Scots film agency chiefs have conceded that the loss of a big-budget remake of The 39 Steps to Australia would be a tragedy. Hollywood plans to transfer the action to the Outback, with Mel Gibson one of the favourites to take over the role of the leading character, Robert Hannay.

The decision will disappoint fans of Alfred Hitchcock’s 1935 classic, with its famous escape sequence on the Forth Bridge and pursuit through Highland glens. It would be another blow for Scotland’s film industry, in need of a boost after a number of key projects foundered.

Steve McIntyre, the new chief executive of Scottish Screen, said: "It’s immensely disappointing that a film that in the public mind is absolutely linked to Scotland, will not be made in Scotland.
It’s a tragedy. Anything we could do, we will do."

Economics

It appears film economics may lie behind the move. The production company behind the movie said it was simply less costly to shoot the film in Australia. Scott Smith, of Village Roadshow Pictures, said: "It’s a big film ... it’s just cheaper to shoot it in Australia."

Although the production firm is based in Los Angeles, its parent company is Australian. Village Roadshow has a production partnership with Warner Bros and the companies collaborated on the blockbuster The Matrix, which was shot in Sydney.

Mr Smith did offer one glimmer of hope for Scotland, when he said no final decision had been made. No cast has been signed for the film and no start date set, but Gibson remains a possibility, he said. The decision to transfer the film to Australia is said to have made by Robert Towne, one of Hollywood’s top film writers, who will also direct and produce the film.

A spokesman said Towne was still working on the script, and it was too early to discuss details.

John Buchan’s original novel tells the story of a man who finds himself pursued through the wilds of Scotland by foreign spies. His book was first published during the First World War, when foreign spy paranoia was at its height.

The novel, constantly in print since it was published 86 years ago, is an old-fashioned adventure yarn, in which Hannay, a South African visitor, saves Britain from a dastardly foreign plot, while on holiday. He is suspected of murder in London and must break a spy ring to prove his innocence.

Relocation, Relocation, Relocation…

If the film is moved to Australia, it would not be the first time that film-makers have relocated the action of Buchan’s famous novel. Buchan’s novel was rooted firmly in Galloway, but Hitchcock set his film in the Highlands. He also introduced a romantic subplot, and changed the nature of The 39 Steps from physical steps to an organisation of spies.

Although he used the Highland setting to suggest the desperation of the fugitive hero, the film was shot mainly in London studios. This will be the fourth version of The 39 Steps. A 1959 colour remake starring Kenneth More followed the Hitchcock film. A 1978 version starred Robert Powell.