that she really shouldn’t be let anywhere near. Definitely, Amy Pond should be nowhere near a gun, exclaims Karen. I remember for a previous episode I had to fire a gun with blanks, followed quickly by Rory shouting ARGHHH as though I had hit him. I completely forgot this when action was called, so when I fired and he shouted I really thought I had shot him! It was awful! In this episode when she gets hold of a gun you can see the fear on the faces of the other characters, but they weren’t acting, I genuinely think all of the actors including Matt and Arthur were in fear for their lives!

Featuring an alien with a score to settle A Town Called Mercy also reveals a different side to the Doctor as Amy claims, So this is what happens when you travel alone. In the series we see a slight shift in the Ponds’ relationship with the Doctor, Just as any relationship changes when it matures, explains Karen. We get to see a glimpse of what Amy and Rory do when the Doctor isn’t around and how the adventures and time away from home has affected their own relationships with friends and family. I think the Doctor also begins to realise how he has changed Amy and what happens when he isn’t there, and at first he doesn’t really understand it. There is a really sweet moment in episode 5 when the Doctor notices Amy is wearing glasses, she hints.

Following the Western the series takes us to Amy and Rory’s house and a deadly outbreak, before heading to the final episode of the Ponds, shot in New York and with the return of the Weeping Angels.

The neverending pranks and my two best friends, Karen is talking about what she is going to miss as she takes her bow from the show, Matt used to hide in the cupboard of my trailer and jump out of me and I used to go flying back against the wall in absolute shook! He must have done it like a hundred times and I fell for it every single time! But honestly even with the bruises, it really was the biggest and most exciting time of my life. I wouldn’t change it for the world!

I always knew that Steven had an ending for Amy Pond and when I met with him a year or so ago it was kind of like, so what are the plans for the character and we both said that she should go at this point. It was such a fantastic mutual decision and completely the right time for Amy to leave. I will miss her, but I can’t wait for fans to see what happens.
Source: BBC Media Centre

• Brand new Alex Day video She Walks Right Through Me features Karen Gillan look-alike

Magical musical mogul Alex Day is back with a new video for his latest single She Walks Right Through Me and after years of appreciation and repeatedly phoning Doctor Who star Karen Gillan's agent, he's even managed to get her to cameo.

OK, so it might not actually be Karen, but she does look very like her, see?

For anyone who's ever watched any of Alex's hilarious Youtube video blogs, you've probably noticed that he seems to have a mild obsession with Doctor Who and so naturally decided it would be a good idea to call up her agent to see if he could hire her for the video.

Despite apparently managing to get through to Karen's agency and asking how much they wanted for him to hire her out, it didn't work out quite how he hoped. Strangely enough they stopped returning his calls and so he ended up getting a very spooky lookalike instead.

Nice one. Check it.

Read more at Sugarscape 

Karen Gillan: Not Another Happy Ending & Doctor Who updates

Several Not Another Happy Ending set photos have appeared online; a selection of them can be found at -

• Just Jared
• Huffington Post
• The Scotsman  

Doctor Who - new Series 7 trailer!

The official site has released a new trailer for Doctor Who series 7 (the first half) - watch it in the player above. The first episode of the new run, Asylum of the Daleks, airs later this month on BBC One, probably.
Read more at Blogtor Who

Karen Gillan begins shooting her first feature film in Glasgow

Karen Gillan steps out in masculine suit while shooting her first feature film in Glasgow

It was her first day on set for her début feature film, and Karen Gillan certainly made make her mark by stepping out in a masculine suit.

Although not many people could carry off the brave look, the Scottish star - who is bowing out of her role as Amy Pond in Doctor Who later this year - looked chic and sophisticated in the charcoal grey ensemble while on location in Glasgow.

The 24-year-old actress appeared to be having a whale of a time as she was snapped on the set of new movie Not Another Happy Ending.

Read more (and view more photos) at The Daily Mail

Also reported by The Daily Record

Karen Gillan: SDCC panel, movie schedule update

SDCC announces ‘Doctor Who’ panel for 15 July

Whovians attending the San Diego Comic Con this month will be in for a real treat as the Comic-Con committee has confirmed that the cast and executive producers for Doctor Who will indeed have a panel at this year’s con!

While it may have been assumed that Doctor Who would be present, you can never be so sure so it was with great delight when the Sunday schedule for the convention revealed that the beloved Time Lord and his companions will make an appearance.

Matt Smith, Karen Gillan, Arthur Darvil, Steven Moffat, and Caroline Skinner will all be there to answer your burning questions on Sunday! There will also be bringing with them footage from the new season of ‘Doctor Who!’ Here’s what to expect according to the Comic-Con site:

    12:30-1:30 BBC America’s Doctor Who— The Doctor and the Ponds land in San Diego. BBC America’s Doctor Who stars Matt Smith, Karen Gillan, and Arthur Darvill join award-winning lead writer and executive producer Steven Moffat (Sherlock) and award-winning executive producer Caroline Skinner (The Fades) for a Comic-Con panel and Q&A. As fans eagerly await the new season’s première, BBC America is making sure Steven Moffat brings new footage to reveal on the big screens in Hall H. 

