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How are you brother? Thanks very much for having me. Yeah, first of all, just want to thank you for coming on the show. Yeah. You've got your next big movie coming out, Robert the Bruce. The first one obviously, Braveheart, absolute classic. I think it's everybody's talk for you. What a film. The Bruce now, you've got that made after eventually a few years of talking about it. How are you feeling about that? I feel good. It's out of my hands. There's nothing more I can do to talk it up and hope that, you know, just I just need people to go to the cinema in the first week or two while we've got it out there because we get the audiences, they're going to open it wider and wider. I just don't want people seeing this film on an iPhone or in the silence of their lonely room. It's not a film like that. It's a big film which I want people to have the experience like they had in Braveheart. The passion. Where everybody was in the cinema crying and shouting freedom and two years later, we had a Scottish Parliament. Right now, it's such a funny time because we've got this crazy Brexit stuff going on and the idea of independence is within our grasp. But we're so divided as a country and we just feel like we've got to kind of unite the clans and the collective experience of a cultural event like a movie where you're emotionally touched, you know, makes you remember that we're all humans and we're all in it together and we're not that far apart. We all want the same thing. We want the dream, I think. We want decent health service. We want our kids to grow up and go to good schools and all of these things. And I think, you know, we need to be masters of our own fate here. Because you're very passionate. You're clearly all for the referendum in a free Scotland. Do you think this film can give maybe spark the passion back into people to maybe fight for a free Scotland or a free country again? I mean, my only example is what happened in Braveheart was that people went to the cinema and the SNP stood outside the cinema with leaflets afterwards. And the SNP were nowhere on the map at that time. They were a dusty old book in a corner which nobody really paid attention. They'd be banging on about this for decades and decades and nobody listened to them. And suddenly, within two years, we had a Scottish Parliament and there they were. And so it really shows you what the power of a cultural event like a movie that it can get inside you and it can do things which no politician's speech can do. It can touch you in places and remind you of your own humanity. And so, you know, I've made the best movie I can, bringing together the elements which took 12, 13 years. And I've lived in a cave for most of it because I couldn't get it made for 12 or 13 years. And I'm glad about that now because I wrote it with my writing partner, Eric Belgaugh, in 2006. And we could have made that film and got it out in 2007. Been and gone, just another movie. But 12 years went by and I kind of gave up. I felt, I became Robert the Bruce in the cave. I had despair. I was like, this is never going to happen anymore. I gave up on it. And then what happened in the last few years and the fact that we then did make it, suddenly I turned, I went, wait a minute, it's not about me deciding when things are supposed to happen. It's about the world and design and destiny in some way. It's things which are greater than us. And I was very humbled suddenly because here I am now with the movie. Independence really, you know, we're looking at events down in Westminster with Brexit where Scotland has voted twice very clearly and said we want to remain in the EU. We chose to try and do it in 2014. We said it very clearly. We stayed in the union because of that. And just lately we did it again. So the EU and we've said again, our voice is saying we want to remain in. And yet the other half of the country wants to go. Well, be our guest. It's time for us to step through that door of independence where the last one's out. We've been very polite and we've let every other colonial country out of the door. It's our turn. I think it will happen and I think it will. I definitely think people, there's going to be a shift happening. I believe Scotland will be a free country because we've kind of went backwards. We're kind of back in 1300s. We're kind of back in the older days. But I believe things will make a shift and I believe big things will change and I believe Scotland will be a free country. You've had a great career, Angus. You've had a massive following, Brave Fat nominated 10 Oscars, 1-5. 11. 11. Oh, no. End it up. Great following. How did it all begin for you? You grew up in Edinburgh. How was your life then right back from the start? Well, I lived in Collington with my grandparents. Well, actually they started out in Barhead and then moved through to Edinburgh and lived in Collington up until they passed at the end of the 90s. So did you hear that? So I've lived here most of my life and went to Edinburgh University and was studying to do politics in 1983. And then a wee voice sort of went, you know, you should really go and do something else. And it kind of went what? But I listened to the voice, changed my course, started doing theatre and got into acting. And I never knew why, and this is another example of saying, you know, something which is bigger than you, is I never understood why that voice talked to me like that and why I listened even. But then in 2003 it all became very clear because I'd have been a Labour politician, I'd have been somehow towing the party line and I would have had to make a choice, either resign and hold on to my soul or lose my job and lose my job or, you know, tow the party line and support an illegal invasion into the Middle East, which is called chaos, and has put us into a situation now with the unforeseen consequences of having created incredible refugee problems, hatred all over the globe, and all for what? Profit, really. It's all money making. And