Mary star I’ll head home to Scotland
Mary Queen of Scots star James McArdle has revealed he is moving back to his homeland af ter spending much of his career in London.
The Glasgow actor, who plays Mary’s half- brother Moray in the historical movie, said Scots were often convinced to uproot but said filming the blockbuster in his home country made him “proud”.
He said: “I’m moving back here.
“There’s this Londoncentric pull to have to live there but I think to myself, ‘ Well, why do I? Because I can just travel.’
“We filmed Mary Queen of Scots in Scotland. Being in Scotland and working in Scotland, I can’t tell you how proud it makes me – especially when you’ve been sort of trained and told you have to change being Scottish to be successful.”
Last year, McArdle, 29, finished a two-year stint in the award-winning Angels in America, in London and on New York’s Broadway, for which he was nominated for an Olivier Award.
And the star reckons he owes his screen career to his stage roles.
He said: “I’m proud to be a stage actor, I feel like that’s where I’ve come from.
“But Mary Queen of Scots is one of my favourite jobs I’ve ever done, not only because there’s such a rich satisfaction coming from the fact we’re telling this universal story set in Scot land, which was brilliant, but also the cast were lovely.”