Paul Brannigan: 'The Angels' Share' screenings

Indie Films Fernie wraps up season with The Angels’ Share

Indie Films Fernie (IFF) is wrapping another season of unique and independent movies with The Angels’ Share. The Scottish comedy-drama tells the story of a young Glaswegian father determined to turn over a new leaf.
IFF is proud to present the award-winning, bittersweet comedy as the final movie of the season. The Angels’ Share will play Monday, 7 p.m., at the Vogue Theatre.
IFF will return for a new season of independent film in September.
Tickets: Members – Adult $9, Youth $8, Standard – Adult, $10, Youth $9.
Read more at The Free Press


From This Is Somerset:

Film showcases tale of new dad
The Langport Community Cinema is showcasing the story of a man who tries to better himself after narrowly escaping jail.
The Angel's Share tells the tale of new dad Robbie, played by Paul Brannigan.
He vows to turn over a new leaf after a visit to a whisky distillery inspires him and his mates to seek a way out of their hopeless lives.
The cinema club is showing the film at the Great Bow Wharf, Bow Street, on Friday, April 26, at 7.30pm.
Tickets cost £5. For further details visit www.langport communitycinema.co.uk.

Source: This Is Somerset

Paul Brannigan Interview - Under The Skin & The Angels' Share

Paul Brannigan chats about working with Scarlett Johansson in Under The Skin, being nominated for a BIFA for Ken Loach's The Angels' Share & upcoming film with Dexter Fletcher Sunshine on Leith.



Paul Brannigan has also appeared in documentaries Born To Lose, on Polmont Prison & Scottish drama River City.
Source: YouTube

Scottish BAFTAs

A dram fine Baftas night for Angels’ Share as Scots film scoops awards

Paul Brannigan with his Best Actor award. Picture: PA

Whisky caper The Angels’ Share, its young star, Paul Brannigan, and rising film-maker Zam Salim grabbed a share of the glory from Billy Connolly at tonight’s Scottish Bafta ceremony in Glasgow.
The screenplay for director Ken Loach’s Cannes prize-­winning heist movie won the best writer gong for his regular collaborator, Paul Laverty.
The best actor award went to Brannigan, who was plucked from obscurity, while working on a violence-reduction programme, by the veteran English director for the lead role of a troubled young Glaswegian persuaded to stage a dramatic raid on a distillery.
Brannigan had been competing with one of his co-stars, Siobhan Reilly, for the coveted prize.

BBC Scotland won a huge boost after capturing the current affairs award for its controversial documentary, Rangers, The Men Who Sold The Jerseys.

Among the stars to attend the event – hosted by Edith Bowman – were Brian Cox, Ewen Bremner, Siobhan Redmond, Rory Bremner and Neil Oliver.

Connolly, who was awarded an outstanding contribution to film and television Bafta, was 
unable to attend the event due to a previous commitment in the United States.
But he recorded a video message, in which he spoke of his pride at getting the award,
telling the 500-strong audience: “I left school with nothing, you know.”
Connolly, who is due to make an in-person appearance at the Old Fruitmarket in Glasgow next month, added: “Thank you very, very much, television viewers and people of Bafta Scotland, for this wonderful, wonderful award. I really appreciate it.
“I know you people think that we luvvies get prizes every day, shiny things handed to us, but the last time I was up for a Bafta prize in Scotland, I lost both of them, one to Ewan McGregor and the other to Kaye Adams.
“I’m really sorry I can’t be there, because I am in San Francisco doing some engagements, but I will be in Glasgow in
December and my heart is there all the time.”

Hollywood star Cox, who made a tribute speech about Connolly in the star’s
absence, said: “An honour like this for Billy has been a long time coming, he really should have been honoured well before now. As an actor, he’s simply been getting better and better.”

Zam Salim collected both the best director Bafta and best feature film prize with his black comedy Up There, his first film, which was premièred at the Glasgow Film Festival this year.

Stuart Cosgrove, the broadcaster, writer, media pundit and TV executive, was honoured for a career which saw him become head of programmes for the
nations and regions on Channel Four.

Rab C Nesbitt star Gregor Fisher beat off competition from co-star Elaine C Smith to win the best TV actor award, while Antiques Road Trip, which STV made for the BBC, scooped the best factual entertainment programme award.