money making by an elite and money which none of us ever see, unless you're working in a factory which is making those munitions and you get whatever the minimum wage is. The most valuable currency is your time in this planet and we give our time away very, very cheaply, we don't value your world worth. When you made the transition then from university to go to acting, was that a scary part for you? No, I always had that belief. You know, you're almost stupid. You're very naive and stupid to go into a profession like that because so few people actually do get even a shot at it, let alone if you can turn that shot into a 30 or 40-year career. The rollercoaster is very rarely up at the top with 11 nominations, like you say, and an Oscar-nominated movie. Most of the time you're sort of, you know, pushing the carriage along trying to get, trying to, you're actually pushing it up. Yeah, the hill. You've got to keep progressing, you've got to keep raising the bar. You've got no matter what it is, whether it's 10 Oscars or 12 Oscars, you've got to push the bar because I always say, if you think you've made it, you only took two steps back. When was your first break? I mean, my first really, the job I was really pleased with was a job in Glasgow, BBC Scotland, taking over the asylum, which they're actually airing again on the 29th, starting here on BBC at the end of this month. And that was a wonderful show about a mental illness set in an asylum which is now closed down just outside of Glasgow, written by Donna Francis Child and directed by David Blair. That was a wonderful experience. We actually, you know, didn't have trailers. We were in costume all day and we were in the institution with the patients, you know, hanging out with them. They were incredibly amused by us. It was very funny. How was that in the old mindset then, being in that environment to get right into character? You're there. It's like you don't, there's no trailer to go to. Does that help your acting? Does that help your craft when you're actually in it, loving it, with people? Yeah. You know, you see these people who, you know, who are very fragile, emotionally fragile people who've obviously had reactions to the way reality is and have had their dreams broken and you see these broken souls in these places. And you go there, but for the grace of God, go I, and I was a lucky one because I got to fulfill my dream which was becoming an actor and joining the circus as it were and doing what I'm doing right here. I mean, if I hadn't been playing that role, God knows, I might have been one of those patients because I can't imagine going through this life without doing a job which I actually love doing and being fulfilled in that way. It must be a terrible thing. I think that's a great thing to touch on, follow your dreams and your passion, but it's not going to be easy. That life's not easy, but if you're stuck in a job but you don't like doing something that you hate, then it's only you can change that. It's only a very small percentage of this world and clearly your risks have paid off even though sometimes when you live that life, the Oscar films and it doesn't really feel as big as what people see from the screen. It's not mean because you're actually living it. So when you got your, when did Mel Gibson come calling for Braveheart? Well, that was another funny story. I hadn't worked for nine months after I'd done this show of the mental institution and I got a call from Patsy Pollock saying you're coming in for the English Prince. Now I know you're not going to want to play him because you're going to want to play Robert the Bruce, but forget it because there's a movie star who's already cast. So forget that. You don't like to shoot in your dreams, don't you? So I read the script and of course I wanted to play. That was my role and I go in and like, you know, being crazy, you know, at the time, I just sort of went into the room with this movie star and you know, Golden Mel Gibson all worked out and must he look like a Greek God and he said, so you want to talk about this English Prince? I said, no. And he kind of looked at the cast and said, what do you mean? No. I said, well, I'm not, I mean, you know, look, I wish you all the best with that role, but that's not my role. My role is Robert the Bruce and I'm going to explain to you why. And I sat there for an hour and a half talking to and giving me these ideas and talking about because I'd been brought up with stories of Robert the Bruce. My father had told me about the spider and all this. So I was like talking, talking the talk and after an hour and a half and the cast directed like, God, he's fucked up. After an hour and a half, he said, okay, well, you sure you don't want to talk about the other guy? I said, no, I wish you all the best with it. And I left and went back to my tiny little, you know, flat in London and like, I was kicking myself because, you know, I just basically passed on a role and 10 days later, I get a phone call. Okay, Mal wants to see you again. I'm like, oh God, what have I done? And I go in and he says, so you want to come and play with us? I said, well, what do you mean? He kind of looked at me like I'm an idiot and said, well, you want to come and play the role of what? And I said, well, yeah. And so it turned out that the actor who had been offered the role wanted to, there was another Scottish film at the time, Rob Roy. And there was another role, there was a role in that which this actor really wanted the role, which Tim Roth ended up playing. And so he was trying to get that role. And so he let the date go by by which he should have accepted Robert the Bruce. So the offer was withdrawn and given to me. That's how shit goes down. That's how shit goes down. That's not the last time either. I've done that. I've tried that one several times in Hollywood and it worked two more times. But that's again, not just accepting for what is offered to you. And I think that's a great thing for anybody watching. You don't need to