Nice 'do kicks off EIFF

Stars out for absurdist serial killing barber flick The Legend Of Barney Thomson

by Amber Wilkinson

Robert Carlyle and his wife Anastasia on the red carpet for The Legend Of Barney Thompson world premiere.
Robert Carlyle and his wife Anastasia on the red carpet for The Legend Of Barney Thompson world premiere. Photo: Courtesy of EIFF
Ashley Jensen on the red carpet for EIFF
Ashley Jensen on the red carpet for EIFF Photo: Courtesy of EIFF
The 69th Edinburgh International Film Festival officially got under way last night with the world premiere of Robert Carlyle's directorial debut The Legend Of Barney Thomson.

The cast were out in force to support the screening of the film that tells the story of the hapless titular barber, who finds himself unwittingly drawn into a murder investigation. Carlyle stars as Thomson, with Emma Thompson wrinkling up to play his dear old mum. Although Thompson was unable to attend because she's currently shooting Disney's Beauty And The Beast remake, cast members including James Cosmo, Martin Compston, Ashley Jensen, Brian Pettifer, Tom Courtenay, Sam Robertson and Kevin Guthrie all graced the red carpet.

Carlyle introduced the screening to a packed Festival Theatre in Edinburgh, recalling when he first started out on stage he played to "three nuns and a whippet".

James Cosmo on the red carpet.
James Cosmo on the red carpet. Photo: Courtesy of EIFF
At the party after the screening at the National Museum of Scotland, there was a steady stream of people giving a couple of barber's chairs a spin, while a band played some of the 60s hits featured in the film.

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