Brannigan said: “It’s a real honour to be here. It’s the proudest moment of my life, after the birth of my son.!
“I could never have imagined I’d be here in Glasgow on the red carpet.
“It’s bigger than Cannes, to be honest.”

Jude MacLaverty, director of Bafta in Scotland, said: “The awards reflect the sheer breadth of talent being generated in Scotland, and it’s great to see so much of it celebrated tonight.”

Read more at Scotsman

Also reported (with video) by BBC

Also reported by:

Herald Scotland
Female First 
Sydney Morning Herald
Screen Daily and many more

Winners of the BAFTA Scotland Awards 2012

• Best Comedy / Entertainment - Mrs Brown's Boys
• Best Game - Bad Hotel
• Current Affairs - Rangers The Men Who Sold The Jerseys
• Single Documentary - Afterlife: The Strange Science of Decay
• Best Factual Series - Afghanistan: The Great Game, A Personal View by Rory Stewart
• Features / Factual Entertainment - Antiques Road Trip
• Best Actor / Actress Television - Gregor Fisher (Rab C Nesbit)
• Director - Zam Salim (Up There)
• Best Writer - Paul Laverty (The Angels' Share)
• Best Actor / Actress Film - Paul Brannigan (The Angels' Share)
• Animation - The Making of Longbird
• Feature Film - Up There
• Special Achievement Award 2012: Callum Macrae (Director) SRI LANKA'S KILLING FIELDS
• Special Achievement Award 2012: Paul Mcguigan (Director) SHERLOCK
• Outstanding Contribution to Broadcasting - Stuart Cosgrove
• Outstanding Contribution for Craft (In Memory of Robert McCann) - Trisha Biggar
• Outstanding Contribution to Television and Film - Billy Connolly CBE

Read more at Daily Mail

Paul Brannigan

Photo courtesy of The Sun
Scots actor Paul Brannigan’s naked romp with Scarlett Johansson
Glaswegian actor Paul Brannigan has confessed to being terrified of a naked romp with Scarlett Johansson. The star had to strip for a scene in the forthcoming Under The Skin flick.
The Angels’ Share actor was petrified when he learned he had to get totally naked for the scene with the actress. Scarlett was only semi-nude.
Paul said: “I was really nervous because I have never done a sex scene before.
“I was stood there completely naked in front of Scarlett and all I was worrying about was how it would embarrass my son.
“Scarlett was great. She’s a marvellous girl. She said my timing was really good.”
The film was shot in Scotland earlier this year and is due to be released in the next couple of months.
Scarlett plays a hungry human-eating alien in the movie.
Paul, who was opening the Aberlour Family Support Service in Glasgow, said: “Needless to say all my friends are now asking me how they can get into acting.”
Source: STV
Also reported by The Sun

Actor Paul Brannigan teaching drama to Saturday Sportscene Kids
Scottish actor Paul Brannigan - star of the hit movie, The Angles Share - has come on board with Sidekix to deliver Drama Workshops at  NL Leisure’s Saturday Sportscene.

Paul, who has recently been nominated for a Scottish Bafta Award, will work with the Sportscene participants on a small drama piece which shall be  showcased at the Saturday Sportscene Football League Awards on 28th January 2013.

Paul will pass on his acting skills, give out some tips and encourage inspiring actors to perfect their performance and no doubt tell some interesting stories!

It kicks off this Saturday (17th November) with a site visit from the man himself.

The small drama will see the participants examining real life situations they may find themselves such as bullying/being bullied, peer pressure and getting into trouble. The workshops shall aim to give the participants  coping skills and improve confidence levels.
Source: Sidekix

Actor Paul Brannigan helps to launch rehab clinic for addicts
A rehab centre for pregnant addicts has been launched with the support of an ex-convict who beat his own addictions to become an acclaimed actor.