accept. You've obviously, you've believed that and the love attraction comes into play. That's also been in your mind that you were going to get that part. Yeah, that's the normal story. It's a form of madness. It's like enthusiasm. It's positive energy. It's pure, positive, mad. Like I believe, and it's not just in yourself. It's like, you want to contribute to the beauty of what you're seeing. It doesn't happen all the time because most of the stuff you get is shit. And you really don't want to do it but you've got the bills to pay. I did so and I did have to pay the bills and I did one and I was like, I'm never doing another. Did you realize how big but if that was going to be at the time? No, we thought we were... I mean, the general idea which I didn't really agree with was that there were two films and one of them was very well written and was being directed by a tasteful director, Michael Caten Jones, and it was going to be the far superior film, Rob Roy. And ours was like the cheesy Hollywood epic, you know, swords and sandals. But it didn't turn out that way because Mel's just, you know, he's a visual genius and he knows about emotion and he's a very fragile person himself. So he, you know, was able to turn something which was not particularly great on the page but he was able to cast it correctly and direct it and bring out emotion and he was very open as well to allowing you to do, to try things. So, you know, not to say that the film, the script was, you know, mediocre but that's how it was perceived. So we really didn't know until one day we were brought into a trailer on set and we were sat down to watch the last 15, 10, 15 minutes of the movie, starting with that moment where they're all waiting on the battlefield and I've got that voice over and they played this for us and we watched it and you can imagine we came out of it all in silence going, holy fuck, that was, this is kind of special, right? And we're all looking at each other and I was like, yeah, but how are they going to improve on the music because they've used the Ennio Morricone soundtrack from The Mission and it just fits so well. I was like, how are they going to improve on that? But of course they did. The music in Braveheart was beautiful. Absolutely beautiful. Who is it, James? James, uh, James Newton. Who is it by, there's a lot of music for like Gladiate and Braveheart for Romano? Yeah, yeah. I mean he often repeated himself after that but that was like one of his great, Titanic stuff like that. Yeah, music was for Romano. When you did, when you read the script, obviously the Beanie Traitor for William Wallace, how was that part because watching that half, the whole whole of Scotland must have hated you, just watching that scene when yeah, William Wallace, you turned them over. How were you reading that? Well, I just got to reiterate that it's all fiction. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, I know. But it makes a great movie. Yeah. That part was fiction. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, I mean on some level, I mean, you know, I'm sure it didn't play out like that exactly but it's sort of physicalising the concept of him being somebody who was sort of sat on the outside and didn't really get his hands dirty. Yeah. Whereas the film which we've just made is about the man getting his hands dirty like getting blood on his hands to the point where he can't take it anymore. Yeah. So how were you, because at the end, obviously they're passionate about that banal burn when people watch that, I gave them the kind of inspiration to go, be proud to be Scottish basically. Yeah. And I think people kind of put that spot when you watch. Wasn't that funny that at the same time Train Spotting came out and they were going, it's shite, Scotland's shite. And then we had our movie, you know, with Mel going, oh, Scotland, Scotland. Yeah, it's great freedom. We had the schizophrenic experience of two voices there at the same time. Do you think Mel was that part for him, for Braveheart, William Wallace? I think so, yeah. I mean, he's, he's, you know, I like him when he plays, he's tortured heroes. He's so good at it, like lethal weapon and, that film, Year of Living Dangerously, you know, and Braveheart, obviously. I mean, he had, he wanted another actor. He wanted to cast Jason Patrick, who would have been fantastic as well, but Jason didn't have the star power. Yeah. You know, and they wanted, if Mel wanted to direct it, he had to play the role. I'm shocked that he was sleeping, like he wasn't even sleeping the guy. He was like three hours a night. He would see him walking down the street outside of Dublin in the middle of the night because he just couldn't sleep. You know, because he was filled, but that's what it is to be a director. You don't get a lot of downtime. Yeah. Just passion, just to create something, just creating something and leaving a legacy. Yeah. So how was that then, after the film, that clearly shot you into Superstardom, A-list material. How did that affect you mentally? Was that a good buzz, a roller coaster, or was that a lot of downward after that? I, I mean, I'm Scottish, so it all comes with a bit of a grain of salt, you know. Yeah. I tend to, I'm not a very good guy during the parties and all of that, you know. So I tended to steer away from all of that, but it did give me opportunities to play other parts, which was great. It opened me, I was able to move to Hollywood and start, and basically, you know, to build on a career with, you know, some ups and plenty of downs, but, you know. That's life. That's life. You've worked with some serious actors, Christian Bale, Matt Damon, yeah. Sandra Bullock. Yeah. I would, I would, I also add Neil Gibson, Anthony Hopkins, I was going to. Jessica Land, Susan Sarandon, John Taturo, Vessa Redgrave. Larry, Bill Murray. Ray, who's a guy? Ray. Ray Liotta. Ray Liotta. Ray Liotta. From Goodfellas. Yeah. How's, that's Robin Scholders with some of the best, coming from Edinburgh. It's so much fun. Yeah, deal