An English actor has been picked to play Bonnie Prince Charlie in a major new movie of the Young Pretender.
Heartthrob Jamie Bacon will star alongside Scottish actress Mhairi Calvey, who has been cast as Flora McDonald, in The Great Getaway.
With Prince Harry’s former girlfriend Cressida Bonas also offered a key part, the movie will not only to be the first on the prince made in more than 60 years, but also the sexiest.
Jamie said that the first time he will set foot on Scottish soil will be just before filming starts in Galloway on August 17.
The eight-week shoot will culminate in the biggest battle scene ever staged in Scotland with 500 extras at Castle Kennedy, near Stranraer.
“I have travelled widely all over the world, but I’ve never been to Scotland before. But then again neither had Bonnie Prince Charlie before he landed to reclaim the throne – so it will really be like I’m retracing history and playing the part,” said London-born Jamie, 23.
“I was really surprised but delighted to win the role. I have absorbed myself in studying the prince. I am reading the script – which is brilliant – over and over.
“This is my biggest role to date – and my first lead – so I’m really excited.
“I will also not be using a Scottish accent – after all Charles was not Scottish either.
“I see him as a very complex and passionate character. I think he was a peacock on a white horse who only really became a man when he went on the run.
Jamie, who went to a state school in Dorset and drama college in London, has already appeared in the films The Hoarder and Olive Green – as well as a gang leader in Holby City.
“I hope this film will be my big breakthrough,” said Jamie, who is single.
“Without giving too much away, Charles had a lot of flings and in the film there are one or two intense moments, but people will have to wait and see if Flora McDonald is one of them. They certainly had a chemistry.”
Director Robbie Moffat said casting the prince had proved difficult but in Jamie they had found the right actor.
Hollywood actor Jake Abel was previously set to take the lead role in The Great Getaway.
“But in the end timings over filming were the problem with Jake – we just couldn’t leave filming any later or we would have been into winter,” said Mr Moffat.
“We looked at a number of people – and talked to several about the role – over a long time, but finding somebody who was right for the part was a major concern. It held up filming.
“But in Jamie we have found the perfect choice. He is the right age with the right look and he can act brilliantly. I am convinced we have got a real star of the future.
“Bonnie Prince Charlie was born in Rome to a Polish mother and an English father. He did not have a Scottish accent. One of the things this film is trying to do is rid the story of its myths. It is trying to be as authentic as possible.”
The film also has increasing cast connections to Braveheart.
Scottish actor Angus Macfadyen is the latest to join and is known for his role as Robert the Bruce in Braveheart as well as Vice-Counsel Dupont in Equilibrium.
Macfadyen will play Colonel Sir John O’Sullivan, the prince’s adjutant and quartermaster-general.
The part of Flora MacDonald has been won by Glasgow-born Ms Calvey, who made her big screen debut in Mel Gibson’s Braveheart, aged just five.
Flora helped the prince escape pursuers on Skye by taking him in a small boat disguised as her Irish maid, Betty Burke.
Clydebank-born actor James Cosmo, known for his appearances in Braveheart, Highlander and appearances in television series such as Game of Thrones, will also star.
The Culloden battle will be constructed by Seoras Wallace, who shot to fame when he directed the fight scenes in Braveheart. He has worked on more than 100 major films including Gladiator and Saving Private Ryan.
Mr Moffat said negotiations “are in their final stages” with Ms Bonas.
The 26-year-old aspiring actress has been offered the part of Catherine MacLeod, the wife of a Jacobite supporter who helps Charles escape capture after the Battle of Culloden.
The 4.3m production follows the Young Pretender’s flight to the isles after defeat at Culloden in 1746. Though many Highlanders saw Charles, and indeed aided him, none of them betrayed him for the 30,000 reward.
Former Queen’s composer Sir Peter Maxwell Davies, who lives on Orkney, is to write the music for the new movie.
The new film is the first major movie on Charles Edward Stuart since Bonnie Prince Charlie, the 1948 production starring David Niven and Margaret Leighton – legendary for its nightmarish shoot and catastrophic box-office takings.
Scenes will also be shot in Skye and South Uist – the route followed by the fleeing prince – as well as the remote Knoydart peninsular, the mountains where Bonnie Prince Charlie is supposed to have taken refuge after Culloden. Lewis will also be one of the locations.