Paul Brannigan, star of Ken Loach’s prize-winning film The Angels’ Share, has opened the The Aberlour Family Support Service.
The centre offers addict mothers and expectant mothers from across Scotland purpose-built rehabilitation accommodation, complete with communal facilities and a gym, in the East End of Glasgow.
The service is designed to help addicts beat their problems, provide parenting advice and keep their children out of care.
The Angels’ Share tells the story of a jobless young jailbird who resolves to change his life after becoming a father. It won the Jury Prize at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival and was in the running for the prestigious Palme d’Or.
Mr Brannigan, who was imprisoned in his teens for a firearm offence and has battled addiction, described the film as “like a mirror image to my life”. He helped dedicate a “recovery tree” in the grounds of the new Aberlour facility to commemorate its launch.
Aberlour chief executive Ken Dunbar said: “This really is a proud moment for Aberlour, as it stretches the boundaries of our work once again.
“Aberlour has a history of working in some of the most challenging areas because deep down in our hearts we know that everyone has the potential for growth and change.”
One former resident said: “I came straight from a hostel and I had a lot of problems and 
addictions.
“I was also pregnant and in an abusive relationship so this was my chance to get in here without him knowing. Aberlour is the only place that has worked for me.”

Source: Scotsman

Creative Scotland Awards 2012 - finalists

Creative Scotland Awards 2012: Full list of finalists
From The Daily Record:

The Angels' Share

Today we are proud to raise the curtain on the finalists for the first Creative Scotland Awards – a glittering event that will showcase the artists, singers, writers, actors and performers who lit up our nation in 2012.
We asked the people of Scotland to pick their favourites and nominations came in thick and fast from all over our great country, from the Highlands and Islands to the Borders.

Our judges whittled them down to a final shortlist, with 12 categories.
And what a wonderful variety of finalists – from unsung heroes to giants of the world stage, they reflect the best of Scotland. Big names include Ken Loach’s The Angels’ Share, the late great artist George Wyllie, Harry Potter composer Patrick Doyle and the National Theatre of Scotland.
The winners will be unveiled at a star-studded night in Kelvingrove Art Gallery on Thursday, December 13.
Allan Rennie, editor-in-chief of the Daily Record, said: “The nominations from the people of Scotland reflect the amazing depth and diversity of our nation’s creative talent.
“These truly are the people’s awards and I would like to thank all our readers for their nominations.”
Andrew Dixon, chief executive of Creative Scotland, said: “We’re delighted to be working with The Daily Record on these awards – spotlighting and celebrating cultural success. 2012 has been the Year of Creative Scotland – the awards are an opportunity to share stories and experiences behind the work.”

Scottish Film & TV Award
Glasgow Film Festival – More than 35,000 tickets were sold this year, putting this fast-growing film festival firmly on the international circuit.
The Angels’ Share – Ken Loach film starring Paul Brannigan about a young father’s journey to redemption.
The Perfect Fit – A contender for an Oscar nomination, the story of a shoemaker who devotes his life to making the perfect ballet shoe.           

Music AwardAdmiral Fallow – Fronted by singer Louis Abbott, the album Tree Bursts In Snow has been the subject of much critical acclaim, as have their live performances across the UK and abroad.
Frightened Rabbit – The Glasgow-based indie outfit released the EP State Hospital this year, touring the US where they’ve built a solid fanbase.
Rachel Sermanni – Carrbridge singer-songwriter whose debut album Under Mountains was released this year after incessant touring.

Best Visual Award
Karla Black – Turner Prize nominee who creates large installations from a combination of traditional materials as well as others drawn from the everyday environment such as make-up and toiletries.
Elph – Graffiti artist who has gone from bus stop-tagging in Drylaw to being exhibited in New York, Berlin and London alongside Banksy.
Harry Papadopoulos/Street Level Gallery: What Presence! Exhibition showcasing the work of a photographer who captured seminal bands such as Aztec Camera and Josef K in their early days.
George Wyllie – A year-long retrospective celebrating the late Inverclyde artist’s work in his 90th year.     
    
Theatre Award
Dundee Rep Ensemble – Further than the Furthest Thing – Zinnie Harris’s play capturing the epic sweep of nature and exploring the consequences of people being forced to leave behind all they have known for a new life.
Magnetic North – Pass The Spoon – Offbeat crossover theatre featuring visual artist David Shrigley, composer David Fennessy and Magnetic North artistic director Nicholas Bone. An opera, a pantomime and a cookery show.
The Arches – Whatever Gets You Through The Night – Cora Bissett and David Greig’s celebration of goings-on between 12am-4am in Scotland, with writers, actors and musicians.

