It started, as so many Edinburgh stories do, in Greyfriars Kirkyard. Director Sean Dunn spotted a man in a cape standing beside the grave of Thomas Riddle, the eighteenth-century soldier whose name J.K. Rowling borrowed for a certain fictional villain, while tourists gathered round in quiet reverence. Something clicked. That image, that particular flavour of Edinburgh absurdity where the gothic and the comedic share a postcode, became the seed of his debut feature film.
The film stars Peter Mullan, the Glasgow-born actor whose CV runs from Ken Loach's My Name Is Joe to Ozark and beyond. Landing Mullan for a debut is no small thing. He is one of the most respected screen presences in British cinema, an actor who brings weight and credibility to whatever he touches. That he signed on to Dunn's project speaks well of the script and the vision behind it.
Dunn is part of a generation of Scottish filmmakers who are quietly building something serious without waiting for London to give them permission. Scotland's screen sector has grown significantly in recent years, supported by bodies including Screen Scotland, the creative industries arm that channels both Scottish Government and UK-wide funding into homegrown production. According to Screen Scotland's own figures, the sector contributed over £594 million to the Scottish economy in its most recent measured period, with productions of all scales finding Edinburgh and its surroundings an increasingly viable base.
Dark comedy is a notoriously difficult register to get right. Too broad and it tips into farce; too restrained and the comedy dies on its feet. The Greyfriars setting suggests Dunn knows exactly what tone he is reaching for. Edinburgh does deadpan better than almost anywhere. The city's relationship with its own mythology, Harry Potter tourism, Bodysnatchers, the Greyfriars Bobby industry, and centuries of gothic literary tradition, gives a sharp local filmmaker rich material to work with without having to go looking for it.
For Edinburgh's creative community, a debut feature with this kind of casting is worth paying attention to. The city has produced writers, directors, and performers who consistently punch above their weight on the international stage. Sean Dunn adding his name to that list, with Peter Mullan alongside him, is a genuinely good piece of news for the local screen sector and for everyone who believes Edinburgh's creative economy deserves the same attention as its tech or finance scenes.