with that. So get on set and your pals. It's like, you know, acting is, being in the movies in general, it's like a circus. It's like, you show up, hopefully you're on location, so you're all staying in the same hotel and you're, you know, eating and drinking in the bar in the evenings and you get to know people close to home, you go home at night. But nevertheless, you know, you're hanging out with people who you've admired your whole life in movies and there you are sitting, you know, talking to them and they're, you know, either they've got feet of clay and they're really disappointing human beings or, you know, which is like so disappointing. Yeah, yeah, you put people on a pay this too. Oh my God. Yeah, and I'll tell them it would be wankers. They're beautiful souls and you just like, and you end up, you know, occasionally making friends and you swap your number and you like call them and you, you know, you stay in touch for the next few decades. Yeah, because it must be, it can be a lonely journey as well. Yeah. Do you know what I mean? And everybody kind of want a piece of you, like me the day, trying to get an interview and everybody's kind of want a piece of you and not try to find out house things behind because people see you as a character because they see you on the big screen and don't see you and I think that's well. I don't mind not being a human being. You know, it's like I'm an actor. I don't really have an identity in some way, you know, I'm the sum of everything I've ever played and it's the exploration of the mind, you know, like what is the human condition? We're made up of so many different opposite, you know what I mean? You know what I mean? Yeah, I don't even know what a human being is anymore. Who's the best actor you've ever worked with? Well, I mean, you know, it's, I have to kind of say Anthony Hopkins, he's a, he's a, and there again, like what a troubled man, you know, but beautiful, like you sit on, I would go and sit and watch him preparing for what was, I did Titus with him and he was doing Shakespeare and you know, he would go and sit on this rock and say, is this where I'm shooting today? I'm shooting here? Right, well, I'll just sit here then and I'm getting ready, and like, they would start putting the camera up and doing the lighting and he would sit there for like an hour and a half and I would just go and sit like, just off and watch what he was doing and he'd be running the lines and everything. And he would just watch him and eventually they would go and action and there'd be no change. He would just start saying the lines and it was fascinating because it was almost like watching a vampire because he didn't put out energy. He took whatever was inside the camera and he pulled the light and the darkness and the energy as if he knew that the audience was there. He pulled it inside him and said, come and look inside me and see whatever you want to see because I am but a mirror of you. And you know, and it was like, oh, that's a big lesson right there. Is that what it meant for acting? No, that's not. I don't think that is because I don't think, I think it's just sort of relaxation and opening yourself up. It's almost like a Guru-esque type acting method. You know, it can often be like, let me work myself up into a state, you know, you know, like it's been kind of bastardized by people who think they've got to get into some kind of emotional state like that. You know, just to get into the character. And relaxation and a sense of, you're going to be okay. When you get into character, what's the longest you've been in character for? Do you stay in character along yourself? I don't really stay in character. No, like again, I say, I don't even know what a human being is and I don't know what a character is because either it's in me or it isn't. And so, relaxation is the way in which to access it. If you're trying too hard to present something to somebody, then all you're doing is accessing what your knowledge and what you can do. If you relax and let it, then you actually end up surprising yourself. It's like not knowing the lines too well because you've got to find them. Otherwise it sounds like you've learnt them and you're just saying lines. You've got to let it in when they go action, that's magic moment and you have to let it fucking be and let it happen to you. You've got to feel it. You know, you can also be, it can get too, you know, it can get too much as well. You've got to keep a rhythm and listen to people and say, can you pick it up a little bit? Yeah, of course. Because you know, you do it many times. So it keeps changing every time. You know, every take is different. And, and you know, I would say that's the best acting because every take is different. Yeah. You don't know what's going to happen. You have to surprise yourself. Can you switch off OK after? Of course. Yeah. Because it kind of, again, it's some people, Daniel Day Lewis and stuff as well. They go deep deep into deep waters to become that character. You know, we haven't really heard him talk about it. So a lot of that is other people saying that. You know, actually, how Daniel Day Lewis operates. He may find it really easy to turn on. He just doesn't comment on that because it's great to create the myth of the, of that, you know, like people love that. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And whether it's true or not, you know, it was the easiest guy to get along with. He like turned it on and off. It's like, oh, it's just relaxation. Did Blando ever read a script or they just read line by line at each scene? He had an earpiece and it was like, yeah, some folk. What's your favorite film yourself? Angus? Anybody, your favorite film that you would watch? It's very difficult to do that because I would, I mean, there's a list of, I'd have to start with 10. I mean, being there, the performance by Peter Sellers, you talk about somebody inhabiting a character. That's the greatest, I think, inhabitation of a character. So shocking to watch him because we were all used to him doing the acting in that. And people would say it was so freaky because it was actually him because he was nothing. And I have a friend called Philippe Morin who was going to do a film with him, an Australian director who was going to do a film with him playing Hitler, which I ended up playing doing instead because Sellers was so crazy that he showed up, this guy, this was 73, he showed up at his house and Peter Sellers came with the door dressed completely as Hitler and was talking with some German accent and everything and said, come into my house and everything and Philippe was like, this is fucking weird. And he had a woman who was like, would you like some tea here? Would you make us some tea, Heidi? And the tea was brought and as Philippe stayed there for a couple of hours, he suddenly noticed that Peter Sellers accent slowly shifted because Philippe is from Australia and he suddenly and Hitler was sitting there going, yeah, all right, right? I find that yeah, good, good on you, right? And like he completely changed. So once again, we get back to that thing of what is your identity? It's actually fun to like explore the, it's like the ocean goes out and comes back in. It's utter freedom. Goes out at night, comes back in. There are no lines and so that was fascinating to me to think about Peter Sellers as somebody like that with, you know, and it's a dangerous thing too because he verged on madness in the end. But then he had too much power, you know, he became too famous and he couldn't handle it. Back to that, handling fame. Yeah. Do you think that people struggle with it? A lot of drugs come into play. Good Lord. Yeah, and people search for fame and they think, if I get all this attention and life's complete, not realizing that that's not fucking anything. Yeah. It's not anything within where it's something to be proud of. Listen, if you have a great career and you have success, but again, it's trying to keep raising the bar to keep achieving things and you've been in the acting game what for the old years now. Yeah. Still producing. Yeah. How is James Ahara, the mad Irishman and David Ahara David Ahara and the brave heart? Madness. I don't know, I don't think I can tell the story about David Ahara on that. I mean, he was that character. We would go out drinking in the evening or we would get home by a certain point and we would all pile on the bus to go and go to work in the morning and we'd go to David Ahara's apartment and people would ring on the door and like he wasn't there and then he'd come ambling down the road from some, probably just falling out. Getting on the bus and thinking about going, all right. And like people were terrified. But it was the character. He's played like an eight part as well. Yeah, the mad Irishman. Yeah. So obviously, brave heart now, you've, is it a sequel? Robert the Bruce, is it a follow up? Too brave heart? It's definitely not a sequel. It's the story of, which I always wanted to, I was always very disappointed that we never told the story of, well what happened after William Wallace died? It just, did the history just end? Or was there a guy who became a king and how did he become a king? And what was the process of him? What did he have to go through to become that? And that was the most fascinating part. Because when you look at the story of the spider in the cave, you break it down. The man went into a cave to die. He gave up despair. He died metaphorically. He had a conversation with a spider. I mean, you look at, at all psychology and the spider is the symbol of schizophrenia. So I was like, well that's fascinating to me. Because he obviously heard voices in there. And like, he wasn't able to die. There was a voice talking to him. And what's worse than death? Madness. You know what I mean? You can't die. Losing control of the means? You're like, so he had to leave the cave. So what was the conversation which went on in there? And on what, what happened to him? That to me is the, is the really fascinating story. And I'm actually writing a play about that. I think I'm going to tackle the role a third time and put it on stage because it's the story of the spider. And that in that one, I want to do the voice of modern Scotland. I want to, I want to, I want the web made out of, you know, whatever it is with a guy on it. And, and he's a, he's a modern day Scott. You know, talking in the glass region. You know, I'm from your mother and everything. You know, everything's fucked, you know, and his dream is broken and everything. And that's the voice. And then this guy falls into the room. And this guy who's the spider sees Robert the Bruce and they start having a, they have a debate in there. But this guy, the spider thinks that that's the spider. You know what I mean? It's like, because he's seeing a spider on his roof. So Bruce, it's bridging the, it's bridging the 700 years in a way. Yeah. So, when he got captured, when he got captured and took to London, Banelkburn was eight years later. I think it was, yeah, that would be about that. Yeah. 13, 14, wasn't it? Yeah, so. 14, 14. They were a good seven, eight years. Yeah. So when the Bruce then, so the film that you've created now, because you've produced this film. Yeah. Where does it start from? How accurate is the, is it like Braveheart about fiction? Or is it straight down? Is it everything that Scotland's about and how they created the freedom? Well, it's, I wanted to tell a more intimate story of a family. These, this family, because really what I wanted to tell was an anti-war film. I wanted to, I don't want to glorify it. You know, I wanted to tell a story about the consequences of what happens. So there's this, this family of crofters, this, our real hero in this, this is, our heroine is this woman called Morag, who is a crofter. She works off the land, brutal, brutal conditions. She's got three children. They're all, one of them is her son. The other two are, are children of two brothers who've, and these three men have all died