Community Arts Award
Elderflowers – Run by health charity Hearts and Minds, this project used performing arts to overcome issues faced by elderly people with dementia.
Nothing About Us Without Us Is For Us – The brainchild of artists TS Beall and Matt Baker, the public art event used obsolete technology to hurl communications across the River Clyde in Govan.
The Zombie Project – Gave kids from the Ferguslie Park area of Paisley the chance to write, direct and star in their own zombie film and comic project.

Creativity in School Award
Samantha MacDonald and Lesley Riddell-Robertson from Architecture + Design Scotland – Staged workshops allowing children the chance to design a creative intervention on where they come from and film it from the air.
Kibble Education and Care Centre – Run by Gavin Sinclair, who uses drama and theatre as a vehicle for inter-subject learning. His work enables pupils to devise shows that tackle issues, subjects and themes that are appropriate for other areas of the curriculum.
Lorna Gourley, South Ayrshire Council – A musical celebration of the Olympic Torch Relay that saw a local composer come together with local schoolkids to compose a tune for the torch’s passage through Ayrshire.
Feis Rois – Partnership at The Bridge Centre to engage and inspire young vulnerable people through music, with traditional musicians holding weekly workshops.

Best New Talent Award
Alex Boyd – Photographic artist who this year exhibited a tribute to poet Edwin Morgan at Glasgow’s House for An Art Lover.
Blair Mowat – Emerging film score composer who premiered his first full-length score, Electric Man, as part of this year’s Glasgow Film Festival.
Paul Brannigan – Ken Loach’s new protégé who grew up amid drugs, gangs and guns in the east end of Glasgow, and who went on to critical acclaim as the star of The Angels’ Share.

Literature Award
Alan Bissett – Works include Boyracers, The Incredible Adam Spark, Death of a Ladies Man and Pack Men. Alan, from Falkirk, is a regular contributor to Arches poetry night Discombobulate and was also part of The Arches’ Whatever Gets You Through The Night.
Angus Peter Campbell – Once described by Sorley MacLean as “one of the few really significant living poets in Scotland”, Aibisidh is Angus Peter’s most recent award-winning collection of poems.
Janice Galloway – Scotland’s most celebrated writer, Janice is the author of such works as The Trick Is To Keep Breathing, Foreign Parts and two memoirs, This Is Not About Me and All Made Up.
Ewan Morrison – Originally from Caithness, his most recent work, Close Your Eyes, deals with alternatives to modern lifestyles. He is recognised as one of the most daring voices in Scottish literature.

Creative Business Award
Colin Beattie/Oran Mor – Thriving multi-arts venue, which this year put on its 250th Play, Pie and Pint lunchtime theatre production.
Denki Ltd – Dundee-based producers of more than 180 digital games, putting the city on the map as a major hub for digital entertainment and multi-media collaboration.
Show Them Pictures – Edinburgh animation studio whose work includes pro-bono productions for charities such as the Refugee Survival Trust, for whom they made the short film Destitution.           

Brave

Arts Ambassador Award
Patrick Doyle – Glasgow composer whose scores include Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Sense and Sensibility and Hamlet, as well as Disney/Pixar’s Brave.
Donald Shaw – Director of the major winter arts festival Celtic Connections, the Capercaillie musician curates a line-up of broad scope and international respect.
National Theatre of Scotland – Seminal production Black Watch continues to tour, with other offerings including The Strange Undoing of Prudencia Hart and Beautiful Burnout.

Traditional Arts, Scots & Gaelic Award
Manran – The energetic Gaelic six-piece are one of the country’s most popular traditional outfits with some success in the mainstream market, recording a charity single with pop singer Michelle McManus this year.
The Boy and The Bunnet – A Scots and Gaelic language project which introduces children and adults to Scottish music, instruments and folk themes.
Dannsa – Traditional dance group, which showcases stunning dancing to live musicians and Gaelic singers.

