MEL Gibson has shown interest in a film being developed by Scottish producer Mairi Sutherland centred on the Irish High King, Niall Noígíallach.
Sutherland met the Braveheart star in Ireland last weekend when he was celebrating the 30th anniversary of the movie to talk about her plans to make the film.
She has offered him first look at the project and now intends to travel to Italy to secure an Italian co-producer as the screenplays are set at the time of the fall of the Roman Empire.
Sutherland has also been invited to meet the Irish delegation attending the Edinburgh Film Festival from Limerick to see if there is a match with them to become involved.
Niall Of The Nine Hostages is a passion project by the long-time film producer, whose film Red Rose about the life of Robert Burns gained several film festival awards and went on to be translated into 12 different languages across Europe by HBO as well as being screened in Mandarin on Chinese TV.
Sutherland’s extensive track record as a producer extends to 23 independent feature films under the banner of Palm Tree Films who she worked for as an employee director for more than 20 years. She has also directed two films and written six screenplays, including Red Rose which saw Rebecca Palmer win best actress at the Monaco Film Festival in 2004.
Red Rose was made without any funding from Scottish Screen (now Screen Scotland) as Sutherland was turned down “point blank” when she approached the organisation in 2003.
However, she is hopeful she will get funding to develop her new film.
Her company, Sans Peur Productions Ltd, based in Dumfries and Galloway has already received a small grant for equipment from South of Scotland Enterprise (SOSE) to base filming in the region for its projects.
“The only problem with SOSE is that the next stage of company development does not exist in that they have large grants for companies creating manufacturing to employ lots of people but not structured grants for small businesses,” she said.
Sutherland said it would help if Screen Scotland were to implement a surgery-style approach for filmmakers.
“For example, I got, and still can get, coaching sessions with SOSE who gave me advice on not just the grants they had but also on things I should aim for to grow my business,” she said.
“They have regular meetings on all sorts of subjects that are easily accessed.”
Niall of the Nine Hostages, was a legendary, semi-historical Irish king who was the ancestor of the Ui Neill dynasties that dominated Ireland from the sixth to the 10th centuries.
Legend has it that Niall made war in Europe as far as the Alps, and the Romans send an ambassador to parlay with him.
He is also believed to have carried out raids on England, Wales and Scotland with much of the action taking place along Hadrian’s wall.
“While Niall fought the Romans in the Kingdom of Brittany it seems Italy as well as Ireland are the places to check out cultural and financial opportunities,” said Sutherland.
“And since Dumfries and Galloway and the Borders are close to Hadrian’s wall, where some of the action in Niall Of The Nine Hostages takes place, it seems fitting that the Scottish production base should be in that region of Scotland for now.”
Mairi made an extensive location visit to Donegal in Ireland last year, when she visited the legendary historical site Greenan of Aichlech, the seat of the sons of Niall of the Nine hostages.
If all goes to plan, a second production base in Ireland would be set up, pending further funding applications.
