A widely-anticipated film that explores the lives of Laurel and Hardy will soon be showing in Aberdeen.
Stan & Ollie, directed by Peterhead-born filmmaker Jon S. Baird, will be screening at the Belmont Filmhouse from Friday.
The film opens with the iconic comedy duo in Hollywood just before Laurel – portrayed by Steve Coogan – is about to leave Oliver Hardy – played by John C. Reilly – over a contract dispute.
The great majority of the plot concerns their efforts to revitalize their careers while in London and surrounding areas playing live shows and trying to set up financing for a new project.
Mr Baird said: “From a very young age, I watched their films on TV after getting home from school, and they were just part of the DNA of our childhood.
“They were funny, they got into scrapes and they suffered misfortune, but they were innocents in the big wide world and they made you laugh, no matter what age you were.”
The 46-year-old, who moved to London the day after his graduation from Aberdeen University, began his career at the BBC and quickly progressed through the ranks.
Mr Baird, who made the award-winning Filth, with James McAvoy in 2013, has become one of Britain’s most highly-regarded film-makers.
He added:“I grew up in Peterhead, the kind of place where you don’t tell anyone you want to be a film-maker, for fear of it being dismissed as a pipe dream.”
James Erwin, from the Belmont Filmhouse, said Stan & Ollie was a “fascinating and touching” story.
It will run at the Belmont from January 11-24, with a relaxed screening held on January 20 in association with the Grampian Autistic Society.
