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Kevin McKidd (Tommy)
Only one year out of drama school and Kevin McKidd has already appeared in two Scottish feature films, TRAINSPOTTING and Gillies Mackinnon's Small Faces. "In Small Faces I played Malcy who was basically the bad guy of the film, whereas Tommy, who I play in TRAINSPOTTING, is the most naive and obviously likeable character."

Kevin was born and brought up in Elgin in the North East of Scotland and after several years of youth theatre and playing in a band he went to Edinburgh University to study engineering. "Not that I did much studying, I just did one play after another. I must have been in twenty plays that year." Kevin decided that it was pointless to continue at university and auditioned for, and was accepted at Queen Margaret Drama School. On leaving last year he immediately landed the lead role in Robert Carlyle's Rain Dog theatre company in The Silver Darlings followed shortly by his part in Small Faces. "I think Danny and Andrew came to see some Small Faces rushes and spotted me When they sent me the script to TRAINSPOTTING I was amazed because there isn't really a film like it. The script was so quirky and funny but it also dealt with things, it's got substance."

Kevin can see similarities between his own character and that of Tommy, "We're both perceived as nice people. Also like me he really needs people around him. He's the only guy out of the five of them who really needs people, the rest of them can survive on their own. The other thing about Tommy is that he has a childishness in the way that he gets really enthusiastic about things: lggy Pop or hill-walking or whatever. Tommy doesn't really fit into the apathetic, cynical world the others inhabit."

"But, of course, there's more to Tommy than that, his character goes through more of a journey than the others" says Kevin. "When he loses his girifriend his life falls to pieces and he starts taking drugs and there's this transformation What makes it really distressing is that the very quality of innocence, which his mates used to slag off, has completely gone, and he doesn't really want to see anyone anymore. Tommy's last scene when he sees Renton but he doesn't have anything to say to him anymore and just wants to borrow twenty quid off him to score, is really upsetting, really powerful."

From Moscow International Film Festival homepage

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