Year of Creative Scotland Event
Big Noise The Big Concert – Kids of Stirling’s Raploch estate learned to play instruments on a scheme based on El Sistema, which helped slum kids in Venezuela, culminating in a concert with the Simon Bolivar Symphony Orchestra of Venezuela under conductor Gustavo Dudamel.
Enchanted Forest – Magical sound and light installation in Faskally Wood near Pitlochry, celebrating its 10th anniversary this year, bringing together the talents of Simon Wilkinson, RJ McConnell and Dalziel + Scullion.
The Barrowlands Project – Created by Michael Clark whose dance company joined with 50 locals to create a dance experience, celebrating community and the arts.

Source (including photos): Daily Record

Proclaimers movie 'Sunshine On Leith'

Film-makers go west to shoot Proclaimers movie
It is a big-screen movie set to propel the songs of The Proclaimers to a whole new level. Cameras have started rolling on the cinematic version of Sunshine on Leith, the stage musical about two soldiers returning to Edinburgh after serving in 
Afghanistan.

But despite the bulk of the story taking place in the capital’s famous port, most of the shoot will be in Glasgow, where the film-makers are based.
Veteran Glasgow actor Peter Mullan, Little Voice star Jane Horrocks and Paul Brannigan, who shot to fame in The Angels’ Share earlier this year, have all been cast in the film.
English actor Dexter Fletcher, who has chosen the project for his second directing role after the release of Wild Bill earlier this year, was in Leith yesterday as filming got under way in various locations around the Shore area.
The film – set to a host of The Proclaimers’ best-known hits from their 25-year career – is 
already being tipped as Scotland’s answer to Mamma Mia.
However, sources close to the production said the vast majority of the six-week shoot – which will feature more than 100 dancers for some scenes – will be based in Glasgow, with less than a week’s filming in the capital. An insider said: “A huge effort has gone into finding locations in Glasgow which look like they could be Leith.
“A few locations around Edinburgh are being used to make it seem authentic, but most of the shoot will stay in Glasgow.”
The stage musical, written by Stephen Greenhorn, creator of River City, was a huge hit after it was first staged at Dundee Rep theatre five years ago.
The film is being produced by award-winning film-maker Andrew Macdonald, who shot to fame in the 1990s with two Edinburgh-set films Shallow Grave and Trainspotting. However, as with Sunshine on Leith, most filming in those productions went ahead in Glasgow to keep costs down.
Details of Sunshine on Leith first emerged earlier this year when it was announced that Black Camel Pictures – a firm set up by husband and wife team Arabella Page Croft and Kieran Parker – had the rights to adapt the stage show.
Caroline Parkinson, director of creative development at Creative Scotland, which is backing the film along with the BBC, said: “We’re delighted to see the realisation of this exciting film and proud to have supported its development and production though our investment in Black Camel Pictures.
“It features a wealth of Scottish talent from writers, actors, craft and technical crew, not to mention showcasing the musical talent of The Proclaimers.”
Source: Scotsman
Also reported by Deadline

Paul Brannigan

Angel star turns monster for East End kids
Angels’ Share star, Paul Brannigan, became Frankenstein’s monster for the night for kids in the East End of Glasgow.
It was part of a week of activities run by PEEK which included making masks and candle holders, a scary trip to Edinburgh Dungeon and cycling in Aberfoyle as well as a Hallowe’en party.
More than 200 people attended the Hallowe’en Ghost Walk and Monsters Ball at Reidvale Neighbourhood Centre last weekend.
Paul, who played Robbie in Ken Loach’s Scottish film The Angels’ Share, helped out and his young son also joined in, dressed as batman.
Michaela Munro, from PEEK, said: “It was a huge success, it was amazing to see the children get involved. The evening was terrifyingly terrific. We hope everyone had a spectacular evening.
“We would like to thank everyone who came and especially all those who helped.”
Read more at All Media Scotland


Paul Brannigan receives Scottish BAFTA nomination
Paul Brannigan has been nominated for the Scottish BAFTA for Best Actor for his performance in Ken Loach’s The Angels’ Share.

Paul leads the film as Robbie, a young ex-con hoping to make a new life for himself and his young family by starting out in the whiskey industry. The film won the Jury Prize at this year’s Cannes International Film Festival.

