In the Margins #8: Taking the high road
Hello from a cloudy Edinburgh! Autumn is definitely here, but it’s not freezing cold yet, so I’m looking forward to being able to go for a few walks and not have to worry too much about staying warm.
The big news is that my book on Local Hero, now called Local Hero: Making a Scottish Classic, is finished and copies exist in the world with a fantastic cover by Ben Morris, who has illustrated the covers of all three of my books.
In the end I spoke to around 20 cast and crew from Local Hero, plus various other people who worked with Bill Forsyth or who had some connection to the film. As well as talking to Forsyth in 2013, I spoke to actors such as Peter Riegert, Denis Lawson, Jennifer Black, Jenny Seagrove, John Gordon-Sinclair, Sandra Voe, Jimmy Yuill, Tam Bean Burn and Jonathan Watson, along with associate producer Iain Smith, editor Mike Bradsell, assistant director Matthew Binns and others.
I managed to access archive TV and print interviews and early drafts of the script, meaning I hopefully have the most in-depth look at the film you’re going to get, unless Bill Forsyth decides to write his own book on the film (which I hope he does!).
I also travelled to Pennan, one of the locations doubling as the village of Ferness in the film, with filmmaker Jon Gill, and you can see some of the results here. I made up the dialogue on the spot, as you can probably tell…
There have been a few articles in the press already, including this in Scotland on Sunday and this in The Herald Magazine.
The book’s out this Thursday, 13th October, here in the UK and signed copies are available to order from my publisher, Polaris Publishing, while it’s also available from local bookshops and, of course, Amazon in the UK and US.
Sadly it’s going to take longer to reach US bookstores (I’m not so sure about others outside the UK) because pallets have to be shipped there from the UK and that can take a few months. It will be available to buy before Christmas, but if any readers wanted it before those pallets arrive then it can be ordered from Polaris or other UK stores and it should get there in a few weeks. I appreciate the postage costs aren’t cheap, but the other option could be the Kindle edition.
Hopefully fans of the film will find something new in the book, I didn’t see much point writing something that simply rehashed all the old facts. There’s a lot that was filmed and didn’t end up in the film and I’ve done my best to show readers what an alternate Local Hero might have looked like. Please let me know if I got it right.
Paperback Highlander
Another exciting bit of book news is that my 2020 look at the first Highlander film, A Kind of Magic: Making the Original Highlander, is now out in paperback! I took the chance to correct a few errors and update a few things, but it’s mainly the same book as before, though there are some new photos in there.
It’s also available from Polaris, along with hardback copies, or of course it’s in bookshops or on Amazon, though for some reason they don’t have the proper option for buying the paperback yet so maybe stick to the likes of Bookshop.org if you’re in the UK.
Other bits and bobs
I don’t have too many other extra bits and pieces this month as life has been very much focused on getting the book finished. I’ve mentioned that I have a book focused on Jim Henson in the works and that’s still the case, I just need to get back to editing the interview transcripts. I’ve spoken to various creatives who worked with Henson and I’m going to compile then into a new tome that should be out in early 2023.
I also have another book of interviews with people who worked on action/adventure series of the 70s/80s/90s that’s almost done, again it just needs some TLC. That could be a summer 2023 release. My long-gestating book on the 1990s BBC series Hamish Macbeth is also still on the cards. I started carrying out new interviews back in 2008ish and have a few dozen under my belt, but once again it’s a case of finding time in among the paid work that comes in.
One sad piece of news that has hit us hard here in Edinburgh is that last week our beloved cinema, Filmhouse, shut down overnight and took with it the Edinburgh International Film Festival and the Belmont Filmhouse cinema in Aberdeen.
I’ve mentioned Filmhouse many times over the years in my work, partly because I used to write for a local newspaper on film matters and barely a week went by without some interesting event or festival taking place there, while the EIFF is an incredible institution that’s been running since 1947. They were places where smaller/older/rarer films could be seen and festivals celebrating diversity and inclusion were able to find a safe haven.
The reasons for the closures are murky and are being blamed on a few different factors including energy costs and smaller audiences since the pandemic, but it’s rare for any organisation to simply shutter its doors one morning after telling 102 staff they’re going to lose their job that same day.
A petition has been set up to show that Filmhouse, EIFF and Belmont are much missed and much needed in a world where blockbusters rule at the box office and streaming services dominate. If you can sign it, please do.
If anyone is looking for TV recommendations then I’ll throw the recent FX series Under the Banner of Heaven at you, which is on Disney+ in the UK, while I’m finally getting stuck into FX’s Justified from around a decade ago that’s currently on Amazon Prime. Oh, and I just finished season one of the bizarre and addictive Lodge 49 on Amazon, though it’s now dropped off the streamer and season two is nowhere to be seen over here.
Quantum Leap is also back on US TV screens, sadly minus the great Scott Bakula, and it’s doing quite well, having just had its episode order bumped up to 18. It takes a few episodes to find its feet, but I think if it’s given time it could become a modern classic.
I hope to get another email out soon, though I’ve said that before and failed miserably. This time I’m determined that it will be before Christmas 2022, but feel free to shout at me if that doesn’t happen.
Until then, stay safe.
Jon