Scottish Actors: May news round-up

Critics Awards for Theatre in Scotland
The full nominations list is here.
The winners will be announced at the Traverse Theatre on Sunday June 9, as part of the theatre's 50th anniversary celebrations. The event is open to the public and tickets are available from the Traverse. A full list of nominations can be found on the CATS website.

John Barrowman
John Barrowman is to reunite with comedy duo The Krankies for Glasgow's Christmas pantomime season.
The three are set to star in the SECC's production of Dick McWhittington later this year.
It is the fourth time Glasgow-born Barrowman has teamed up with The Krankies, having previously been in Jack and the Beanstalk, Robinson Crusoe and the Caribbean Pirates and Aladdin.
Read more at Scottish Daily Record 

Master of the Universe: interview at StarPulse 

ABC has signed judges, cast and a host for its new competition series Sing Your Face Off, and it’s quite a unique collection of famous names. First, actor John Barrowman (Torchwood, Arrow) will host the show, where five celebrity contestants take on the identity of an iconic music performer each week.
Read more at Entertainment Weekly

Head of Zeus has acquired a new trilogy from Carole and John Barrowman.
Editorial Director Laura Palmer acquired UK & Commonwealth rights in Hollow Earth Unbound, a new trilogy for ages 12+ by writer Carole and her actor brother John Barrowman. The series follows the adventures of twins Matt & Em Calder who can bring anything they draw to life.
Read more at Head of Zeus

Caitlin Blackwood
Caitlin will be a guest at the Norwich SciFi Convention in September.
More information at NorCon

Billy Boyd / Gawn Grainger
Double Olivier Award winner Gawn Grainger and The Lord Of The Rings star Billy Boyd have joined the cast of Macbeth, Eve Best’s forthcoming directorial debut at Shakespeare’s Globe.
The pair joins the previously announced Joseph Millson, Samantha Spiro and Bette Bourne in Shakespeare’s much-loved exploration of ambition, guilt and destiny, which will play at the alfresco venue from 22 June.
Read more at Official London Theatre

Paul Brannigan
Having served time inside Polmont Young Offenders’ Institution, Paul Brannigan wasn’t fazed when he was asked to play a hood on the make in River City.
He did have one condition, however – the hardman had to have a soft centre.
The 26-year-old shot to fame at the Cannes Film Festival last year after starring in Ken Loach’s award-winning film The Angels’ Share.
His real-life story of growing up in poverty in Glasgow’s east end amid drugs, gangs and violence has since been well documented and there was never any chance he was going to repeat any of it in Shieldinch.
Having briefly played the role of Gareth O’Connor last year, he only became interested in returning when he knew there was a love interest in the shape of Nicole Brodie, played by Holly Jack, to smooth out Gareth’s rough edges.
Read more at Scottish Daily Record

Ewen Bremner
Bill Nighy will return to the part of the MI5 spy in 'Turks & Caicos' and 'Salting The Battlefield', the final two parts of 'The Worricker Trilogy' on BBC Two, alongside a string of famous names.

'Turks & Caicos' will also star Christopher Walken, Winona Ryder, Helena Bonham Carter, Ralph Fiennes, Ewen Bremner, James Naughton, Dylan Baker, Zach Grenier. Helena, Ralph and Ewen will also star in the third film.

Read more at Female First

Comic Book Movie have a new image from Snowpiercer - showing most of the main cast members together - here

Gerard Butler
Gerard Butler is currently eying the a role in The Raven. Olympus Has Fallen star Butler is in talks to star in the Universal Pictures thriller, andis tipped to play a man desired by both the government and the military for his special powers, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Read more at Digital Spy

Peter Capaldi
Peter Capaldi has said the new BBC adaptation of The Three Musketeers is so good it looks like a film.
The Thick Of It actor has been shooting the programme in Prague and reckons viewers have a lot to look forward to.
He said: "It looks wonderful, we're doing it in Prague and it looks like a movie, it's very big.
"We started in the snow, we've been through the rain and now it's getting quite spring-like and warm. I think it's going to be good, the Musketeers are fantastic."
Read more at Belfast Telegraph

Peter Capaldi / Billy Connolly / Ewan McGregor / David Tennant
Lionsgate UK has picked up six British pics, including Peter Capaldi’s comedy Born to be King, which toplines Kate Hudson and Ewan McGregor.
Also acquired is What We Did on Our Holiday, a British family comedy written and directed by Guy Jenkin and Andy Hamilton, the creators of BBC hit comedy Outnumbered. It stars Billy Connolly, Rosamund Pike and David Tennant (Doctor Who).
Read more at Variety