Since shooting The Angels’ Share, Paul has gone on to appear in Jonathan Glazer’s new feature Under the Skin alongside Scarlet Johansson and feature in the Scottish continuing drama River City. He's currently shooting Dexter Fletcher’s new Proclaimers film Sunshine on Leith, in which he plays wounded soldier named Ronnie.

The Scottish BAFTA awards will be held in Glasgow on the 18th November 2012.
Source: Curtis Brown 

Scottish BAFTA nominations

Scottish BAFTAs 2012 nominations revealed, with Edith Bowman set to host
Radio presenter Edith Bowman will host this next month's Scottish BAFTAs ceremony, with Ken Loach acclaimed film The Angels' Share leading the way in the nominations.
The film, which saw Loach receive the Jury Prize at the Cannes festival earlier this year, is up for four awards. The winners will be announced in Glasgow on Sunday November 18.
The Angels' Share is up for best feature film, with Paul Laverty nominated for best writer. Meanwhile Paul Brannigan – who hosted Born To Lose? for the STV Appeal – and Siobhan Reilly are up for best actor and actress respectively.
Meanwhile Antiques Road Trip, which is made by STV Productions, is nominated in the features/factual entertainment category.
Fife-born Bowman said: "The event is a brilliant showcase of the moving image industries and highlights the wealth of talent here in Scotland.
"Over the past year Scotland has cemented its reputation as a leading player in film, TV and game production. So much fantastic work has been produced and I'm very excited to see who wins from the list of nominees."
Kevin Bridges's show What's The Story? is among those nominated for best comedy/entertainment programme, while the funny man is also up for best writer for the series.
There may be some marital strife as Gregor Fisher and Elaine C Smith go head to head in the best television actor/actress category. They’re nominated for their husband/wife roles in Rab C Nesbitt.
Jude MacLaverty, director of Bafta in Scotland, said: "The British Academy Scotland Awards is all about rewarding excellence in the industry, and this year's nominations reflect the sheer breadth of talent, creativity, and originality here in Scotland."
Source: STV

The acting nominees are...
ACTOR/ACTRESS FILM

• Paul Brannigan: The Angels’ Share
• James Cosmo: Citadel
• Siobhan Reilly: The Angels’ Share

ACTOR/ACTRESS - TELEVISION

• Iain De Caestecker: Young James Herriot
• Gregor Fisher: Rab C Nesbitt
• Elaine C Smith: Rab C Nesbitt

Also reported (with full nominations list) by Scotsman  BBC Scotland and Daily Record

Photo of Edith Bowman: Scotsman

Paul Brannigan: 'The Angels' Share'

From a life of drugs on a tough housing estate to sharing a love scene with Scarlett Johansson - Britain's unlikely new movie star

Paul Brannigan's life story could make a Hollywood film on its own

Both his parents were ­heroin addicts and he started taking drugs at 11.
He was expelled from school at 14, sent to jail over a gun battle at 17, and there’s a scar on his face from a knife fight with his own brother.
So how do you go from there to ­becoming a Hollywood actor sharing a love scene with Scarlett Johansson?
Ask Paul Brannigan... it’s his life story.
It’s certainly a long way from his gritty Glasgow council estate to the glamour of the Cannes Film Festival.
And 25-year-old Paul could have been forgiven for pinching himself as he was mobbed by A-list stars at his film’s première in the glitzy French resort.
But the dad of one is learning to take this sort of thing in his stride since he was plucked from a life of deprivation and crime to star in The Angels’ Share.
A huge critical success, it has already been hailed as the new Full Monty. And Paul’s natural acting talent has impressed the industry’s top names. So much so that the former jailbird has just finished filming steamy love scenes with Holly­wood star Scarlett Johansson for a new sci-fi movie.
The gorgeous actress plays a man-eating alien who tries to seduce Paul’s character.
“At first I was really nervous to meet her but she’s nice and laid back, she made me feel relaxed and confident,” he ­reveals. “She was fantastic and down to earth. She was asking me about my wee kid and my background. And she gave me some nice ­comments about my timing which boosted my confidence.
“I play a happy guy who’s out on the pull. I’m chatting Scarlett up and she seduces me.”
Paul may even have even used his own chat-up lines on film.
“I can’t actually remember because I was a wee bit p***ed at the time! We were having a drink ­together. We had the script and then you just fling in the odd line yourself. Y’know, ‘You have beautiful eyes’. It was great fun but to be honest I get more starstruck with my football team Glasgow Celtic.”
It’s a typically down-to-earth ­approach from a man who just months ago was still trapped in a life of drugs, crime and violence.
So when it came to playing ­Robbie in The Angels’ Share, a lad in trouble with the law who is determined to make his life better for the sake of his new-born son, he had plenty to draw on.
“Robbie’s story is very similar to my past. I was like Robbie, like many young kids growing up, there’s millions of ­Robbies out there.
“Like any other boy from Glasgow I was involved in gangs and alcohol and taking drugs. Just a rough, rough life.
Read more (with photos) at The Mirror 

