Film set in Aberdeenshire and starring Game of Thrones actor to be subtitled

Run, which was filmed in and around Fraserburgh, Aberdeenshire, will debut at Robert De Niro’s prestigious Tribeca Film Festival in New York next month.

Writer-director Scott Graham, 44, says he wasn’t prepared to compromise on the Doric accents commonly heard in the north-east of Scotland.

He said: “I had a glossary in the front of the script so our financiers in London could understand what was being said. I reckon about 40 per cent of it was in dialect and maybe 60 per cent English but it became more broad during filming as the actors really threw themselves into it. We all wanted it to be authentic.”

He said he expects the film to be subtitled for the Tribeca premiere on April 26.

“I think it’s inevitable that the screenings will have subtitles,” he said. “Whether they need them or not I don’t know. But I’d rather that than have made a film that wasn’t authentic and wasn’t in the dialect.”

Run tells the story of a fish factory worker, played by Mark Stanley - a ranger in the Night’s Watch in the first four series of Games of Thrones. In the news film, he becomes embroiled in the boy racing scene in Fraserburgh.

Last December actor Jude Law, who was born in London, admitted his lame attempts at Doric accent in in the 2014 thriller Black Sea, “didn’t go down well” in Aberdeen.

Scott, who grew up in Strichen and Pitmedden and attended Ellon Academy, said he was honoured that his film was screening at the Oscar-winning actor’s film festival, calling it Run’s “spiritual home”.

The movie, described as an “authentic and taut piece of stripped down film-making” by festival organisers, was inspired by Scott’s early years in the north-east as well as the music of Bruce Springsteen, who gave permission to use two of his songs on the soundtrack.

Scott, who now lives in Prague, said: “I wrote to him and explained what the film was about and why his music means as much as it does to people in the north-east and also how it’s a character in the film.

“We don’t have a big budget so we were pleased when we got the all clear to use a couple of tracks.”

Films like Taxi Driver, which starred De Niro, inspired Scott as a teenager so he said Tribeca was the perfect place for its debut.

“I definitely feels like the film is getting its premiere at its spiritual home,” Scott said.

“So much of the inspiration for it came from American songs, cinema and literature. If you’re familiar with a film like Taxi Driver you’re going to recognise certain themes in my film.

“It feels like the first audiences who see the film at Tribeca will know these themes inside and out. Springsteen isn’t ever mentioned in the film but it should feel like you’re walking around in a Springsteen song but in the north-east of Scotland.”