July 9, 2000
Daily Record and Sunday Mail
"Man with a Mission: Villain Dougray Muscles in on Hollywood Fame"

Screen heart-throb Dougray Scott spent months in the gym piling on two stones of muscle to play a power-packed villain in the Mission Impossible sequel.

He stopped smoking, hired a personal trainer and developed a grueling work -out regime to achieve an impressive six pack.

But almost as soon as the last frame was shot for M: I-2 - in which he stars opposite Tom Cruise - the Scots star had to shed the extra bulk for a new role in war-time drama Enigma.

Dougray, 34, joked: "When we first met, Tom looked at me and said I needed to work out.

"I had to maintain a huge level of fitness so I piled on two stones of muscle - or at least most of it was muscle."

But fans of the former Soldier, Soldier star were taken aback by his gaunt look at the M: I-2 premiere in London last week.

The hunky muscles have gone after he shed over a stone to play a genius codebreaker in Enigma.

In a rare interview to promote M: I-2, which has been tipped as this summer's box office blockbuster, Dougray revealed how he thought he'd blown his biggest Hollywood break - when he thrashed Tom Cruise at pool.

He was called to Cruise's mansion in Los Angeles to audition for the role of villain Sean Ambrose.

Dougray recalled: "Tom and I chatted for a couple of hours then we decided to play pool.

"I wiped the table with him, then thought 'What did I do that for?' I thought my competitive spirit had just lost me the job.

"In reality I think I just got lucky. Tom is very good and he beat me in the second game."

Despite the huge success of M: I-2, already a massive hit in America, Dougray's feet remain refreshingly on the ground when it comes to his career.

While the world's press flocked round stars like Russell Crowe and Angelina Jolie at last week's glitzy premiere, he flew down Alex McLeish, the manager of Dougray's heroes Hibs, as his personal guest.

He was clearly at his happiest chatting about the Hibees' chances next season, rather than trying to clinch another lucrative Hollywood deal.

M: I-2 looks like being Dougray's stepping stone to the big time - but the film has already cost him two major roles in other films.

Filming in Australia overran by several months forcing him out of Frequency, where he would have starred opposite Dennis Quaid.

He also had to give up the plum role of Wolverine in the live action version of comicbook heroes the X-Men.

Dougray said: "I was a bit disappointed at the time, but we had to finish Mission, so it was impossible to fit in.

"Every single minute of Mission was really worth it. I'm very proud of it."

The film, shot over nine months Down Under, also brought him a close friendship with Cruise, who has taken a keen interest in Dougray's career.

"I really like Tom, we became genuine friends. He's surprisingly normal and ordinary. I can call him up and talk to him any time and ask his advice and he'll always take my call. "

While Dougray was filming M: I-2, his pal, fellow Scot Ewan McGregor, was starring opposite Mrs Cruise - Nicole Kidman - in Moulin Rouge.

Ewan visited Dougray on the M: I-2 set, and even stayed with Dougray, wife Sarah and their two-year-old twins Gabriel and Eden, at their Sydney home.

Dougray recalls: "We kind of helped each other because we were away from home. We were great support for each other."

Now the two want to team up on screen, and are looking for a film to do together. But Dougray's diary is already filling up.

As well as Enigma, which also stars Titanic heroine Kate Winslet, he is also in talks to play Thomas Fairfax in a historical drama, tentatively titled Cromwell and Fairfax.

Despite the assured success of M: I-2, patriotic Dougray is determined to resist calls to move to America for bigger and better film roles.

He said: "Every time I go back to Scotland I feel everything makes sense. I'll always go back. I adore the place."

He is so proud of his roots he even campaigned to make bad guy Ambrose a Scot.

In the past Dougray has played rather nasty characters in Princess Cariboo and the Welsh film Twin Town - but Ambrose is definitely his most loathsome alter -ego to date.

Originally blackhearted Ambrose was to have an American or German accent, but Dougray managed to persuade the writer and director to let him use his own Fife accent.

The result, Dougray says with pride, is the first action film villain from Glenrothes.

He joked: "When Robbie Coltrane and Bobby Carlyle were in the Bond films they had Russian accents, so this is the first villain with a Scots accent.

"All over the world they'll hear my dulcet tones ringing out," he laughs.

"Be very afraid - it's a Fife man." The homegrown accent seems also to be a tribute to Dougray's dad Allan. Dougray says he got his love of football from his father, who would take him round Scotland to watch Hibernian.

But he also passed on another passion - acting. Allan appeared with Glasgow's Clyde Unity in the 1940s, although his son didn't discover this until he was 16.

Dougray says: "My father was a huge inspiration in my life. He taught me to treat people the way you expect to be treated yourself.

"He was a salesman for a lot of his life - which is a bit like acting. If you wake up in a bad mood, you have to learn to cover up your feelings in order to get on and do your job."

Allan died three years ago, and missed his son's big break into movies. But he revelled in Dougray's early TV drama successes in series such as Soldier, Soldier and The Crow Road.

Dougray went on to receive positive notices as the prince opposite Drew Barrymore in the Cinderella fable Ever After, and won roles in Regeneration, Twin Town and This Year's Love.

Now he's hoping to do more Hollywood films but after nine months filming M: I -2 in Sydney, he insists he won't uproot his family for so long again.

He said: "It was hard but Sydney is a child-friendly city, with a lovely lifestyle."

Still, he admits he ran up huge phone bill keeping in touch with friends and family in Scotland.

So what do his mates back home make of his new friendship with Tom Cruise?

Dougray says: "I think they are still getting over the fact I've worked with Drew Barrymore, the girl who kissed ET."

Copyright 2000 Scottish Daily Record & Sunday Mail Ltd.