Gala screening: Sir Sean Connery in Edinburgh on Sunday for special showing of The Man Who Would Be King
The first footage has appeared of new Scottish animated film Sir Billi, which features a starring role for Sir Sean Connery in what might be his final film.
Movie site ReelScotland today posted an article linking to the YouTube “sizzle” reel, which sees Connery voicing an elderly character who looks not unlike himself - though we doubt that the former Bond actor shares the same dazzling skills with a skateboard.
The 79-year-old’s last movie role was The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen in 2003, after which it was reported that he had decided to retire from film-making.
It had been rumoured that he was to make another appearance as Indiana Jones’ dad in 2008’s Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, however Connery responded that "retirement is just too much damned fun". There has been no word of the iconic Scot making a return to any live-action movies since.
However, he did do some voice work, playing the title character in 2006 animated short Sir Billi the Vet, the same role that he’s now reprising for this year’s full-lenth feature film (on which he’s also serving as a producer).
The plot concerns a retired veterinarian living in a remote Scottish village encountering a goat who thinks he's a dog, an Admiral who's afraid of the water and a beaver who was raised by rabbits. As yet there’s no release date for the film, which also features the voice talent of Taggart’s Alex Norton, Alan Cumming, and Still Game stars Greg Hemphill and Ford Kiernan.
Sir Sean has previously said of the character: “I'd been given an early drawing of what Billi would look like and it actually turned out to be spot on. In many ways that helped me to get into the character; but he's a very straightforward, good guy!
“My wife who adores animation watched the scenes with me and she was laughing away. It really is very funny. One of the things that appealed to me about this project is that it is complete family entertainment.”
Connery has been Scotland this past week for the Edinburgh International Film Festival, of which he’s a long-standing patron. He attended a gala screening of 1975 classic The Man Who Would Be King, earlier unveiling a plaque inscribed "Oscar Winning Actor, International Film Star" high on a new tenement wall in the Fountainbridge area where he was born and raised.
