One of our partners in the Brus film is Charlie Allan, who is CEO of the Clanranald Trust for Scotland. The article was taken from his web site (clanranald.org)
Gladiator star Russell Crowe checks out his Scottish roots - and a medieval
fort
Charlie Allan in his
role as a Barbarian chief in Gladiator
Published Date: 30
May 2011
By Susan Smith
HOLLYWOOD star Russell Crowe is
making his first trip to Scotland
this Sunday - to get a glimpse of what the country was like in the middle ages.
The Oscar-winning star of Gladiator will visit Duncarron
Fort in Stirlingshire where history enthusiasts are building a painstaking
recreation of a medieval Scottish fort and village.
The project, which will cost around £1 million to complete, has been underaken
by the Clanranald Trust, a volunteer group set up to promote Scottish history.
Announcing his visit on Twitter, Crowe said: "On June 5 I'll be at
Duncarron to view the Clanranald Trust Medieval Fort. Scottish heritage in my
family, first time in Scotland,
special."
The star has been a long-term supporter of the project, and earlier this month
used Twitter to highlight it to his 200,000 followers as well as tweeting First
Minister Alex Salmond urging him to show support for it.
On 14 May, he tweeted: "How many folk on here from Scotland?
Just saw some awesome photographs of the Clanranald Trust Duncarron
project."
Last year Crowe also helped raise awareness of the trust after he persuaded
Universal Pictures to donate a £60,000 battling ram from the Ridley Scott film
Robin Hood, in which Crowe starred, and paid for it to be transported from
Pinewood Studios to Scotland.
Charlie Allan, who runs the Clanranald Trust, met Crowe on the set of
Gladiator, where the pair met during the filming of a battle scene.
Speaking from Germany,
where the Clanranald Trust's pipe and drum band Saor Patrol were performing
this weekend, Mr Allan said: "He's basically coming to see me but he wants
to see the fort too and consider whether it could be used for films. I'll show
him around and he'll meet some of the volunteers and see what progress we've
made."
The trust is now recognised as a world leader in battle re-enactment, and its
volunteers have featured in films such as Gladiator, King Arthur, Robin Hood,
and, most recently, Kevin Macdonald's The Eagle.
Mr Allan appeared as the chief of the Barbarian hordes in the opening scene of
Gladiator. He and Crowe bonded over their mutual love of Harley Davidson motor
bikes and have stayed in touch ever since.
"When we arrived on the set, he galloped across the beach to meet the
crew," said Mr Allan. "We spent a lot of time together over the next
few weeks. There was a lot of singing and music on that set."
Mr Allan says the actor is a genuine and generous supporter of the trust.
"He's a really nice guy," he added.
"We'll be getting together and doing the usual, having a few beers and
going out for some nice food. We talk about Harleys and music and tell funny
stories - he's got some crackers."
The Clanranald Trust started work on the fort in 2008 and since then the 50
regular volunteers have created earthworks, a palisade, paths and an office.
They are about to start work on the first of four long-houses, which, along
with four roundhouses, a tower and a smithy, will make up the village.
MORE than 15 years ago a group of history buffs decided they
wanted to build a living museum without glass display cabinets that would allow
Scots to interact with their history.
Now Duncarron fortified village in the Carron
Valley is set to do just that.
The group have consulted archaeologists, historians and architects and have
created a new career for themselves as specialists film and television extras
in a bid to fund the project. The building work is being done by volunteers and
offenders on community service.
Russell Crowe gave the group a £60,000 battering ram from his film Robin Hood.
