Oscar-winner Richard Dreyfuss among celebs to appear on red carpet at Edinburgh Film Festival

Oscar-winner Richard Dreyfuss, star of Jaws, Close Encounters of the Third Kind and Mr Holland’s Opus, will be among the stars heading down the Edinburgh International Film Festival’s red carpet.

Dreyfuss, one of a host of guests stars confirmed today by organisers, will be launching his new film Astronaut, about a lonely widower trying to realise his long-held dream of going into space.

Harry Potter star Timothy Spall, who is also known for his roles in Auf Wiedersehen, Pet, Secrets and Lies, The King’s Speech and The Damned United, will be helping to close the event with his new film about the relationship between the artist LS Lowry and his mother.

Braveheart star Angus Macfadyen has been confirmed for the world premiere of the “sequel” to Mel Gibson’s Oscar-winning epic, which will see him revive his role as Robert the Bruce. He will be joined by co-stars Anna Hutchison, Zach McGowan and Emma Kenney on the red carpet.

Bill Drummond, the maverick Scottish artist and musician best known for topping the charts with The KLF and burning £1 million on the Isle of Jura, will unveil a new film following him on a two-year world tour.

The festival has previously announced that Trainspotting, Shallow Grave and 28 Days Later director Danny Boyle will be launching his new Beatles film Yesterday and will be appearing at a special “in person” event to discuss his career to date.

Other notable names at the festival include Skye-born Douglas Mackinnon, director of the new fantasy drama series Good Omens, which is getting a marathon screening at the festival, and Katherine Parkinson, star of The IT Crowd and Doc Martin, whose new film How To Fake A War is getting its UK premiere at the event.

Screenwriter Paul Laverty will be at screenings of his classic Scottish films My Name Is Joe and Carla’s Song, which are being shown as part of a retrospective of Film4 and Channel 4 movies.

Filmmaker and actor Peter Mullan, star of My Name Is Joe, and composer Craig Armstrong, whose scores include Romeo & Juliet, Moulin Rouge, Love Actually and The Great Gatsby, will be discussing their work together on Orphans, Neds and The Magdalene Sisters.

Shauna Macdonald, the Edinburgh-born star of Irvine Welsh’s 2007 black comedy Wedding Belles, which is part of the same season, will also be launching her new Glasgow School of Art-set film Balance, Not Symmetry, which indie-rock outfit Biffy Clyro have created the soundtrack for.

Other previously announced guests include in-person events with Jack Lowden, one of Scotland’s rising screen stars, who is best known for his roles in Mary Queen of Scots, Dunkirk, England Is Mine, Tommy’s Honour and Calibre, winner of the best British film award at last year’s EIF, and Scottish horror film star Pollyanna McIntosh, who is best known for her role in the post-apocalyptic series The Walking Dead and will unveil new film, Darlin’.

The 73rd festival will open on 20 June with the European premiere of Edinburgh-born director Ninian Doff’s debut feature, Boyz in the Wood.

A black comedy set in the Highlands, it focuses on a group of teenagers battling for survival in the wildness while being pursued by a deranged huntsman, played by comic Eddie Izzard.

Artistic director Mark Adams said: “The chance for our audiences who come along to festival screenings and get to see and sometimes meet some of the film talent involved is always a high point of the EIFF experience.

“We love to have guests at our screenings and to involve them in post-screening Q&A sessions and I think the guests themselves also get a kick out of the experience.”