By Bill Heaney
West of Scotland luvvies are furious that Glasgow has been ignored and not given its place in Alasdair Gray’s BAFTA award winning film Poor Things.
They reckon Alasdair would be birling in his grave, deeply disappointed that his Dear Green Place never got as much as a mention either in the film or at the BAFTA’s, where it picked up awards galore, including Best Actress for Emma Stone.
Some important people’s noses are so out of joint at this that they have already fired off letters of complaint to the director Yorgos Lanthimos and to Emma Stone, pictured right as Bella Baxter at Lansdowne Kirk in Kelvinside, where she was married in Poor Things.
“I have written to Yorgos and Emma Stone asking the following: “Yorgos! Congratulations on your many awards for this movie! Can I ask you on behalf of many citizens of Scotland and Glasgow why you removed all connection of the city from the film?
“To us this is like setting Joyce in London or Kazantzakis in Istanbul! Alastair Gray was very clear that Glasgow was a main character in Poor Things, as it was in his other novels.
“We are baffled and saddened by this. You give no credit to Gray or Glasgow and Emma Stone praised Bella Baxter’s English accent! Please let us know your reasoning [for this].”
Francis Morton said: “As someone of Scots/Irish heritage I could not understand why Willem Dafoe seemed to alternate between a Scots or Irish accent? Now I’ve seen this and been made aware of the book, its author and contents, perhaps the church and the accent, were nods of recognition, albeit slight?”
Glasgow West Ender Peter Macfarlane was dismayed: “Pity the film didn’t keep the location in Glasgow.”
Allan Martin wrote on social media: “While it is great that Poor Things picked up several BAFTAs, including Best Actress for Emma Stone, it would have been even better if any of the recipients had acknowledged the fantastical vision of the late, great Alasdair Gray, pictured left.“Maybe in three weeks time, on the world stage that is the Oscars, they will finally give credit to one of Glasgow’s greatest literary and artistic talents It is a Glasgow novel, and the film should have respected that.”
Siobhan Walsh added: “I read the book before going to the film (opening night). I loved the book and the film although the themes explored relentlessly in the film are only part of the many themes in the book. I also knew both Alasdair and Morag and know he had met with the film producer and showed him where in Glasgow the Glasgow settings were.
“I do still think the film is worth seeing for all the reasons it won BAFTAs but I do wish at least one of the awardees could have referenced Alasdair’s work as that would have introduced more people to his magnificent body of work and art. Perhaps another director will make Lanark- the theatre production of that here in Scotland was superb.”
While he was not a Son of the Rock, Alasdair Gray was a familiar figure here who visited friends in Dumbarton such as the late Dan Lynch of Oxhill with his partner Morag Nimmo, a librarian from Castlehill in the West End.
The couple were regular visitors to Knowetop Community Farm and enjoyed a meal from time to time in the Railway Tavern in College Street. Morag and Denise Lynch compiled the crossword for the Lennox Herald.
Sandie Bell said on social media : “I am proud to say I knew Alasdair Gray as an artist in every form from painting and illustration teaching historical and political philosophy I have no doubt his great works will live on.”
One dissenter, Julie Hughes, said: “The film was awful.” And Edward Stewart opined: “Lanark: A Life in Four Books deals with Glasgow a lot better in my opinion.”
However Jamie Francis Campbell disputed this. He said: “It’s an insult to the writers art and memory and his wishes which were not honoured by the director or the producers of this screen adaptation of his greatest book.
“The director spent time with him over a summer in Glasgow and assured him he would honour his wishes, then when Alasdair died, he reneged and then did whatever they wanted and stripped Glasgow as a character out of this movie.
“It was embarrassing to sit and watch them all laud each other about how great it was at the Baftas last night and not one person including Emma Stone mentioned or paid tribute to the writer or Glasgow.
“I will never ever watch it for what they did. For what it could have been with the setting in Glasgow as promised would have meant it being an iconic film instead of another sanitised for profit Hollywood gutting of raw art.
“The director should hold his head in shame and if I ever meet him I would tell him that square to his stupid face.
“This film as it is, is an insult to Glasgow and its heritage and culture as a centre of art world exceptionalism.”
The writer Alasdair Gray at his partner Morag Nimmo’s funeral in Cardross Cemetery.
Picture by Bill Heaney