The story of an American businessman sent to buy the Scottish village of Ferness with the aim of turning it into an oil refinery, Local Hero is one of Scotland's most beloved, and most misunderstood, films.

When Bill Forsyth's incredible success with the low-budget That Sinking Feeling and Gregory's Girl found him collaborating with Britain's best-known film producer, David Puttnam, he soon found his independent ethos clashing with Hollywood's desire for superstar actors and a happy ending.

Jonathan Melville checks into the MacAskill Arms and looks back at Bill Forsyth's career with the help of new and archive interviews, before spending time with the cast and crew, including stars Peter Riegert and Denis Lawson, who made Local Hero on location in Houston and Scotland in 1982.

With access to early drafts of the Local Hero script (including hand-written notes) that reveal more about Mac and mermaids, excerpts from a previously unpublished interview in which Bill Forsyth explains why he refuses to call his film 'feel-good', and a look at long-lost deleted scenes with exclusive commentary from those involved, this is the definitive history of the Scottish classic.

Autorentext

Jonathan Melville is a freelance arts journalist who has contributed to The Guardian, The Scotsman, SFX and BBC Radio Scotland. He is the author of Seeking Perfection: The Unofficial Guide to Tremors, A Kind of Magic: Making the Original Highlander and Local Hero: Making a Scottish Classic. He lives in Edinburgh.