The Kevin and Andrew Macdonald brothers discussed their respective careers in a constantly evolving film industry on Sunday during the opening session of the Edinburgh International Film Festival.
Kevin Macdonald, an Oscars winner for his feature film documentary A September day (1999), is also known for his fiction work, including The last King of Scotland (2006) and Playing state (2009), as well as Void (2003) and How I live now (2013). Andrew Macdonald, on the other hand, is a producer best known for his collaborations with Danny Boyle and Alex Garland in people like Trainpotting (1996), Beach (2000), Ex machina (2014) and the 28 days later franchise.
The session, organized by the boss of the Edinburgh television festival, Rowan Woods, began with an explosion of the past: the short film of the brothers who saw them as 20 -year -olds interview the creatives – including Robbie Coltrane, Sam Fuller and Michael Winner – at the Edinburgh Film Festival 1992. Shallow do. In the end, Sean Connery played on the phone; Kevin had managed to get his hands on the Scottish actor in his trailer while he was running in 1993 Rising sun to the
The conversation lasted a myriad of subjects, namely the projects of which they are most proud and the interior functioning of obtaining some of the greatest films of the 21st century above the line. Kevin Macdonald spoke frankly to work with Hollywood A-Listers for the first time on political thriller Playing state. After months to rewrite the script with Tony Gilroy (and spend a lot of money), “[We] gave it to Brad Pitt, “said Macdonald.” And he said, “I hate it.”
“It was only the start of a long, very Hollywood [experience]”, He laughed.” A certain type of waste of Hollywood cinema, where they were trying to make smart and good films, “he added, referring to the way an entire sound scene had been eliminated in Los Angeles instead of shooting Washington DC, because Pitt wanted to stay close to his family. But the role of Pitt finally went to Russell Crowe anyway.
Macdonald said about it to feel out of its filming depth with huge stars: “I don’t think I say anything out of turn to say that Russell Crowe is a fairly difficult man and he would intimidate the studio to such a degree that they would not really want to put himself.”
“I would say to the studio:” Oh my God is a nightmare, “he laughs,” “I can’t control that, guy, we spend all this money” and they say: “You are fine”. »»
He also revealed that he had to put pressure for Forest Whitaker to be thrown The last King of Scotland: “He came so eager to do it,” he recalls. “He felt forced to do this game … I saw this very soft and spiritual man, but there is something dark, and that is, I think, what he wanted to express. I remember having gone to Fox Searchlight. They said:” The forest is completely false. It is so soft and soft. He cannot be right. “”
He continued: “It became a bit of a battle. In the end, they gave in. This is one of these great things in life when your actor earns an Oscar, and the spotlights must admit that you were right. It does not happen very often.” His brother Andrew managed to sneak into the Oscars’ Vanity Part that year, pretending to be Kevin, the brothers and sisters also revealed, where he gave an interview as Kevin to the British diffuser News.
When he was asked what type of projects he found it to be continued in the current climate, Andrew simply thanked for finding Garland: “I was very lucky in the past 10 years, to work with this guy who can find a scenario, literally, in 24 hours. So we spent a lot of time producing and which is really doing, which is really doing. integrates. “”
On the difficulty of filming 28 years later And 28 years later: the bone temple Back on the back, Andrew said: “It was not difficult because there are key players who were first [part]. This is why we did it consecutive. I think that the director of the second film, she probably did the most difficult thing – because she had to take elements that were already in place, which were not necessarily she […] Choice, ”he said about Nia Dacosta, whose payment should be released in January 2026.
The couple answered a series of questions from the public towards the end of the session, where Kevin expressed that he thought that many people in the industry were “too discouraged” as to the impact of the AI.
The filmmaker also said he would like to make Richard Linklater Shuntfully, we driveFilmed over 20 years with Paul Mescal and Ben Platt. “What a wonderful idea,” he said. “It would be so fun to do.”
The Edinburgh 2025 International Film Festival takes place from August 14 to 20.