Martin Compston / Brian Cox / Greg McHugh / Clare Grogan
Famous Scots back the ‘see me’ campaign
Scottish celebrities have added their voice to the ‘See me’ campaign and are urging Brechin and Angus residents to ‘just listen’
The ‘see me’ campaign is a Scottish national campaign to help tackle the stigma and discrimation of mental ill-health
‘Just Listen’ encourages people in Angus to talk about mental ill-health, and to listen to what is being said.
Deacon Blue’s lead singer Ricky Ross, TV and film actor Martin Compston, Emmy award winning actor, Brian Cox, interior designer and TV presenter Colin McAllistair, Scottish actor and writer Greg McHugh and Scottish actress and singer Clare Grogan have all got behind the campaign.
Read more at Brechin Advertiser
 
Sean Connery
If Manchester United fans weren’t emotional enough  during Alex Ferguson’s final home game, Sky wrapped up their coverage from Old Trafford with a Sean Connery-voiced montage.
Read more, and watch the montage, at The Score

James Cosmo

Budding film-makers got some help from veteran Scottish actor and Game of Thrones star James Cosmo as they made a horror film in Greenock.

The movie – Dying Light – was produced and filmed by unemployed youngsters from Inverclyde.
The actor, who has starred in Hollywood hits Braveheart and Highlander agreed to voice a character in the psychological thriller after being contacted by the film-making team.
The project, which aims to give unemployed young people a taste of what it is like to work in the film industry also has the support and technical expertise of Bafta award-winning film director David Newbigging.
David, of Inverkip, said: "James Cosmo agreeing to appear in our film is amazing.
"He's a great supporter of Scottish films. The young people who made Dying Light are all massive fans of Game of Thrones and couldn't believe that he is involved."
Read more at Glasgow Evening Times 

Female First have a summary of Get Lucky, which will be released on 9 August. Read more here.

Brian Cox
Libby Purves meets actor Brian Cox; adventurer Jason Lewis; artist Adela Jusic and singer June Tabor.
Actor Brian Cox has performed in the West End, on Broadway, at the National Theatre and the Royal Court. He is currently playing Jack in Conor McPherson's The Weir at the Donmar Warehouse. Brian joined Dundee Rep as a young man and since then has carved out a successful theatre and Hollywood career - his films include Manhunter, The Bourne Identity, The Bourne Supremacy and Coriolanus. The Weir is at the Donmar Warehouse.
Listen to the interview, and read more, at BBC
More info on The Weir at the Donmar Warehouse here

Design in Action are proud to have Hollywood actor Brian Cox, famous for appearing in blockbuster films such as Troy, X-Men and the Bourne series amongst many others, as one of their project ambassadors. In a video interview, Brian explains the ethos behind Design in Action and in particular the Chiasma process that drives it. Watch the video at Design in Action

Swedish sales outfit Yellow Affair has taken international rights on The Carer (the last film scripted by the late Gilbert Adair, screenwriter of Bernardo Bertolucci’s The Dreamers).
Yellow Affair has already concluded a deal on the film with Rialto for Australia/New Zealand.
The Carer, directed by Janos Edelenyi, is billed as “a feel-good, life affirming film about death and the relationship between a famous actor and his immigrant carer”. It stars Brian Cox as Sir Michael Gifford, a stage and star screen who is dying.
Read more at Screen Daily

Alan Cumming
Alan Cumming is on Broadway playing the title role — and every other major one — in Macbeth, a reimagined version of Shakespeare’s tragedy set in a mental institution. In this scene Mr. Cumming plays the ruthless Lady Macbeth asking the spirits to “unsex me here.” Directed by John Tiffany and Andrew Goldberg, Macbeth continues through June 30 at the Ethel Barrymore Theater.
Watch the scene at Arts Beat

Fans were outraged when Tony voters snubbed Macbeth and its versatile star Alan Cumming, but the Scottish play and the Scottish-born actor were big winners at the Broadway.com Audience Choice Awards! Cumming took home the Favorite Actor in a Play award for his portrayal of nearly every role in Shakespeare’s iconic tragedy, and Macbeth won the trophy for Favorite Play Revival at the awards ceremony on May 5.
Read more at Broadway

Tony Award winners Audra McDonald and Alan Cumming are among the 2013 recipients of the "Made in NY Awards," which will be presented June 10 at Gracie Mansion.
The awards recognize "individuals and organizations that have made significant contributions to various fields in the city's entertainment and digital media industries."
Read more at Playbill 