in either fighting for Wallace or the Bruce in, in different wars. So these are the consequences of war. These children and this woman left to fend for themselves in brutal conditions. These are the real heroes of this film, which I want to tell. And they find this man close to death because he's able to get out of that cave because he's not going to die in there. He's going to go mad. So he gets out and he falls over and these people find him and they bring him back and they realize they've got the king. Now this man has got a price on his head now. So they also have a price on his head. If they want to save him, they want to bring him back to life. But the mother decides, you know, we're not going to take, this is our king. We're not taking the son once. Let's take the money and move to the town and be rich. I'm sick of this life. The mother says this, you know, all of your fathers died and 10,000 men have died for this man. And was it all for nothing? So the hand of destiny comes in in this story. And that's a very important part of this, is timing and destiny. People often think, you know, it's got to happen in my lifetime. It's going to happen now. I'm going to make it happen. And that's always very arrogant in a way because there's the hand of God in things. There's a mighty hand at work. And sometimes you've got to let things, you know, unfold at their own speed. And I'm guilty of it myself because I sat around for years getting more and more angry and desperate because I couldn't get the filmmaker. But here we are and it's happening now and I feel like I learned my own personal lesson of a mighty hand is at work because the film is being released at the moment when it needs to be released, when people, you know, can seek some kind of illumination in a way, you know, because the film is, you know, I go to bed every night going, how do you unite the clans in this country? People are so divided right now. Like, how do you unite them? You know, and that is the role of culture in a way. It's not the role of a politician who's going to toe his line and he's going to toe his line and never the twain shall meet. How do you do it? You have to touch people in their hearts and you have to get people back to remembering that we're all human beings breathing the same air, drinking the same water and those are the important things. And so you've got to tell a story where we all remember where we came from. Powerful mate, I'm ready to go into a fucking battle. Just know what's the matter. Because it took you 12 years to write. Were you nervous at finishing it? Or were you scared? Or was it, what was it? Were you just a perfectionist? No, I wanted it very quickly. What did you? But it took 12 years to make because nobody would... Take it. Is that correct, yeah? Yeah. I'm surprised at that. Well, you know, it was once again, it's the timing. I was pissed off, but it's about the timing. I couldn't ask for a better time to come out than now. Brexit. The absolute madness of what's going on in the land right now. What do you think the state of Scotland does just now? I think it's sort of on the brink. We're at a crossroads. It's a vacant point. And this is where you meet the devil. They always say in ancient myth, the crossroad is where you meet the devil and it comes with an offer for your soul. And we're right there right now because you look at the choices that we have and it's like you go one way where you're basically going to privatize and sell off the whole lot and hand the keys of the kingdom over to a bunch of charlatans, liars, proven liars, only out for themselves and they've showed it again and again or you're going to be progressive and you're going to move forward with the progressive agenda which serves the people and the commonwealth. That was the thing which Bruce talked about all the time. He was like our first progressive king in a way, maybe the first progressive king of all time. He talked about the commonwealth, how the land belonged to the people and only the people. And we lost that. We lost that in 1707 with the act of union because before that, what's fascinating to me about the Scottish history is we actually, Scotland actually refused slave ships into its ports until 1707. We wouldn't have them. It was like a fucking evil. We don't do that where we come from and that changed. And when that changed, we kind of lost our soul and we've wandered and we've become what we became, this sort of bitter, angry... Who was it? Could he then in the 1700s to join together with the union? Yeah. Who was that? Was it a king? It was an ability. It was the land. It was a deal done. It was sort of one of those too big to fail schemes, the Darien scheme which created a situation and the land owners put all of their money into it and suddenly the things which they had invested in were going for pennies on the pound so they were bought up and England bought up the Scottish debt and said, we'll wipe it off the thing if you join us. And a deal was done with the devil. The English king was the guy who actually killed all of the Scottish people who went to Panama to try and set up their own sort of paradise on earth. They were a bit naive and foolish because they took Bibles and wigs to sell to people and like, who the hell needs Bibles and wigs in the tropics, I can tell you. You're running around naked because it's too bloody hot. You don't need Bibles and wigs there. So there was a naivete and also there was still a divided kingdom because you had the, this was right after Culloden and you had the the Jacobites versus the Protestants at the time and the terrible murders done on behalf of the English king and the English king then told the French, the Spanish, the Dutch nobody does trade with those Scots so they were left to their own devices and died. Scotland's such a powerful country as well it's got so much wealth and I think people are brainwashed to think we're not good enough to be a free country. I don't think people believe that I've seen that, I've said it before