Scarlett should face chop over Queen of Scots role

May 11 2008 Elaine C. Smith

Why Isn't Homegrown Star Playing Mary Queen Of Scots?

I AM appalled that the Hollywood movie of Mary Queen of Scots is to be made in Ireland and the star is Scarlett Johansson.

Though we shouldn't be surprised. It's just another in a long list of movies that have hijacked our history for profits...from Brigadoon through Braveheart, to Rob Roy and Highlander.

We all know money follows stars and big movies only get made when there's a lot of cash.

Scarlett is probably the reason the movie about the beheaded monarch is being made in the first place. We have so few women film actors in Scotland anyway. Kelly Macdonald has done well but isn't a big enough name to fund a film on her own. Tilda Swinton has just won an Oscar and even looks a bit like Mary Stuart but she's not seen as glam.

But Hollywood has passed them by. Worse is the fact that the movie won't even be filmed in Scotland. The sooner we get tax breaks for film companies here to encourage the industry the way that Ireland does, the better.

I'd like to have seen Scarlett, like the unfortunate Mary, with her head on the chopping block before it got this far.