Ahead of the new season, BBC America will première new Doctor Who specials - The Science of Doctor Who, The Women of Doctor Who, The Timey-Wimey Stuff of Doctor Who, and The Destinations of Doctor Who - as part of the Supernatural Saturday programming block starting Saturday, August 4 at 9pm/8c. For those new to Who, the previous two seasons from Steven Moffat are available now on Blu-ray, DVD, and digital download.

Source: Science Fiction

Karen Gillan to star in Not Another Happy Ending

Doctor Who star Karen Gillan is to make her feature film debut as a leading lady in Glasgow-set indie comedy film Not Another Happy Ending which is due to start shooting soon. She plays successful writer Jane Lockhart who writes best when she's unhappy.

Karen recently wrapped a three-year stint as The Doctor’s companion – and promised that her character’s exit will be “unexpected”, as well as emotional.

French actor Stanley Weber will play Thomas Duval – the publisher to Karen’s novelist character Jane Lockhart, a passionate writer who suffers a bout of writers block on her second novel.

Here's the film's synopsis:

When a struggling publisher discovers his only successful author is blocked he knows he has to unblock her or he's finished. With her newfound success, she’s become too damn happy and he thinks she can't write when she's happy. The only trouble is, the worse he makes her feel, the more he realises he is in love with her...

Tom realises that the only way he’s going to get her to finish the novel is to make her life a misery. With the help of his best friend and cynical, child-hating high school teacher, Roddy, he sets about trying to dismantle the things in Jane’s life that make her happy.

Meanwhile, Jane’s block spirals out of control – to the point where her fictional characters, twiddling their thumbs in the not-happening novel, intrude into her real life. Her heroine, DARSIE, is terrified that Jane won’t give her the ending she desires because Jane has given up on her own happy ending. Will Tom, or Darsie, manage to get Jane writing again, and create a happy ending for everyone?

Not Another Happy Ending is produced by Claire Mundell and Wendy Griffin at Synchronicity Films, written by David Solomons, and directed by John McKay.

The film is due to start shooting in Glasgow in July.

Source: Screen Terrier

Karen Gillan: Scottish fashion icon, interviews, and new project

Karen Gillan named Scottish Fashion Icon

Doctor Who star Karen Gillan has been named Scottish Fashion Icon at the 2012 Scottish Fashion Awards.

The 24-year-old former model has become almost as well-known for her fashion sense as her acting, with the star often snapped on the front row of designer fashion shows.

Having taken on the role of supermodel Jean Shrimpton in the BBC drama We'll Take Manhattan earlier this year, Karen has now been named Scottish Fashion Icon at the seventh Scottish Fashion Awards.

Held at Glasgow's Clyde Auditorium and hosted by Alexa Chung, the awards celebrated the best of Scottish fashion and boasted a host of famous names.

Made In Chelsea's Millie Mackintosh, model David Gandy and Sugababes singer Jade Ewen were among the celebrities in attendance, while entertainment was provided by Dionne Bromfield and Tallia Storm.

Read more at Metro  and STV 

Exclusive interview with the Scottish Fashion Icon at the Scottish Fashion Awards 2012
As fabulous fashionistas from around the globe flocked to Glasgow on Monday night for the Scottish Fashion Awards, one flame-haired beauty stood out from the crowd – Karen Gillan.

The stunning Scottish actress has made a name for herself playing the much-loved Amy Pond in Doctor Who, but after shooting her final scene and bowing out of the hit sci-fi drama, how does she really feel about retiring from the iconic role?

She told stv.tv showbiz reporter Gill Harvey: “It was so sad. It was this bittersweet thing cause I’m really excited to move onto other things, I’m actually going on to do a film in Glasgow which I’m really excited about, but yeah it was so sad cause I’m leaving my best friends in a weird way.”

Onwards and upwards and Karen will return to Glasgow in July to film quirky and romantic indie movie Not Another Happy Ending, where she will play a beautiful but eccentric novelist who suffers from writer's block since she found success.

Dressed in a bright yellow shirt dress by Twenty8Twelve, teamed with purple nails and a mulberry lipstick, Karen certainly knows how to make a statement, but she was shocked to be in the running for Scottish Fashion Icon of the Year.

She said: “It would be a huge honour to win an award like that and really unexpected. I honestly didn’t think I would be nominated for anything wearing the clothes I wear.”

It’s no wonder she was delighted when it was announced that she had taken the title.

Bursting with energy, strikingly beautiful and with a personality that leaves you desperate to party with her, we’d say Karen is certainly a worth winner.

Watch the interview at STV 

Karen tweeted that night:

Oh my god I won! Thank you to each and everyone of you who took the time to vote. You are the best. yfrog.com/ob24tecj

Your Funding = A Happy Ending!

Here’s your chance to fund a movie – and not just any movie, but the one in which Karen Gillan is about to star!

The low-budget British flick Not Another Happy Ending is being funded by crowdsourcing – a process whereby a web page is set-up for interested parties to contribute to the raising of capital for the project. In return, investors get special perks.

