2009-2008
News Release
REF NO.: 0
SUBJECT: Grenfell: TNL Monday Night Movie - March 30 - Stone of Destiny
DATE: March 18, 2009
The next Monday Night Movie will be "Stone of Destiny," showing at Empire Theatres on Monday, March 30, 7 p.m. (97 minutes).
Summary
Veteran film and television actor Charles Martin Smith has appeared in many of the American cinema’s more memorable achievements, from American Graffiti to The Untouchables. His television credits are almost too numerous to list; highlights include The Brady Bunch, The Twilight Zone, Northern Exposure, The X-Files and the acclaimed HBO miniseries And the Band Played On. More recently, he began directing; his 1997 comedy Air Bud won numerous awards – including the Golden Reel Award at the Genies – and inspired many sequels. His next film, The Snow Walker (2003), was a Film Circuit hit and a multiple-award-winner and moved audiences the world over with its tale of survival after a plane crash in the tundra.
Stone of Destiny, which was the Closing Night Gala film at the 2008 Toronto International Film Festival®, marks Smith’s latest return to the director’s chair. The film recounts the story of Ian Hamilton (Charlie Cox, Casanova, Stardust), a proud Scottish nationalist who secured a prominent place in his country’s history books by bringing the Stone of Destiny back home in the fifties. Also known as the Stone of Scone, the Stone of Destiny had been used during the crowning of Scottish kings for more than a millennium.
Over seven centuries ago, King Edward I of England took the 152 kilogram rock back to England, where it remained until Hamilton made his famous raid and reclaimed it.
Numerous myths surround this stone, which now sits in a high-security museum among swords, jewels, crowns and other Scottish royal regalia; chief among these lingering questions is whether or not the real stone was actually reclaimed. There is no doubt, however, that Hamilton’s feat struck a deep chord among Scots and provided further evidence that English colonialism was entering its bitter final days.
Smith brings a deft hand to this compelling film, in which all the ingredients of a true romantic epic come to life onscreen. The charismatic Cox is surrounded with a gifted cast, including Kate Mara (Brokeback Mountain), Billy Boyd (The Lord of the Rings), Robert Carlyle (The Full Monty) and Brenda Fricker (My Left Foot), all of whom lend their unique sensibilities to this heart-stirring and triumphant tale.
Review
Written and directed by an American, the film nevertheless feels closer to the ‘British’ spirit of the old Ealing comedies, something emphasized by its old-fashioned ambience and its charming evocation of the period.
– Derek Adams, Time Out
REF NO.: 0
SUBJECT: Grenfell: TNL Monday Night Movie - March 30 - Stone of Destiny
DATE: March 18, 2009
The next Monday Night Movie will be "Stone of Destiny," showing at Empire Theatres on Monday, March 30, 7 p.m. (97 minutes).
Summary
Veteran film and television actor Charles Martin Smith has appeared in many of the American cinema’s more memorable achievements, from American Graffiti to The Untouchables. His television credits are almost too numerous to list; highlights include The Brady Bunch, The Twilight Zone, Northern Exposure, The X-Files and the acclaimed HBO miniseries And the Band Played On. More recently, he began directing; his 1997 comedy Air Bud won numerous awards – including the Golden Reel Award at the Genies – and inspired many sequels. His next film, The Snow Walker (2003), was a Film Circuit hit and a multiple-award-winner and moved audiences the world over with its tale of survival after a plane crash in the tundra.
Stone of Destiny, which was the Closing Night Gala film at the 2008 Toronto International Film Festival®, marks Smith’s latest return to the director’s chair. The film recounts the story of Ian Hamilton (Charlie Cox, Casanova, Stardust), a proud Scottish nationalist who secured a prominent place in his country’s history books by bringing the Stone of Destiny back home in the fifties. Also known as the Stone of Scone, the Stone of Destiny had been used during the crowning of Scottish kings for more than a millennium.
Over seven centuries ago, King Edward I of England took the 152 kilogram rock back to England, where it remained until Hamilton made his famous raid and reclaimed it.
Numerous myths surround this stone, which now sits in a high-security museum among swords, jewels, crowns and other Scottish royal regalia; chief among these lingering questions is whether or not the real stone was actually reclaimed. There is no doubt, however, that Hamilton’s feat struck a deep chord among Scots and provided further evidence that English colonialism was entering its bitter final days.
Smith brings a deft hand to this compelling film, in which all the ingredients of a true romantic epic come to life onscreen. The charismatic Cox is surrounded with a gifted cast, including Kate Mara (Brokeback Mountain), Billy Boyd (The Lord of the Rings), Robert Carlyle (The Full Monty) and Brenda Fricker (My Left Foot), all of whom lend their unique sensibilities to this heart-stirring and triumphant tale.
Review
Written and directed by an American, the film nevertheless feels closer to the ‘British’ spirit of the old Ealing comedies, something emphasized by its old-fashioned ambience and its charming evocation of the period.
– Derek Adams, Time Out
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