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| Robert Carlyle in The Legend Of Barney Thomson, which will open EIFF Photo: Courtesy of EIFF |
Carlyle - who is an honorary patron of the festival - also stars in the darkly humorous Glasgow-set thriller alongside Emma Thompson, Ray Winstone, Tom Courtenay, Ashley Jensen and Martin Compston.
Carlyle said: “After a career-long association with EIFF it gives me enormous pleasure to have The Legend Of Barney Thomson chosen as Opening Night film. It really is such an honour for me to have my first feature as director premiered here in Edinburgh at the Festival that has played such a huge part in my life."
The screenplay - based on Douglas Lindsay's The Long Midnight of Barney Thomson - is written by Colin McLaren (Donkeys) and Richard Cowan. The film tells the story of Barney (Carlyle), an awkward barber who inadvertently stumbles into serial murder, with absurd and macabre consequences. Complicating matters further, Barney’s mother Cemolina (Thompson) has a secret of her own and the local police inspector Holdall (Winstone) is fighting his own battles within his inept homicide department as he tries to solve the crime of the century.
Festival artistic director Mark Adams said: “We are thrilled to be opening this year’s Festival with Robert Carlyle’s wonderful black comedy. It is a marvellously macabre and playful film, impressively directed and with a terrific cast. It is the perfect film to kick off what promises to be an exciting festival.”
Tickets for the film’s public screening on Wednesday June 17 at Festival Theatre go on sale tomorrow (May 6) on the official site.
Read our coverage of last year's festival and check back for more news from the 2015 edition.
