Ken Loach to film Scots thriller

FILM director Ken Loach is to shoot a new thriller in Scotland, it has emerged.

The unnamed project, set at a whisky distillery, will be shot in a warehouse on the outskirts of Glasgow. Scottish screenwriter Paul Laverty's plot centres on the auction of a rare barrel of whisky. On the day it is set to be sold, a gang of thieves break into the distillery to swipe it and replace it with a replica.

More than 80 cast and crew will be involved in the shoot with the 74-year-old director.

Loach, whose films include Kes and The Wind That Shakes The Barley, had planned to set the film at the Bruichladdich distillery on Islay, but decided the island was too small to accommodate his entourage.

Mark Reynier, the managing director of the Bruichladdich distillery, said: "Basically, there isn't enough accommodation space on the island for all his film crew and everything.

"There was just nowhere to put them on Islay. It's a real shame."

A spokesman for Loach's production company, Sixteen Films, said: "Ken will be coming to Scotland to shoot the film in the spring. Finishing touches are just being made to the script and the casting is still being done."