Sir Sean Connery to voice character in new Scottish animated short film

When Sir Sean Connery signalled his retirement from a distinguished acting career two years ago, he said it would take “a Mafia-like” offer to convince him to return to the screen - reports The Times.

However, the former 007 star, who commanded £12m per role at his peak and turned down the role of Gandalf in the blockbuster The Lord of the Rings, has been coaxed back for significantly less.

Connery’s first acting role since his appearance in The League of Extraordinary Gentleman, is as the voice of the eponymous Billi the Vet in a Scottish low-budget short cartoon.

While Connery played to millions in his countless Holywood blockbusters, his latest appearance is likely to be watched by a handful of cinema buffs at film festivals and smaller venues.

Connery’s fee has not been disclosed, but the total cost of the production — produced by Kilsyth-based Glasgow Animation — is estimated at about £150,000.

Another Scottish Hollywood star Alan Cumming will also feature in the film, and the musical score has been written by award-winning Scottish composer Patrick Doyle.

“It is a real honour that Sir Sean agreed to take part in the film. It is a huge coup and we are all thrilled,” said a spokeswoman for the company. “We were all beside ourselves with excitement when he phoned the office.”

With his balding head and silver beard, Billi the Vet bears a striking resemblance to Connery. The character also wears his Scottish roots on his sleeve, dressed in a red and green tartan shirt.

The production, described as a “short feature film”, relied on unpaid interns to get it finished.

Glasgow Animation and its parent company, the TFF Agency, are owned and operated by the husband and wife partners Tessa and Sascha Hartmann.

“We have been working on this for three years now and it has taken a long time to get into production,” said Tessa. “We are almost 95% there with the footage. We think there will be a huge amount of interest in the film because of Sir Sean’s involvement.”

She confirmed that Cumming, who was born in Perthshire and first came to public attention playing a camp airline steward in the hit BBC Scotland sitcom The High Life, would also take part in the project.

Cumming collected rave reviews and awards for his role in the Broadway revival of the musical Cabaret before moving to the Hollywood mainstream and starring in blockbusters such as X2 and Spy Kids.

Glaswegian Doyle has provided the soundtrack to dozens of hit movies, including Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Bridget Jones’s Diary, Gosford Park, Calendar Girls, Nanny McPhee, Sense and Sensibility and Carlito’s Way.

In 1990, the Prince of Wales commissioned the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama graduate to write the song cycle The Thistle and the Rose in honour of the Queen Mother’s 90th birthday.

Announcing his retirement in 2003 Connery, who remains Britain’s highest-paid movie star, said: “I’m fed up with the idiots and the ever-widening gap between people who know how to make movies and the people who green light the movies.

“I would need a Mafia-like offer I couldn’t refuse to appear in another film.”

Connery, 75, tried his hand as a bricklayer and lifeguard before getting his first major part opposite Lana Turner in the 1958 film Another Time, Another Place.

Once described by Steven Spielberg, the Hollywood director, as one of the world’s few genuine film stars, Connery has appeared in more than 60 films. Earlier this month, it was revealed he will receive a life achievement award at a ceremony in Los Angeles next June. Former winners of the award include Alfred Hitchcock and Orson Welles.

Thanks to `JP` for the alert.

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