BAFTA award-winning actor Stuart Brennan praised the Scots for welcoming him and his filming crew with “open arms” while he filmed in Edinburgh, Glasgow, the Highlands and Stranraer.
The award-winning actor recently wrapped up a new feature film called Kingslayer which was filmed near Portpatrick at Dunskey Estate.
The film features actors such as John Rhys-Davies, who played Gimli in Lord of the Rings.
Stuart spoke about the wonderful experience of shooting the movie late last year: “That reminded me why I will continue making more films in Scotland, it was the most incredible film shoot I’ve ever done.”
'Kingslayer' is the fifth movie Stuart has filmed in Scotland after he fell in love with the country for its incredible filming locations and generous people who have always made him feel welcomed.
The talented actor discussed his previous productions such as zombie film ‘Plan Z’ which was filmed in Dunfermline, Perth, Isle of Skye and even Loch Ness.
“We had such a lovely group of people around us everyone was so excited to be able to work together and everywhere we went people were so excited to have us.
“Coming from London where people hate having film crews turn up on their doorsteps in Scotland we were welcomed with open arms, we even had one shop say hey we will close for you no problem.
“The generosity of the Scottish people is what made me feel so welcome to begin with and then it turned into encouragement and it was kind of if you are willing to help me when I have very little to offer you, I am now going to try and support you where I can.”
The wonderful connection the award winner formed with the country has brought him back to film movies such as The Necromancer, Wolf and A Christmas Carol which were all filmed in locations such as the Highlands and the Scottish Borders.
Stuart began his successful career while studying drama at the University of Winchester.
He spoke about his previous involvement with script writing which started after an English teacher recommended a few short film scripts for him to read.
“I remember getting an A3 pad out and starting to write down some ideas and I didn’t really understand formatting or structure, I had no background in it other than reading a couple of short scripts.”
He added: “I just kept practicing I’ve never had a single screenwriting class in my life I just picked up a pen and tried to learn with every script that I have written.”
At university, the actor explored his writing more seriously and co-wrote a play ‘A Little Silhouette of a Man’ which was performed in front of a sell-out crowd at the Theatre Royal Winchester.
On the course, he also started to develop his acting technique which focuses on method acting.
READ MORE: Edinburgh: 'the next big filming location'
Method acting allows him to gain a “gateway into being in someone else’s skin”.
He added: “I sought out performances and learnt about actors I had really admired over my days at university. Daniel Day-Lewis became kind of number one.
“Tom Cruise fascinated me, Al Pacino, Robert De Niro, Dustin Hoffman, these great actors and all of them talk about the amount of research they would do for a role and I became fascinated by how they would change their bodies for a role.
“The suit of excellence they put into trying to learn any crafts that they had to portray on screen.”
Stuart won a BAFTA for his performance in the film ‘Risen’ which was about the life of Boxer Howard Winstone and his road to winning the world title in the 1960s.
The film took five years to make and the actor trained the whole time so that once filming took place for the fight sequences he could actually spar with the other boxers in the film, most of whom were played by world boxing champions.
Stuart said: “The story of all of Howard’s struggles really resonated with me.”
He added: “The determination and fighting spirit I had within me was what had drawn me to wanting to do a boxing film in the first place.
“I always felt like I had to fight to be noticed to fight to be recognised, fight for opportunities and just where I came from there aren’t opportunities for film and tv.”
The next project the BAFTA winner is set to work on will also involve Scotland. A new psychological thriller ‘Freight’ written by Aberdeen based writer was optioned by the production company Stronghold and will be directed by Steve Johnson.
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