CLOSING-NIGHT GALA: STONE OF DESTINY

Writer/Director: Charles Martin Smith
Producers: Rob Merilees, Andrew Boswell
Production Companies: Infinity Features, Mob Film Company
Cast: Robert Carlyle, Billy Boyd, Kate Mara, Charlie Cox
Distributor: Alliance Films
International Sales: Arclight

Adventure comedy Stone of Destiny will add some Scottish flare to TIFF, which has pegged Hollywood actor-turned-Canadian-based director Charles Martin Smith’s latest to wrap the fete.

‘We traditionally always open with a Canadian film,’ says TIFF Group CEO Piers Handling, ‘and for closing night, we’re looking for a film that entertains and fills the big screen, and sends people off on a happy note.’ Stone of Destiny should fit the bill.

‘It’s a feel-good story full of strange twists and turns,’ Smith tells Playback, adding that the film’s focus on the underdog will have universal appeal.

Based on the Ian Hamilton book, Destiny follows the true story of four Scottish students who break into London’s Westminster Abbey on Christmas Day 1950 to retrieve the ancient Stone of Scone as a gesture of defiance to British rule. It stars Robert Carlyle (Trainspotting), Kate Mara (Shooter) and Charlie Cox (Stardust) – all expected to attend the gala – as well as Billy Boyd (the Lord of the Rings trilogy).

The $13-million Canada/U.K. copro is produced by Rob Merilees of Vancouver’s Infinity Features (Capote) and Andrew Boswell of London-based The Mob Film Company (Scenes of a Sexual Nature).

Smith says it was a ‘joy’ to come to set every day and work with the talented cast, all of whom he credited with being ‘so easygoing,’ despite an intense 30-day shoot last year in and around Glasgow and at London’s Westminster Abbey.

Destiny was the first feature to shoot inside the legendary church in 50 years.

‘It’s a location of such historic significance that we had to be very careful and respectful of it,’ said Merilees of the Westminster shoot, shortly after the crew wrapped Destiny on Aug. 10, 2007.

The shoot was ‘fairly smooth,’ Merilees added, though some of the challenges included sudden and unexpected torrential rains in Scotland, the unfavorable exchange rate, and differences in Canadian and U.K. shooting styles.

‘It’s a bit of a tough transition…In Scotland they shoot 10-hour days, while Canadian crews are used to 12-hour days,’ he said, adding that despite these differences, the cast and Scottish crew were ‘amazing.’

The film is the second collaboration between Smith and Merilees, who worked together on the acclaimed drama The Snow Walker, which premiered as a special presentation at TIFF in 2003.

‘He is a pleasure to work with…we’ve developed a mutual respect and a shorthand that makes the process as smooth as it can be,’ Merilees says of the Vancouver-based director, best known to audiences for his memorable roles in American Graffiti (1973) and The Untouchables (1987).

Destiny is slated for a release in February 2009.