Tony Curran
Syfy has ordered a second season of its ratings winning drama Defiance starring  Julie Benz, Stephanie Leonidas, Tony Curran, Jaime Murray, Graham Greene and Mia Kirshner.
Read more at ATV Today
Many more May updates are here

Henry Ian Cusick
The CW is going a bit darker next television season, looking at almost one hundred years after a nuclear war destroyed civilization in new drama pilot The 100.
The 100 comes from Writer/Executive Producer Jason Rothenberg with Executive Producers Leslie Morgenstein and Gina Girolamo. It stars Eliza Taylor, Henry Ian Cusick, Kelly Hu, Isaiah Washington, Eli Goree, Bob Morley, Paige Turco, Thomas McDonell, Christopher Larkin, and Marie Avegeropoulos for a very eclectic and talented group.
Read more at Examiner
C21 Media have a trailer here 
Red Carpet News TV have a video interview with Henry here

Iain De Caestecker
Watch a trailer for the upcoming thriller In Fear, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and stars Alice Englert (Beautiful Creatures), Iain De Caestecker ("The Fades"), and Allen Leech ("Downton Abbey"). Check it out at Worst Previews
In Fear review by HeyUGuys

Following the success of 2012's The Avengers, ABC television announced that it has officially picked up the Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D for a series, taking place in the same universe. Centered around the resurrected Agent Coulson (Clarke Gregg), the show will also be starring Ming-Na Wen, Brett Dalton, Chloe Bennet, Iain De Caestecker and Elizabeth Henstridge as agents in the mysterious organization named Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division. The pilot was filmed in January 2013, written by Joss Whedon, Jed Whedon and Maurissa Tancharoen, and directed by Joss Whedon.
Read more at Geek Exchange
Huffington Post has a 'sneak peak' promo video here
The full first-look preview is at 411 Mania 

TV Fanatic have a gallery of the S.H.I.E.L.D. characters. Iain's character is here

Ryan Gosling's How To Catch A Monster, which was recently acquired by Warner Bros, has an all-star cast with the latest addition being Coronation Street's Iain De Caestecker, who was spotted on set in Detroit on Saturday (18 May).
Read more (with photos) at Daily Mail
Also reported (with photos) by Metro


Ron Donachie
Dundee-born Ron Donachie, who played Ser Rodrik Cassel in hit fantasy series Game of Thrones and Angus MacInnes, from Star Wars, are two of the voiceover artists who will play key roles in new interactive displays when the Black Watch Museum opens in Perth later this year.
Read more at The Courier

Tommy Flanagan
Stacy Martin, one of the stars of Lars von Trier’s forthcoming Nymphomaniac, is among the lead cast of new British feature Barking At Trees.
The cast also includes Tommy Flanagan, Judith Godreche, Tom Payne, Bill Milner, Kate Magowan, Simon Kunz and a cameo from Jessica Hynes.
Read more at Screen Daily

Karen Gillan

Not Another Happy Ending will close the Edinburgh International Film Festival this year, the film’s producers have confirmed. The film, which stars former Doctor Who companion Karen Gillan alongside Stanley Weber, is an indie rom-com set in the Scottish city of Glasgow directed by John McKay.

The film will be shown on the 30th of June.
Read more at zConnection
The Scotsman has an on-set report from Not Another Happy Ending here 
EntertainmentWise has the EIFF preview reel - which includes Not Another Happy Ending - here

She once travelled the world in a police phone box, but now Karen Gillan has a new cop car to roll in. The British actress was announced as the newest cast member in NTSF:SD:SUV:: back in March and now she's on set ready to play the character Daisy in season three. The American TV show - short for National Terrorism Strike Force: San Diego: Sport Utility Vehicle - was filming scenes in London's Parliament Square with Karen and the rest of the crew on Monday (6 May).
Read more (with photos) at Daily Mail

Karen Gillan is set to star in indie flick The List.
The Doctor Who actress is joining Patrick Fugit in the romantic comedy drama, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Directed by Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo writer Harris Goldberg, The List is about a man who ticks off a list of self improvements to win over the woman he loves.
Read more at Irish Independent

Former Doctor Who star Karen Gillan’s Elvis-mad dad has recorded his first album – after his daughter paid for it all. Blues singer Raymond Gillan has recorded his first album, Deep Down Inside, and released it on iTunes. And his delighted daughter couldn’t wait to plug its nine songs to her Twitter followers.
She tweeted: “PAPA MADE AN ALBUM. Get into it. It’s really good. The magic lies in hard work.”
Read more at Scottish Daily Record 

