In Edinburgh there is a well known cinema called the Filmhouse. It’s a cinema that will show some of the big movies, and also go round the world for mini-festivals by country, events, directors, anything as long as it’s interesting, exciting and entertaining. They focus a lot on education as well by providing some film courses, etc. It’s a pretty good cinema.
However they are building a new one, very close to the original site. In the current Filmhouse they’ve set up a display to show the plans with a comments book next to it (you can also comment from the new site’s, site). The Scotsman are reporting that of the fourty comments collated to date, over half of them are complaining about the new name: The Sean Connery Filmhouse, asking that it is not named after him!
Some film fans feel that Edinburgh is more famous than Sir Sean and want to see the Edinburgh Filmhouse retain its current name.
And some believe that while Sir Sean’s work includes an impressive array of movies, performances in mediocre films such as Meteor and Zardoz – in which he stars alongside a giant flying stone head – showed he was not worthy of the honour.
Film fans insisted that Sir Sean wasn’t “that great” an actor and that if the cinema was to be named after him, he should contribute to the cost.
Oh dear, perhaps they made a mistake naming it after Connery. The architect (possibly not Scottish judging from his comments) says:
Richard Murphy…said: “I really don’t understand that reaction. He is one of the most famous film stars in the world and he is from Edinburgh, so it would seem a bit churlish not to name it after him.
I do. Here’s two reasons why I think Sean Connery is not a good advert for Scotland. He lives in Spain. He promotes Japanese Whiskey. There are more indepth political reasons, like he funds the Scottish National Party and won’t live here, but I shan’t go on. For me I think he’s a poor advert and considering the amount of talent we have from Scotland I think we have a number of better choices, if we even have to name it after an actor. What do you think? What should it be named?
But you miss the point, not many actors are paying for their country to be independent and vocalising constantly about how great the country is and how it should be its own country. He’s taking a very politcal slant on one side and then not backing up the country on the other – advertising Japanese whiskey over Scottish, when the industry is struggling, and not paying any taxes to Scotland by living somewhere else. The money he is donating is going to a political party for their advertising, travel, parties, etc.
I do neither understand that reaction.
I think Connery loves Scottland very much, perhaps that’s why he spends money to the Scottish National Party. Connery is a very famous Scot, I think he is a kind of ambassador for Scotland, just like Pierce Brosnan for Ireland.
By the way, Connery lives no more in Marbella (Spain), lives now in Bahamas… But it doesn’t matter, if he doesn’t live in Scotland, I find that argument simple ridiculous (most of actors live no more in their born places).
And it would be great to have a “Sean Connery” Street in Madrid. :)
Best wishes.
Raúl, Spain
How about Titanic?
Other than being a memorable movie, it also just happens to have a lot of Scottish connections. To wit: a) the boat itself was built on the Clyde, b) the director’s family name… and last but not least, c) there’s the general state of the Scottish Film Industry…
Robert Burns is a cracking choice…or maybe they could build the entranceway with 39 steps…most of that was filmed in Scotland, that’s all three versions too. Local Hero…What other possibilities could there be?
I was gonna ask you that, sinc eyou mentioned actor, it was such a limited choice. If named after a writer, why not Robert Burns?
Right Rich, if named after a film, what were you thinking? *winks*
..but why does it have to be named after an actor? What about a film?
Craig Ferguson…?
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*gets coat*
What about Gerard Butler? *winks*
Please dont take that suggestion seriously Rich. ;-)
I think you’ll find that permission has advanced since then. The idea was to be scrapped but it’s been reworked and I think it’s now through.
I thought this proposed new building was still just an architectural model, without any concrete plans for development? Even without the question of the name, I’d imagine that the Sheraton Hotel would have something to say about it being situated squarely on their doorstep, and blocking their view of the castle…
As for it being named after Connery…I’m with you on that one. I think the name would be appreciated more by tourists than by the people of Edinburgh, who form its main audience.