Film plan for Donald Trump’s golf course battle

THE battle between US tycoon Donald Trump and local residents over the building of his luxury golf resort on the Aberdeenshire coast is to be turned into a feature film.

Donald Trump could be played by Hollywoods Alec Baldwin. Picture: John Devlin

The film, which has a working title of Trumped, will see the makers of hit comedy The Inbetweeners, Young Films, team up with Anthony Baxter, who made the controversial and award-winning documentaries You’ve Been Trumped and A Dangerous Game, which chart the impact of the billionaire’s development on the local community.

Chris Young, the head of Skye-based Young Films, who bought the rights to the story, said he believed the tale had the ingredients to be a “Local Hero for the 21st century”, describing it as “a cross between The Full Monty and Seven Samurai”.

He said: “I think that’s just an incredible story. The thing that interested me there is the ­notion of the locals standing up to the evil money man with the bad hair.”

Mr Young said he hoped to secure an A-list Hollywood star to play the part of New York-based Trump.

He said: “We haven’t made any formal approach yet, but someone like Alec Baldwin would play Mr Trump. It’s a story which would appeal not just to people in Scotland – it’s about locality against multi­national big money.”

The film is being written by Scottish screenwriter John 
Collee, who penned such hits as Master and Commander and Happy Feet.

The battle between residents of the Menie Estate in Balmedie, near Aberdeen, and Mr Trump was brought to wider public attention in 2011 when You’ve Been Trumped was released.

As a result of the film, local farmer Michael Forbes was named Top Scot at the Glenfiddich Spirit of Scotland Awards in 2012 for his continued refusal to cave in to pressure from Mr Trump to sell his land.

Mr Baxter explained why he chosen to go with Young Films.

He said: “I had been doing a couple of screenings of You’ve Been Trumped in Los Angeles and there were a number of ­inquiries about turning it into a feature, but it was very important for me to find the right ­person to work with.

“It’s got to be put in the hands of the right people who will be sensitive about it and make the best film possible, and I really feel Chris’s experience in terms of producing The Inbetweeners movie and the incredible track record he has in terms of making films in Scotland made him the right choice for it.”

Responding to initial reports of the film, Mr Trump said he hoped he would be played by “somebody good-looking”.