Sir Sean Connery`s refusal to ditch SNP `cost Scotland its big film studio`

Sir Sean Connery has claimed that Scotland could have had an international film studio capable of producing blockbusters similar to Star Wars and Harry Potter if he had agreed to change his allegiance from the Scottish Nationalists to Labour - reports The Times.

His claim will cause outrage in movie circles because it suggests that politics rather than viability scuppered a much-vaunted project for a multimillion-pound studio at Hermiston, outside Edinburgh.

Speaking yesterday from his home in Nassau, Sir Sean said that discussions with Labour leaders, including Tony Blair, Gordon Brown and the former minister Geoffrey Robinson, came to nothing after it became clear that his support for the SNP was a serious obstacle. This was despite his pledge to invest £1 million in the project.

“It was never exactly spelt out, but it became clear that anything associated with myself was not going to be accepted,” he said.

“They would have been perfectly happy if I joined Labour . . . There was no way that I would consider going back to Labour, and so the thing just petered out.”

The project dates back to 1998, when Sir Sean teamed up with Sony, which owns Columbia Pictures, and with Rangers boss David Murray, the financier Sir Angus Grossart and other leading Scottish businessmen to develop proposals for a studio.

With the support of Scotland’s film funding agency, Scottish Screen, and the backing of leading independent directors, Sir Sean met Mr Blair at Chequers.

He said: “I told him I wanted to build a studio outside Edinburgh, to be the top point of a triangle with Shepperton and Pinewood, so that they could all be interconnected.”

The discussions took place at a time when the film industry was booming following the development of multiplexes, video and multi-channel television. Britain was attracting bigbudget Hollywood films, but was short of studio space.

The Scottish film industry has a tradition of highly praised low-budget movies, from the hugely successful Local Hero to Shallow Grave, The Magdalene Sisters, Lynne Ramsay’s Ratcatcher, David Mackenzie’s Young Adam, Red Road, which was the hit of last year’s Cannes Film Festival, and the Scottish director Kevin Macdonald’s Oscar success with The Last King of Scotland.

It has also produced a string of successful actors such as Connery himself, Ewan McGregor, Robert Carlyle, Robbie Coltrane, Tilda Swinton, James McAvoy and Kelly MacDonald. However, it has been less successful at attracting big-earning movies, apart from Trainspotting and Braveheart.

Although its scenery, historic castles and Highland locations are a big attraction, the lack of a major studio and the essential movie infrastructure — skilled staff, technology and consistent production — that gives Ireland such an advantage, has always held it back.

Last night an industry insider described Sir Sean’s claims as “dynamite”.

She added: “The whole history of Scottish film might have been different.”

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