I think the shift has happened I believe Scotland will be an independent country I just don't know how long it's going to be. God, come on. It's good to happen soon. I'm really worried about the 31st of October because I just feel like you can't trust these guys. If they go over that they'll take that as a sign of weakness. Can we trust in politics? It's a difficult one the people who are leading this country should they be leading the country? They don't care about the people who are working slaves every day because that's what people are, slaves they're just living to die with no purpose, just going through the motions getting lied to constantly but again I believe the shift has happened I believe that the spark will come Scotland will become free and independent where big things can happen and you've got your own choices you've got your own choices to create because suicides on the rise in Scotland homelessness, drug addiction everything's rising because people are struggling so they're searching everything external to try and fulfil an emptiness and something that's eating their soul that they know it's fucking wrong and they don't know where it is I just think that, yeah I just believe I believe man to people in the rear path and fighting and believing what you believe in I'm going to get that part I'm going to do this and do that and you've achieved it all I know we're sitting here 12 years later with I don't think I've achieved it all Not yet, but you know what I mean first comes out and we get a free Scotland then we can sit with the feet up and get the cigars out, Angus That's the one, it's like I never dared to even dream about this back in the 80s what do you think people are going to react to your movie? I hope that people are going to be moved I just want people to be emotionally touched and who's all involved in that? because you said Lulu's involved in one of the songs as well we were saying the last song of the film she saw the film and was in tears so she she said I'm doing the last song so I was really pleased because she's a legend yeah she's a legend beautiful lady we've got other actors and actresses anyone we've heard of we have Kevin McNally is in there Jared Harris we have Anna Hutchinson who's an actress from New Zealand and the kids who are brilliant, who are Californian and I really shouldn't be putting this out there because everybody's going to be like what an accent and I was on them every day with the accent I've heard people who've said they thought they were from Scotland so what's all the dates for people who can get involved because on Glasgow, Edinburgh, Dundee what's the start date? 28th that's the go date Stirling it's on as well that's a great place to put a screening on working people get tickets they'll get a link and put it on at the Botmerus episode where people can get involved most of the cinemas are Odeon cinemas or the View cinemas so is it? people will be excited because I seen the trailer actually yesterday it's powerful stuff it's housing music, we've touched a brave heart bagpipes and drums yeah I mean you know Scottish Stirling stuff because I can't wait to see it I can't wait to see it because again films like you were in Saw, Free, how did that one come about because that's a total see you've just picked my least favourite movie oh is that? I liked that film to me that's the negativity of like you know people doing those being on a set like that it's like I've never done another of these I got right out of the concert I couldn't do another one I had to do number 4 but I said you shoot me, you're not torturing me or making me hang out tearing my insides out my shit outside of my whatever you're sick of imagining you get to shoot me and I'm out in 4 hours I actually thought that, I thought it was a brilliant film it was a weird kind of again so plans for the future and in fact that was the number 1 movie this is exactly what you just said I was in LA I had the number 1 movie in the cinemas, 2 or 3 thousand and I was sitting at home just feeling like a pile of crap because like you say I didn't feel proud of it and you chase the thing and it's on the outside of you and you've come to realisation this is not the path I want for my life I don't even want this because the budget for that film was like 10 million it's a 5 and it made hundreds and hundreds of millions oh it's a money making machine it's purely cynical so you've got to feel the passion for you your crafting, your acting and movies and for parts you've got to feel it to enjoy it well you know you've got to pay the bills sometimes so it's a sort of I've been kind of lucky that some of the crap I've done they go okay so you're at the bottom of the list they're making an offer and you know when they're making me an offer it's like my name they've gone through everybody else so they've only got 2 weeks it's like we've got Blackbeard and you're shooting in Thailand for 11 weeks and I'm like send me the script please, please, please God make it good, make it good and you open the script and you read the first picture and you're like oh so you make a phone call because I'm smart enough to know that they've only got 2 weeks they're at the end of the list so I go well I'll do it if I can rewrite all my dialogue and they go yeah okay and I'm like so now I can have some fun and we're talking about a $20 million project and they're just agreeing to let me rewrite my dialogue like they're desperate and then of course the producers like while I'm doing it you know when we're out there in Thailand they're like they're calling my agent going can you tell them to like you agreed to it yeah but you know what it says and I made it better because I added stuff you know it was such a pile of crap but is that not to say much about your character because people watching you and looking at you and saying nah you didn't like that let me change the line people who are aspiring actors going fuck me people would drop their right arm to be there was no freedom in it they were so