In the case of Not Another Happy Ending, the funding is being hosted at Indiegogo where there is just a couple of days left to reach the $50,000 target (around £30,000). Written by David Solomons (Five Children and It), and directed by John McKay (he wrote and directed We’ll Take Manhattan) this is definitely a film in which fans of Karen should be interested.

The range of perks is considerable; for example a $10 donation will reward you with a “thank-you” postcard while $100 will get you a poster of the film signed by the cast.

Meanwhile for $1000 you can have have your name listed on the movie’s credits as a contributor, OR you might purchase Karen’s outfit!

For more information, use the link above and check out this video:

Source: Kasterborous

Karen Gillan - movie debut and 'Doctor Who' exit

"It won't be what people expect"

Doctor Who star Karen Gillan has been chatting to Total Film about her début as a leading lady – and her departure from the sci-fi series.

The Amy Pond actress is currently in Cannes to promote her upcoming role in Glasgow-set indie-com Not Another Happy Ending.

“I play a successful writer called Jane Lockhart,” Gillan told us. “Who writes best when she’s unhappy. She’s feeling good about her life and therefore can’t write her next novel, so her publisher Tom goes on a secret mission to make her unhappy to get the book written.”

Filming’s due to start in Glasgow in July, co-starring Emun Elliott (Game Of Thrones), with John McKay (who directed Gillan in recent Beeb drama We’ll Take Manhattan) taking the reins.

Gillan last week wrapped a three-year stint as The Doctor’s companion – and promised that her character’s exit will be “unexpected”, as well as emotional.

“I literally couldn’t read it without crying,” she confessed. “It was the most highly charged read-through I’ve ever experienced. But I couldn’t have asked for a better exit. I don’t think it’ll be what people expect.”

She also shared her thoughts on the prospect of a Doctor Who movie. “I think it would be great in a franchise-y sort of way. I’d look forward to sitting down and watching it.”

But would she get involved if made an offer? “Oh, who knows. I guess you can only cross that bridge when you come to it!"

Source: TotalFilm 

Interview: A Happy Ending?

Doctor Who actress Karen Gillan is in Cannes to promote her first feature, the Glasgow set indie romantic comedy Not Another Happy Ending, directed by John McKay and produced by Claire Mundell of Synchronicity.

It’s been a pretty big week for Scottish actress Karen Gillan.

On Saturday she filmed her final ever Doctor Who episode for the BBC and now she’s in Cannes for the first time to talk about her first feature project (first as the lead), Not Another Happy Ending, directed by John McKay and produced by Sychronicity Films, in which she stars as a writer who can only write when she is unhappy, much to the despair of her publisher.

Shooting is due to begin in July.

Gillan describes the Glasgow based feature as “an indie, quirky, artsy film” which was what also attracted director John McKay to the project. “I really liked the fact it was about likeable neurotic middle class people. We are very hung up on certain styles and genres in the UK. I really like American indie movies which have no problem portraying the city dwelling I know,” says McKay, who directed Gillan as Jean Shrimpton in TV movie We’ll Take Manhattan and decided to cast her in this latest project.

“She is a bit like a young Diane Keaton. Really bright and really good at falling over,” adds McKay.

The film is being backed by Steve Milne of the British Film Company and Creative Scotland. LevelK are handling international sales.

“There are two Scottish stereotypes on film - hills and glens and monsters. And there are the very gritty, violent, dark films.  As a producer living and working in Glasgow, I thought, why do we never see the other representation. I see an incredible amount of creativity and energy around me, but you don’t see that represented cinematically very often,” says producer Claire Mundell, who is next producing genre thriller The Devil’s Staircase and Marianna Palka’s latest film, Glasgow Kiss.

Meanwhile, Gillan has “absolutely no idea” what she is doing after Not Another Happy Ending. “And it’s the best feeling. I’ve put all my possessions into storage so I don’t even have a house. I’ll just see where I end up!”

She plans to “talk her way onto a yacht” during her short trip to Cannes “I think it’s all in the conviction”.

Source: Screen Daily

Also reported by Female First

“Not Another Happy Ending” funding drive begins

Independent film company Synchronicity Films are seeking funding through crowdsourcing website Indiegogo for Not Another Happy Ending, a planned feature-length romantic comedy starring Karen Gillan and Emun Elliot. The filmmakers are looking to secure $50,000 USD by June 19th for the film, which will be set and shot in the Scottish city of Glasgow.

Gillan and Elliot have already made names for themselves through their roles in seminal sci-fi show Doctor Who and upcoming feature film Prometheus respectively, but the production also boasts writer David Solomons, responsible for Five Children and It, and director John McKay, who recently wrote and directed BBC television film We’ll Take Manhattan, which also starred Gillan.

A number of rewards exist for contributors, from a post card for a $10 donations to a full-on Glasgow set visit for $600 - and, for the particularly wealthy, being listed in the film’s credits as a contributor for a whopping $1,000. 

You can find out more about the funding drive by heading over to the film’s Indiegogo page here, or find the film’s Twitter page, @NAHappyEnding, here.

Source: zConnectionInternational