Former Doctor Who actress Karen Gillan has lined up her next film role, starring in the Marvel movie Guardians Of The Galaxy.
According to reports Gillan – who sprang to fame as the Doctor’s companion Amy Pond in the BBC One show – will play one of the movie’s ‘major villains’ although no other details were revealed.
Read more at Metro

John Hannah
Portrait of the Artist: interview at The Guardian
John also shares his favourite cycling routes from around the world, in The Telegraph (and reveals his travel preferences here)

Susan Boyle's career in showbiz has been taking a high road since her Britian's Got Talent win. Her first movie role in The Christmas Candle, a period drama, where she plays the role of a church warden's wife. Other stars besides Boyle are Samantha Banks and John Hannah. Banks was recently seen in the hit musical Les Miserables.
Read more at Top News


Douglas Henshall
Previously announced Palme d'Or recipient Mads Mikkelsen has been joined by Eva Green, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Eric Cantona, Mikael Persbrandt, Douglas Henshall, Michael Raymond-James and Jonathan Pryce among others for upcoming The Salvation.
The film has just (as at 22 April) begun an eight-week shoot on location in Johannesburg, South Africa.
Read more at Coming Soon

Kelly MacDonald

After 11 years raising £13million for sick youngsters in Glasgow, the Yorkhill Children's Foundation is to expand its services.

Actress Kelly Macdonald and two former patients from the Royal Hospital For Sick Children helped the organisation relaunch itself in Glasgow.
It has been renamed Yorkhill Children's Charity.
The Foundation had donated all its fundraising cash to the Yorkhill hospital, but bosses plan to expand the charity's services to support the treatment and care of children and their families on a local, national and international level.
This means it will raise funds for any hospital or community-based organisation helping sick kids.
Read more at Glasgow Evening Times
Also reported (with photo) by Scottish Daily Record

Angus MacFadyen
New Mexico-based Greenwomb Productions announced on Monday [13 May] that Wes Studi, Adam Beach, Gísli Örn Garđarsson and Angus MacFadyen will star in eco-thriller Terra Infirma.
Read more at Screen Daily

James McAvoy
In a long line of news, behind-the-scenes images and teasers, director Bryan Singer has tweeted the first image of James McAvoy on the set of X-Men: Days of Future Past as Charles Xavier/Professor X in his 1970s costume.   
Read more, and see the photo, at Flicks and Bits

James McAvoy talks about Shakespeare at last month's Press Conference for Macbeth - transcript and video at Live Magazine

Ewan McGregor
The resilient indie Western Jane Got A Gun finally has its bad guy. Ewan McGregor is negotiating to play the pivotal role of the leader of an outlaw gang in the film that Gavin O’Connor is now directing.
Read more at Deadline
The Daily Mail has photos of Ewan here which they believe show his new 'look' for Jane Got A Gun

The trailer for August: Osage County has hit the web and by the looks of things, Meryl Streep is easily on her way to capturing her 18th Academy Award nomination. The upcoming comedy-drama, based on the Tracy Letts' Pulitzer Prize-winning play and produced by George Clooney and Grant Heslov, finds the screen legend leading an all-star cast that includes Julia Roberts, Ewan McGregor, Benedict Cumberbatch, Chris Cooper, Sam Shepard, Abigail Breslin, Juliette Lewis, and Dermot Mulroney.
Read more at EOnline
Watch the trailer at YouTube

Greg McHugh
Fresh Meat will air its third series in the autumn.
The returning Channel 4 comedy will follow JP (Jack Whitehall), Howard (Greg McHugh), Vod (Zawe Ashton), Oregon (Charlotte Ritchie) and Kingsley (Joe Thomas) as they begin their second university term.
Read more at Digital Spy

Kevin McKidd
Kevin will be appearing at Comic Con in July. Read more at Grey's Gabble

Kevin McKidd is filming his new movie, comedy drama North of Hell, and Kevin has revealed a picture of himself on the set of the film, looking completely unrecognisable. 
Read and see more at FansShare

