Charles Martin Smith hopes audiences will take to the underdog story in his latest feature, Stone of Destiny, which the Hollywood-actor-turned Canadian director is currently posting at Vancouver’s Infinity Features.

The $13-million Canada/U.K. copro is Smith’s second feature collaboration with Rob Merilees of Infinity, which recently scored a massive success with Capote, the inconspicuous release that ended up netting star Philip Seymour Hoffman an Oscar, and collected US$49 million in worldwide box office.

Destiny, which stars Scottish heavyweights Robert Carlyle (Trainspotting) and Billy Boyd (the Lord of the Rings films), tells the true tale of four University of Glasgow students who hatch a plan to retrieve the Stone of Scone, a symbol of Scottish pride, from England’s Westminster Abbey.

Smith, who began directing after he moved to Vancouver in the early 1980s, is mostly known as a diminutive character actor, often playing an outsider who transcends his quirkiness. Memorable roles include the zany Terry ‘The Toad’ Fields in George Lucas’ American Graffiti (1973), and the accountant-turned-federal agent Oscar Wallace in Brian De Palma’s The Untouchables (1987).

His directing career took shape with the low-budget horror Trick or Treat (1986), and later included Disney’s Air Bud, which took in a reported US$23 million at the North American box office in 1997, and the Farley Mowat adaptation The Snow Walker, which received nine Genie Award nominations in 2003, but took in only US$200,000 in theaters, despite a $10-million budget.

In a recent interview with Playback, the amiable 53-year-old filmmaker talked movie budgets, television collaborations with Chris Haddock, and fond memories of working with Sean Connery.

How did the Stone of Destiny shoot go this past summer in Glasgow and London?
It was a very, very intense shoot. I wanted to do so much and there’s only so much you can do in the given time. It had that wonderful kind of intensity, where you feel that everyone’s just rolling up their sleeves and diving in. Glen [Winter], my cinematographer, did a terrific job. We work very well as a team.

You have a great cast that includes Robert Carlyle and Billy Boyd. How did it work out?
I’ve never worked with a cast that was so talented and so easygoing…it was just a joy to come to set everyday. Robert is a dream. Billy Boyd is very much underrated…I’m in the cutting room right now and it’s just a delight to see his footage.
How do you feel about the commercial prospects of the film?
I do leave a lot of that to Rob [Merilees]. To me, this film has the universal appeal of an underdog story…there’s such heart and emotion to it. It’s a feel-good story full of strange twists and turns. That’s the way to market the film.

Why did you relocate from Los Angeles to Vancouver?
I first came up here when I did a film called Never Cry Wolf [1983]. I grew up in L.A. and I think a lot of people get that feeling that they’d like to investigate [living] some place other than their home town. I had considered moving to San Francisco, but when I came to Vancouver, I just absolutely fell in love with the city. I felt so at home here.
Never Cry Wolf connected you with author Farley Mowat. How did his short story Walk Well My Brother become the inspiration for Snow Walker?
We became friends after Never Cry Wolf, and I remember one evening sitting around with a bottle of vodka – as you do with Farley – and a discussion evolved about ‘let’s make another film’ based on one of his stories. I found this gem of a short story and he laughed at me and said, ‘If you think you can make a movie out of it, go ahead.’ [Snow Walker] also came from my desire to go back north and spend time with the Inuit people.

What is your take on the film’s mediocre performance in theaters, despite the positive reviews?
I was delighted to get the kind of reviews we did. I understand from a marketing point of view it’s a difficult film. The theaters were all showing giant Hollywood comic book movies, and this is very much not that kind of film. But people talk to me about the film all the time and how it stayed in their mind. I’m not interested in making disposable films. To me it’s absolutely about the longevity of the film, and not necessarily how well it does at the box office.

You’ve directed some episodes of Da Vinci’s Inquest, Da Vinci’s City Hall and Intelligence for Chris Haddock. What makes that collaboration work?
Chris has that same philosophy of wanting to do something that’s provocative, interesting and makes people think while giving them an entertaining experience. I really enjoyed doing the Da Vinci’s and Intelligence…Good material, good scripts, and good actors [are important]. Whether it’s ultimately shown on TV or in the theaters is to me is not the issue.

Can you talk about the transition of working on a mega-budget De Palma film to smaller Canadian features?
I’ve worked on all different kinds of budgets, and they don’t necessarily translate, either. I’ve worked on huge-budget movies that were no good…

Care to elaborate?
(Laughs) Well, I don’t think it’s nice to do that to the directors that do work hard on them. There’s a lot of different reasons why a film can go off the rails. I’ve worked on small budgets when I started out, like American Graffiti for less than $1 million, and it’s a wonderful film. A big budget gives you time…the ability to spend the day working on one scene, getting the shots you need, maybe getting some extra setups.

How did you enjoy working on The Untouchables with Kevin Costner, Andy Garcia and Sean Connery?
It was terrific…Kevin and Andy are good guys. I really enjoyed working with Sean Connery. I spent a lot of time hanging out with him. He’s like what you would expect…a bit gruff with a heart of gold…definitely opinionated, very talented. He’s larger than life.