Michelle’s film failure
Former Cornation Street star Michelle Keegan’s big-screen debut has bombed at the box office.
Black comedy Strangeways Here We Come – about tower block residents who kill a loan shark – grossed just £1502 in its first weekend, then £160 a week later.
The 70-year- old plays Robert the Bruce’s father Sir Robert VI de Brus in the new medieval epic.
He also starred in Mel Gibson’s Braveheart in 1995.
Cosmo is angry that in the intervening years, Scotland had been left behind by other parts of the UK, including Wales, where he is filming a fantasy series.
The actor said f i lms including Braveheart generated millions for the national economy and it was time Scotland “got its finger out” to support the industry north of the Border.
Cosmo added: “A successful f ilm showing a great country like ours has huge financial implications.
“Braveheart brought in hundreds of millions of pounds to this country.
“That’s why it’s so important to support the Scottish film industry to the fullest.
“I ’ m making His Dark Mater ials just now – a long-running series for HBO and BBC Worldwide. It’s being filmed in Wales, where they have four studios.
“Four studios? That doesn’t look too good for us. I really hope we get our finger out and build proper studios. It should have been done by now.” At a cost of £ 85million, Outlaw King, starring Chris Pine as Robert the Bruce, is the biggest “home- grown” f i lm production ever made in Scotland. It was shot at more than 45 locations across Scotland, including Craigmillar, Blackness and Doune castles, as wel l as Aviemore, Glencoe and Linlithgow Palace. Cosmo said the film, which will be available on Netflix from November 9, could copy Braveheart in providing Scotland with a tourist boom. He added: “It’s going to reach a massive audience very quickly. Everyone all over the world is going to be able to watch it and that’s great for Scotland.” Cosmo, who was at the premiere of Outlaw King in Edinburgh on Friday, bel ieves it won’t inspire the same push for i ndependence t hat Braveheart did. He sa id : “Before , Scottish national ism was on the fringe and Braveheart touched that raw nerve of independence. “I don’t think it wi l l have such an impact because of the political s i t ua t ion now.”