Warner Home Video have released the official trailer for Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox, the next entry in the popular ongoing series of DC Universe Animated Original Movies.
In Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox, time travel allows a past wrong to be righted for Flash (Justin Chambers) and his family, but the event's temporal ripples prove disastrous, creating a fractured, alternate reality where the Justice League never formed, and even Superman is nowhere to be found. Amidst a new world being ravaged by a fierce war between Wonder Woman's (Vanessa Marshall) Amazons and Aquaman's (Cary Elwes) Atlanteans, Flash must team with a grittier, more violent Batman (Kevin McKidd) and government agent Cyborg (Michael B. Jordan) to restore the continuity of Flash's original timeline.  
Read more, and watch the trailer, at Superman Supersite

Richard Madden
Disney has issued a press release naming Richard Madden as the Prince in their upcoming live-action re-imagining of Cinderella. The Scottish actor, who is best known for playing Robb Stark (King of the North!) on Game of Thrones, will be joining a cast that includes Downton Abbey's Lily James as the titular princess, and the ever-elegant Cate Blanchett as the evil stepmother, Lady Tremaine.
Read more at Cinema Blend

Peter Mullan
The Liability is the tale of a seasoned assassin hoping to retire named Roy (Tim Roth), who gets teamed with a young, enthusiastic driver, Adam (Jack O’Connell) for his next job (as a result of Adam owing a ruthless local crime boss, played by Peter Mullan).
Read more, and watch a clip, at What Culture

According to Screen Daily, director James Watkins (The Woman In Black) has a joint company with Altitude, which is launching its first production, The Loch, written by Watkins and Simon Duric. Watkins was initially attached to direct, but now Duric will take the helm. Peter Mullan (War Horse, Trainspotting) has come on board to lead the cast.
Read more at Dread Central 

Writer/director/actor Peter Mullan's Paradise, a movie about the founding of legendary Scottish soccer team Celtic Football Club by a priest in 1887, is creating buzz among buyers.
Read more at Hollywood Reporter

The Guardian's "best TV for summer 2013" includes Top of the Lake.
Holly Hunter, Peter Mullan and Elisabeth Moss star in The Piano director Jane Campion's rich, languorous crime thriller, in which the pregnant 12-year-old daughter of a local drug lord goes missing. Its small-town setting and dreamy pace has earned it Twin Peaks comparisons, but it has its own unique feel and flavour. BBC2, July.

Read more here. 

Ruaraidh Murray

Sean Connery has said “yes” to Ruaraidh Murray twice and the young Scots actor and writer hopes the next time he says it – it will be to give his blessing for a film.

Edinburgh-born Ruaraidh’s one-man show Big Sean, Mikey and Me was shown at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe last year and had the ex-Bond actor as the main character’s imaginary friend.

Ruaraidh (it’s Rory if you hadn’t worked it out yet) is adapting the script to turn it into a film, which they hope to make next year.

He said: “Sean Connery has not been in touch but I’m sure I’ll need to get his blessing.

“Hopefully he’ll be cool about it.

“I have met Sean once. I have the scene where I met him in my Big Sean show. I was on my way to an audition in Belgravia in London when I saw him walking towards me. I stuck out my hand and said ‘Sean, my name’s Ruaraidh, I’m an actor from Edinburgh.’

“He said ‘yes.’ A cabbie then screeched to a halt to say hello too. I said ‘It’s nice to meet you Sean.’ And again he said ‘yes.’ I left them to it feeling like I’d just met God.

“Hopefully, third time lucky, he will say ‘yes’ to the film.”

Read more at Scottish Daily Record

Barbara Rafferty / Elaine C Smith
They left millions in stitches as Govan's most famous housewives, Mary Doll and Ella Cotter.
Now, after ten years apart, Elaine C Smith and Barbara Rafferty are back together again for His Majesty's Theatre's Christmas performance of Cinderella.
The Rab C Nesbitt actresses are starring as the Fairy Godmother and Wicked Stepmother for the seasonal panto.
Read more at STV

Daniel Sloss
Aged just 16, Scottish comedian, writer and actor Daniel Sloss began writing for Frankie Boyle after his mother badgered the comedian about her funny son. Three years later, after performing stand-up himself, he is now one of the fastest rising stars on the comedy circuit, having released his debut DVD, Daniel Sloss Live, last year.
Source: GQ

Ken Stott / Peter Mullan
The first ever public screening of the BBC series Your Cheatin' Heart is to open Scotland's newest film festival. Writer John Byrne and co-star Eddi Reader will attend the event at the inaugural Dunoon Film Festival. The series, also starring Peter Mullan, Ken Stott and Tilda Swinton, was never repeated after its 1990 showing.
Read more at BBC Scotland

David Tennant
All May's news about David can be found here (scroll down!)