An English actor who has never visited Scotland has been given the lead role of Bonnie Prince Charlie in a new Scottish-produced film about the Young Pretender.
Jamie Bacon, whose film experience is so far limited to small roles in little known British indies, has been cast in The Great Getaway, which will follow the prince’s escape across the Western Isles after the failed Jacobite rising of 1745.
Writer-director Robbie Moffat said: “Bonnie Prince Charlie was born in Rome to a Polish mother and an English father. He did not have a Scottish accent. One of the things this film is trying to do is rid the story of its myths. It is trying to be as authentic as possible.”
Bacon said: “I’ve never been to Scotland before. But then again neither had Bonnie Prince Charlie before he landed to reclaim the throne – so it will really be like I’m retracing history.”
Filming on The Great Getaway is due to begin in August, with Mhairi Calvey as Flora MacDonald, and Angus Macfadyen and James Cosmo alongside. Moffat is also attempting to interest Prince Harry’s former girlfriend Cressida Bonas in a role in the film.