afraid that if you tried to change one line of their stupid script that they would somehow spoil the formula for their success they were fucking terrified of you know I would make pretty good ideas and they would just be like well you can't do that because there was no freedom involved in it so it was like you shackled to this thing and it was stupid anyway because if you think about it I'm a guy who goes through each room and every time I'm like wondering I can't forgive this person so one woman freezes to death the next guy gets drowned in a pile of pig vomit the next one is God knows what torn apart by this disgusting and every time my character dithers about in a corner going you know and like when he decides to do it it's too late the person is dead what kind of a fucking character is that he's a scumbag at least he should he's kind of a progression in the story and become heroic or something that's the Scott who's coming out that's the Scott who's coming out that's crap going forward for the future now and just watch our plans what do you see yourself working on if you're getting new projects coming up well I've got I'm hoping this does well so that I can raise funds I have the next part of this movie to take us to Bannockburn and him becoming king I have that ready to go and it's a big budget movie I also have a script which I've worked on for years because I've been hanging out in Panama and it's about the Darien expedition it's about the story of these 2,000 Scots who went to the jungle thinking they were going for paradise and ended up dying in this hell and so I've got those 2 scripts so you're sitting there basically seeing the outcome of the bliss and then going from there well basically you know there's that saying you know if you have there's so many lows that while you're in the low you've got to find something to do like write or paint or whatever it is that you love to do so I did a lot of writing and I prepared a lot of things so that I'm ready for that next high because as Hamlet says the readiness is all do you think the writing then and locking yourself away makes you sane kind of keeps you on a good path instead of slumping so basically you're on the ball then so as soon as this comes because you all get a high and then you come down but you've got these other 2 to back it up do you think that comes with more maturity as you got older I think we're all very fragile human beings and people have all kinds of things which go on and depressions and highs and lows and we're all you know in some way you know people mock mental illness all the time I see it online all the time what a mental idiot this it's like you shouldn't because we're all in the same boat we all go there at night what happens to you when you wake up at 3am it's called the hour of the wolf when your darkest fears come to get you what happens to you in the middle of the night when you wake up from that kind of horrible nightmare which is coming for you and then you're out for hours with anxiety and all of these things that is emotional instability it's mental illness things that we all have to cope with we shouldn't mock it you can either take it and harness it and create something good out of it or you will be subdued and you will be victimized by it and we shouldn't turn it into some kind of an object of mockery definitely and I think you get your trolls and people who are negative but I think that's just a reflection of people who are sad themselves that's just a reflection of I'm insecure so I see you above me so I'm going to try and bring you down to that level it's like somebody who beats an animal because it's vulnerable it's more vulnerable than them and it makes them feel good so they can beat something I see trolls, I see people who are vulnerable when they're saying negative shit they're in a bad place I just see them as vulnerable and I'll just I'll love you until you love yourself that's all I say that's big because a lot of people they see that they take it personally and it's one of the big things to not take I used to because I used to get 95% positive 5% negative and I used to react but I'm just giving them my energy and now I'm just learning to actually deal with it I understand that people are on their own journey how and why they judge me is their life so perfect that they can judge other people of course it's not, they're just what you're doing is when you start becoming successful you shine a light on their misery and paying that they can't reach maybe your height so they just try and bring you down and try and hurt you I believe everybody also got goodness in them and I believe also people just need a wee spark to maybe ignite them to go because people, the things I'm doing as well it's called love yeah that's all we need man the things I'm doing people will wear a look at it for inspiration other people will look at it and go nah they'll wear a coward away and shy away and just hate but hopefully what we're doing today even you're coming on a day speaking but we've got to have the choice you've got to give people the choice that's the important part that's freedom, independence so you have it would you like to finish up anything I can guess before we but for your new film coming out Glasgow Dundee check out the dates, I'll put the link on the profiles below and you've got a song as well you want us to add to it as well I do, I was asked to write by the National, I was asked to write a song I was asked to write a piece Robert the Bruce was around now what would he say about all of this and so it's coming out tomorrow in the National and I wrote a song to go with it written by which the music was done and so that's out tomorrow I'll link it up we'll put the links in here it's a song of inspiration let's all get together here we've got to see the bigger picture the bigger picture we've got to see further than today or tomorrow we've got to and the dream I guess it's been an absolute pleasure and I can't wait to see the film I wish you all the best for the future