Exclusive:New York director 'obsessed' with 'visionary' Scottish writer Nan Shepherd to make film about her life

She was a “visionary” writer dubbed the Scottish Virginia Woolf, who became the first woman to appear on a five pound note.

Now a New York-based film director who became “obsessed” with the work of Nan Shepherd while studying in Edinburgh is to make a film about her life.

Antony Crook, working with Glasgow production company Tiger Lily, is in the pre-production stage of a film based on both Ms Shepherd’s life and her best-known novel The Living Mountain.

Scottish band Mogwai is to write and perform the score for the film - and plans to perform live at some screenings when it is released. Collaborations with other Scottish musicians are also underway.

Mr Crook last year attended a performance of a play about Ms Shepherd’s life, written and directed by Richard Baron, Nan Shepherd: Naked and Unashamed, which is due to play its second run at Pitlochry Festival Theatre later this year. Watching the performance has helped inspire Mr Crook to push ahead with the film.

Nan Shepherd was the first woman to be featured on a five pound note.

Born in 1893, Ms Shepherd, who was an author, teacher and keen hillwalker, put aside her ground-breaking masterpiece, The Living Mountain, in the 1940s, after it was rejected by one publisher. It lay forgotten in a drawer for decades. But in 1978, it was finally published, translated into multiple languages and hailed recently as “one of the finest books ever written on landscape and nature in Britain”.

Ms Shepherd later worked as a school teacher and taught teaching at the University of Aberdeen. She was known for her unconventional methods in the classroom, earning her comparisons to Miss Jean Brodie in Muriel Spark’s novel.

The life and legacy of writer Nan Shepherd has inspired a new film.

Mr Crook, who last year made a critically acclaimed film about Glasgow band Mogwai, plans to film in Scotland, in the area of Aberdeenshire where Ms Shepherd lived.

He said: “I’ve loved the book for years. I’ve been obsessed with it and managed to persuade the family and estate of Nan Shepherd to allow me to have the film rights.

Antony Crook is to direct the film. | Antony Crook

“We’re in early pre-production on the film and in the process of building a team. We’re still doing research at this point. The music is going to be really interesting and we’re in talks about casting.”

He added: “To think that Nan Shepherd’s book was a small run initially and that it has become the cult classic it is today is amazing. Last year, I went up to the Cairngorms and retraced her steps. She was very progressive and very avant-garde. She wrote in secret, she was a bit of a legend, which makes it even more magical.”

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An audiobook version of The Living Mountain is read by actress Tilda Swinton.

Mr Baron, who came up with the idea of writing his play about Ms Shepherd during lockdown, said he was “delighted” that a film was to be made.

“The director came to see the play last year and they’re now making a film about her,” he said.

“There is huge interest in her. The run [of the play] was completely sold out last year, which just shows that she really does capture the public imagination. It’s extraordinary how her fame has spread well after her death in 1981. She was quite a visionary writer.”

Nan Shepherd: Naked and Ashamed will be performed at Pitlochry Festival Theatre in May and June.