A north-east director has come back to his roots to film a tense thriller in the Aberdeenshire wilderness – featuring a star of the next James Bond blockbuster.
Aberdeen filmmaker Mark Stirton has now wrapped his second movie, Dark Highlands, which was made almost entirely in the Cairngorms.
As well as filming around Ballater, the crew were also on location on the west coast, the Highlands and in Aberdeen.
Mr Stirton is the director of popular Granite City-set Doric comedy, One Day Removals, and said his latest flick was totally different.
He convinced Japanese actor Junichi Kajioka – who features in the latest Bond film Spectre – to take on the leading role as an artist who seeks inspiration for his work in the Scottish Highlands.
However, things take a turn for the worse and he is forced into a struggle for survival in an unforgiving environment.
Forty-five-year-old Mr Stirton, originally from Aberdeen’s Midstocket area, said: “I came up with the idea a year ago, it has been a while since I directed a film. I have had a bit of a break.
“It is set in the Highlands and is a game of cat and mouse between two characters. Janichi’s character is an artist who comes out to the Scottish Highlands to paint but it doesn’t quite work out.
“We hit him with everything, it’s kind of like John McCane how he starts out clean and ends up a mess in Die Hard.”
Mr Stirton said he had tried to “think a little bit differently” for the film, which features just one character.
He added: “We thought it would be great to film something with one single character. He is all by himself in the Highlands.
“We wrote the script first and started contacting actors. Junichi read the screenplay and said he liked it immediately.
“The surroundings are very nice, it is challenging, the weather hasn’t been the greatest. We picked the most summery dates and it has still been terrible weather.”
Shooting on Dark Highlands wrapped this week.
Junichi Kajioka’s first trip to Scotland
For award-winning Japanese actor Junichi Kajioka filming Dark Highlands was his first ever trip to Scotland.
Mr Kajioka said he had enjoyed filming in the “beautiful” surroundings of the Cairngorms.
The actor – who started his career in Tokyo but is now based in London – stars in forthcoming Bond film Spectre, and is a big name in his home country.
Also a producer and a casting director, he has starred alongside Keanu Reeves in 47 Ronin and Christian Bale in Asian blockbuster The Flowers of War.
He said: “The script was very interesting and I saw One Day Removals and it was quite a fun and interesting style.
“And this is a type of film which I have never done, it was a new challenge for me.
“We are shooting and it is raining then it is sunny, it is always changing.
“It is a different challenge, the character is quite different from my personality. It was such a joy to create with this character and this film.
“I think the story is quite universal.”