Sunday Mail 2012 Great Scot awards

The entertainment category was won by feel-good film The Angels’ Share, which scooped the Jury Award at the Cannes Film Festival. It was written by Paul Laverty, directed by Ken Loach and stars Paul Brannigan.
Source: Daily Record
 

English director Ken Loach reveals how he loves filming Scotland's working class stars

The man behind The Angels' Share and Sweet Sixteen says he wants to make one final film in his 'second home'
He’s the Englishman who has been a voice for the plight of Scotland’s working class in six of our best movies.
But the 76-year-old Ken Loach is finding it harder and harder to make movies and wishes his American counterpart Woody Allen, who is the same age, would stop so that he can retire too.
But the softly spoken director hopes he can make at least one more film in his “second home”. He said: “I hope there’s another Scottish film. It’s always possible but I’m not sure how many are left in me.
“Directing is a young man’s job really. I wish Woody Allen would stop and then I could stop.
“But I enjoy making films. I like to keep out of trouble and off the streets.”
Ken, from Nuneaton, Warwickshire may be best known for the film Kes but in Scotland, he is loved for his gritty portrayal of real life and for discovering talent, often using real people rather than actors for key roles.
Robert Carlyle, who’d then appeared in Taggart and The Bill, starred in his 1991 film Riff-Raff, as did Peter Mullan, whose harrowing portrayal of a recovering alcoholic in 1998’s My Name is Joe won him the best actor award at that year’s Cannes Film Festival.
Loach then discovered former footballer Martin Compston as the star of his 2002 film Sweet Sixteen. He also gave a role to Gary Maitland in the film and used him again in this year’s The Angels’ Share. Sweet Sixteen also gave William Ruane and Annmarie Fulton their big break, both going on to River City.
William has worked with Ken a further three times – appearing in 2005 film Tickets (which also featured Compston and Maitland and saw three directors creating interlocking stories about different groups of people on a train to Rome), his Irish movie The Wind That Shakes the Barley, and The Angels’ Share.
The director’s 2004 Scots film Ae Fond Kiss gave Atta Yaqub his shot at stardom. And Ken’s latest discovery is Paul Brannigan, the star of The Angels’ Share.
But try to pat Ken on the back, for not only making films in Scotland but giving us some of our finest actors, and he tries to dodge it by wishing he could give more people the opportunity that being in a film can bring.
His most recent star Paul, for example, has been in jail and had to deal with both parents being heroin addicts.
The fledging actor has even claimed that Ken saved his life by giving him the role.
Ken, who has been making socially conscious films since 1966’s television play Cathy Come Home and the 1969 film Kes, said: “There are many people we would like to have had in The Angels’ Share and we just didn’t have the parts.
“Paul is a bright lad and he would have found a way but the sad thing is that people need a stroke of luck out of the blue, which making a film is. And you can never plan for that.
“So many kids just won’t get that and will fail and not do as well as they could. That is in the hundred thousands through Scotland and the rest of Europe. It’s a real tragedy.
“There are people that are growing up with no secure financial future and no chance of bringing up a family in any kind of security, not even finding a place to live.
“Every day they are talking about cutting their benefits, cutting jobs, cutting this and that. It’s shocking that we have allowed it to happen.
“Not that the Tories are vicious. They are vicious. That’s their class. What is shocking is that the people who should represent working people have allowed them to happen without any fight. Of all the main things, that makes me the most angry.”
Read more at Daily Record 

The Angels' Share

Release Date: 15 November 2012

Starring Paul Brannigan, John Henshaw, Gary Maitland.
Directed by Ken Loach.
Classification: MA15+, 105 mins.
Official Site: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NcQIvmR21VU
Country: UK, France.

