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On set report from Quentin Falk
On the way to the exotic- sounding Café del Rio, you pass through a hallway whose main wall is deco- rated with the following legend: “This is a House of Friendship. This is a House of Service. For families. For lonely folk. For the people of Govan. For the strangers of the world. Welcome to the Pearce Institute.”
But just when you’re almost over- come with a sense of goodwill about this echoing place, the scrawled writing on a nearby sign quickly spoils the effect: “It is with regret that the Trustees have taken the decision that the Pearce Institute will close permanently on...”.
Situated in the heart of Glasgow’s once thriving ship-building industry, the Institute is at least temporarily abuzz with friendship and service as it
pays host to American Cousins, a new British film production, which despite its transatlantic title, has a strong local flavour too.
The Café itself is a stunning set, all old browns and diffused light, and the centrepiece of the film, an action come- dy of, among other things, culture clash.
SPECIAL RELATIONSHIPS It concerns a pair of Italian- heading up Bard Entertainments, behind Scotland; he only became a full-time
American mafiosi (Danny Nucci, Dan Hedaya) who while on the run from Ukrainian gangsters, are forced to shelter at the old-fash- ioned Glasgow diner. It happens to be owned by their Scottish/Italian cousin Roberto (Gerald Lepkowski) who, as the blurb rather neatly puts it, “wouldn’t know a Magnum 45 from a chocolate ice cream.”
Also in the cast are Vincent Pastore, a stalwart of TV’s The Sopranos, and the ubiquitous Shirley Henderson as the love interest.
Producer Margaret Matheson a long- time high-flier in film and television for, variously, the BBC, Zenith and Island World is now a successful independent
films like Lost For Words, Kin and Alex Cox’s The Revenger’s Tragedy.
She explained how American Cousins, a Little Wing production, was originally the brainchild, and first fea- ture, of Scottish/Italian writer Sergio Casci and his regular collaborator, director Don Coutts.
“Sergio and Don had done three dramatic shorts together but before
that they did a documentary about Scottish/Italians. They first wanted to do a sitcom on a similar but different subject before coming up with the idea of this film. I got involved with them about three years ago when there was a first draft and while Sergio was still working as a journalist at BBC
writer about 18 months ago.” Watching Don Coutts listen
patiently as co-star Nucci and Hedaya rather pedantically discuss an aspect of the day’s script, the last thing he resembles is your typical first time director. Chunky, greying and middle- aged, he arrived at American Cousins after a wide-ranging career in TV, shorts and documentary.
The family business was farming but Coutts didn’t fancy the wet and the mud so decided to pursue a different path especially after seeing Easy Rider. He worked first in the labs then in the cutting room on what he described as “probably six of the worst British films ever”. These included the now revered The Wicker
Photos clockwise from above left: Director Don Coutts (photo by Ken Mellin); John Duncan, Jake Abraham and Stephen Graham; Danny Nucci, Dan Hedaya, Shirley Henderson, Russell Hunter and Gerald Lepkowski; Vincent Pastore, Danny Nucci, Dan Hedaya and Gerald Lepkowski in American Cousins
Guns, gangsters and café society as American Cousins sh
EXPOSURE • 14 & 15