Bruce biopic is set for big global debut
AT last the outlaw is to go legit.
A year on from secret filming in and around the strath – notably at picturesque Loch an Eilean on Rothiemurchus – the blockbuster movie Outlaw King will make its big screen debut next week.
It will have its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival on Thursday. The film is then scheduled for general release by makers Netflix on November 9.
The Outlaw King, one of the biggest productions made in Scotland, is a historical drama about Robert the Bruce and stars heart-throb Chris Pine in the lead role.
Security was tight while filming was going last September, but teasing clues were left here and there.
Car parks at the Macdonald Aviemore Highland Resort were commandeered by Winnebago villages for tantalising days where polite security guards could only say there was "a film being being made".
At one point a beautifully crafted medieval launch glided up and parked itself (courtesy of its trailer) at the resort.
Gradually the whole story emerged over the months and now David Mackenzie's glittering new production is being trumpeted in magazines and on line.
The new epic is boosting Scotland's economy by more than 10 times what the taxpayer has spent on it.
The Scottish Government says the film has already generated £17.5m and increased employment opportunities nationwide. Cairngorms Business Partnership chief executive Mark Tate said the global exposure provided by such big-budget movies is a huge boost for the local economy.
The film itself tells the untold, true story of 14th Century Robert the Bruce who transforms from defeated nobleman to outlaw hero during the oppressive occupation of medieval Scotland by Edward I of England.
Despite grave consequences, Robert seizes the Scottish crown and rallies an impassioned group of men to fight back against the mighty army of the king and his volatile son, the prince of Wales.
Also starring are Scottish actors James Cosmo, Tony Curran, Steven Cree, Chris Fulton and Alistair Mackenzie.
Another big-budget movie, Mary Queen of Scots, was also being shot in the strath at the same time.
The film, starring Saoirse Ronan, Margot Robbie and David Tennant, is scheduled to be released at the end of this year.