Robbie, a young father facing prison, is determined to give his newborn son a better life – but he must first turn his own life around. Veteran director Ken Loach (Kes, Sweet Sixteen, The Wind that Shakes the Barley) creates an appealing comedy out of the challenges and opportunities that Robbie faces in meeting up with three other unemployed former criminals and from discovering he has a fine nose for whisky.
Source: State Cinema

DVD: The Angels' Share (15)(review)

"You're just a wee thug," claims a distraught mother about Robbie (Paul Brannigan), a scrawny Glaswegian who is desperate to escape his bleak environment for his baby son, and his caring girlfriend.

Thankfully, John Henshaw's compassionate community service supervisor is on hand to help, instilling in Robbie a passion for whisky. It turns out the scallywag has a nose for it. The Angel's Share begins as a tale of grinding poverty and savagery before becoming a much softer, more palatable, Ealing-style comedy caper.
Source: Independent

Gary Maitland: 'The Angels' Share' review

The Angels’ Share: DVD Review

After winning the prestigious Jury Prize at Cannes back in May, Ken Loach’s heart-warming and very funny tale of redemption and second chances is finally released on DVD this week.

Opening with the expertly cast Gary Maitland’s Albert drunkenly fooling around near an oncoming train, Loach’s pitch perfect Scottish film establishes the dark humour and rather endearing stupidity that lies ahead, while introducing us to the people whose journey we are about to join in the court docks.

After hearing what each of the gang is charged with, we are introduced to our main protagonist, Robbie (Paul Brannigan), who narrowly escapes a hefty custodial sentence due to the new leaf he has turned after learning he is to become a father and because of the very positive influence girlfriend Leonie (Siobhan Reilly) has had on his life.

Due to ongoing family feuds that now simply honour tradition, Robbie is beaten up in a hospital stairwell when merely trying to visit Leonie in labour, but after meeting community service volunteer, Harry (John Henshaw), he finds both friend and father figure. Tasked with looking after the reprobates, Harry develops more than just a paternal liking to the group, taking them to a distillery on his day off. And, while most of the lads are more interested in their tour guide’s shapely figure than the whisky around them, Robbie starts to realise he has quite the nose for it.
When Leonie hands Robbie an ultimatum regarding his future with his son after a shocking but very effective flashback encounter with a boy he attacked, Harry offers him a lifeline with a trip to a whisky meeting in Edinburgh – but he ends up with a little more company than he bargained for. With the dim Albert, often reckless Rhino (William Ruane) and kleptomaniac Mo (Jasmin Riggins) inviting themselves along, Robbie’s talent for blind tasting is truly proven and attracts the attention of serious whisky enthusiast, Thaddeus (Roger Allam).

With newfound faith that he is able to make something of himself away from Glasgow, Robbie takes Albert, Rhino and Mo with him on a whisky pilgrimage to the opening and consequent auction of the very rare Malt Mill. But of course, this is done in their own unique way, hitchhiking for part of the way on a bus full of nuns and wearing kilts so they don’t look like Neds in their usual tracksuits or like they’re going to court in suits. Although this, along with the use of The Proclaimers’ 500 Miles may seem to stereotype, Loach ensures it suits the silly and infectious nature of their travels.

It is to the central fours’ credit that the film works so well, delivering Paul Laverty’s screenplay with carefree ease and letting us feel part of their jokes while still feeling as if we are peeking in on private conversations. The magic and effortlessness between this group is what makes The Angels’ Share so entertaining, but Paul Brannigan’s vulnerable and affecting breakout performance as Robbie is the film’s true revelation, guaranteeing he is someone you incessantly root for.

The Angels’ Share may have its fair amount of emotion and heartbreak, but it’s primarily about the importance of family, friends and second chances. With no expected, elongated third act, everything is wrapped up in a perfect fashion to deliver a thoroughly entertaining and thought provoking film about getting out and doing something with your life, even when everyone and everything seems to be against you.

(4/5)

September 27, 2012 By Emma Thrower

Source: Hey U Guys