my old school, in a limited theatrical release this week, is a strange hybrid genre of film. Featuring a mix of contemporary interviews and flashback animation performed by the voice actors, the film centers on a strange transfer student whose hidden inner life is shocked by a middle-class Scottish school in the 1990s. Once the truth about Brandon Lee was exposed, it became a global news story and caught the attention of filmmakers, including beloved Scottish actor Alan Cumming. At the time, Cumming was going to play Lee in a feature film, but that fell apart, and the story went on for years.
When the documentary finally came, it was directed by Scottish director Juno MacLeod. MacLeod, who had known Brandon at school, took it upon himself to make sure the movie really happened this time around, and actually got an interview with his old classmate…but with a catch. Brandon will not appear on camera. Instead, McLeod was able to persuade Cumming to appear on screen, synchronized with the audio of the interview.
“My classmates and I have always been aware that there have been various attempts to tell this story on film over the years,” MacLeod told ComicBook.com. “No one had ever ridden it successfully. It kind of fell on me, because I was the only one of us who grew up to be a filmmaker. So basically it was just getting together to do one last job, and this job was to tell Brandon Lee’s story. And we knew that in the ’90s, One of the people who tried to tell this story in the movie was actor Alan Cumming…we were sad that it didn’t come around and we found time was running out and if we didn’t tell this story now no one would.So it was time for a movie and we reunited with school high school. “
Cumming, who still remembers the story and laments that a movie was never made, was a bit surprised by the unique way he was asked to participate, but was eager to jump on board right away.
“It was kind of a blur, actually; I remember thinking, ‘Oh, I was going to play this character,'” Cumming recalls. “Of course, I didn’t realize he was so involved in this story, and I went, ‘I have that connection too,’ And he said, “Yeah, I know, I did some research.” So I didn’t quite understand the whole lip-sync part for a while. I was so moved by saying “Oh, it’s so exciting, I played this character I was going to play a quarter century ago.” But the more we talk about it, the more you will understand. I think I was kind of thinking, “Okay, I’m going to do this.” And then you get the tapes, and you listen to them, and you know how when you have something really scary to do, you kind of pretend it doesn’t happen until you actually have to do it? It was so. All of a sudden, I was right there in that horrible wig, which is actually my hair, actually doing it in real life.”
Cumming said the two things that appealed to him in the ’90s are the two things that still resonate today: the idea of going back and having a “change” in your young life, and the idea of deceiving and hiding your true self. .
The film is currently in a limited theatrical release, with a broader release planned for July 27. Expect to air in late summer or early fall.
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