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By Andrea McCallum
BRAVEHEART star and director Mel Gibson could return to the rolling landscapes of Scotland for his latest war epic.
The award-winning actor is considering location options for a Viking movie which is allegedly untitled and at script stage.
And fifteen years after Braveheart was made Gibson may just shoot Scotland’s stunning scenery once again.
A DRIVER sparked a dramatic rescue after first crashing his car into a truck before wandering dazed on foot across a busy railway line then finally plunging down a 150ft cliff in the pitch dark.
He had a miracle escape after police stumbled across his abandoned silver hatchback on the A90 dual carriageway 10-miles south of Aberdeen after a worried Royal Mail trucker earlier reported being clipped by the car at 10.20pm about a mile away.
But worried police could find no sign of the driver sparking a huge hunt which saw an RAF Sea King helicopter scrambled from Lossiemouth and Coastguard rescue boat and rope teams drafted in to join in the cliff hunt.
Thanks to infra red technology it took the chopper crew just seven minutes to find the driver at Hall Bay, perched confused and lost more than half way down the Muchalls cliffs at 3.45am yesterday (Thursday).
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By Cara Sulieman
SCOTLAND’S biggest television star, David Tennant, revealed that he had agreed to leave the show at the same time as its writer – Russell T Davies.
Tennant – who leaves the show this year after four years playing the enigmatic Doctor – said that the pair had discussed leaving together a few years ago.
He said: “We talked about it. It wasn’t a pact, I’d sort of decided. But then I nearly changed my mind again.”
This year the 37-year-old will star in four Dr Who Specials before handing over to Matt Smith, the 11th Doctor Who. Continue reading
By Oliver Farrimond
SCOTS celebrities are having their identities hijacked on the trendy social networking site Twitter.
Alex Salmond, Duncan Bannatyne and Doctor Who star David Tennant have all had accounts falsely set up in their names.
Tennant is the latest figure to be lampooned, with regular updates portraying him as a big-headed sex god.
Named “The REAL David Tennant”, the fake doc has been boasting to fans of his fame and sexual prowess.
The online impersonator has since been outed as Lisa Valentine after receiving a warning from bosses at the BBC.
She said: “I made David into an egotistical womanising character obsessed with his own status from Doctor Who.
“I’ve been getting requests for autographs and to say hello to people’s sons.”
“I made the entries more and more ridiculous – surely people are not going to believe he goes to McDonald’s in a kilt?”
Scotland’s First Minister has also been a victim of the high-tech spoof.
Salmond’s account, run by anti-SNP attack blog “A Leaky Chanter”, regularly posts satirical updates from the SNP leader.
One of the most recent entries says: “Can’t stop watching youtube videos of myself – what a stallion.”
A Twitter spokesman said that impersonating people violated the company’s terms of service.
Biz Stone, Twitter co-founder, said: “We do allow parody, but if it’s not clear and there is some confusion, we do get involved.”
Scots celebrity entrepreneur Duncan Bannatyne also appeared to be messaging fans from his Twitter profile.
However the account was revealed to be fake and was removed by Twitter, despite having attracted hundreds of followers.
Many Scots celebrities do have genuine Twitter accounts that they use to keep in touch with fans.
Ewan MacGregor and tennis star Andy Murray both use the site – and have over 30,000 followers between them.
By Oliver Farrimond
DAVID Tennant’s acclaimed portrayal of Hamlet is set to be immortalised on film.
Tennant’s performance – hailed by critics as the “greatest of his generation”- is to be made into a feature-length screen production by the Royal Shakespeare Company.
The Doctor Who star will reprise his role after suffering a painful back injury only a few weeks into the play’s production at the Novello theatre.
The injury limited him to just 11 performances in the title role, leaving understudy Edward Bennett to fill in for the remaining dates.
The RSC have not ruled out a cinema release – a move that will delight fans who missed out on Tennant’s portrayal of the Danish Prince.
A spokesman for the RSC said: “It’s true that we’re looking to produce a screen version of Hamlet – we’d love to capture the play on film.
“We’re not sure exactly what form the production will take, we’d be silly to rule anything out at this stage.”
Tennant – who missed out on a prestigious Laurent Olivier award nomination due to his injury – is currently filming a Doctor Who special.
The current production has won several accolades and drawn high critical praise for the star-studded cast, including famous thesp Oliver Ford Davies and Star Trek star Patrick Stewart.
Mr Ford-Davies, who played Polonius in the production, said that the whole cast were hoping to return.
He said: “We are intending to film it over two or three weeks in June.
“It won’t be a full feature film as there isn’t time but it will certainly be more than just the filming of the stage.
“It will be fantastic to work together again.”
Although Tennant’s performances were cut short by a slipped disc, his return to the British stage was named the theatre event of the year, and following surgery he recovered in time to star in the final few dates.
The planned RSC production will be far from the first screen adaptation of Hamlet – the most famous of which is Disney’s The Lion King.
The play is widely regarded as Shakespeare’s finest work, and has been performed on stage for more than 400 years.
The title role of the vengeful Danish prince is one of the most difficult parts in acting – Daniel-Day Lewis famously dropped out the title role in 1989 after seeing the ghost of his own dead father appear on stage.
Deadline Press & Picture Agency 