April 11, 2003
The Express
Scots star sank his own cash into English Civil War epic; Dougray's got a cavalier attitude
by GAVIN DOCHERTY

WITH his wild, flowing hair extensions and goatee beard, Dougray Scott looks as though he should be playing lead guitar with a heavy metal band.

But the Fife-born star's luxuriant mane is for his latest film role in To Kill A King, set during the English Civil War when the Roundheads fought the Cavaliers.

Scott plays General Lord Thomas Fairfax in the 17th century period romp which also stars Olivia Williams as his wife, Anne, with Tim Roth and Rupert Everett in the roles of Oliver Cromwell and King Charles I.

The Mission: Impossible 2 star has a lot riding on the film which will be released here next month. During production it twice ran out of money and Dougray, 37, eventually stumped up GBP 70,000 from his own bank account to pay cast and crew. But the investment appears to have been worth it, according to critics who attended sneak previews of the film in London. As the nobleman who has to lead the fight against the King's rule, Scott is reportedly on top form.

In finally having to square up to his old mate Cromwell - who starts to get a bit psycho - all Scott has to do is look torn all the time and frown occasionally while remembering - with a few slips of the accent - that he's meant to be English, not Scottish.

Though Roth is in top form as the nutter, Scott - being executive producer and all - gets the meatiest part, which involves some close-quarter clinches with Rushmore star Williams. They've got a bit of catching up to do after all.

The film opens with her turning up in the middle of a battlefield, having gone without for three years while hubby was away fighting for God and England. She wants ol' Dougray to give up the soldier's life and come back to sunny Yorkshire to live in peace.

They all return to London to sign a peace treaty - but torn loyalties and skullduggery result in everything going wrong.

The actor, who starred recently in Enigma alongside Kate Winslet, has been pushing to make the film for several years.

He says: "Fairfax was a brilliant tactician, a soldier who cared about his men, ensured they were properly clothed and fed.

"But he could be ruthless too. If someone blasphemed in his regiment, he had no qualms about putting a red-hot iron pole through their tongues."

Come to think of it, that probably stopped his men making catty comments about that Aerosmith-style hair-do too.

Copyright 2003 Express Newspapers