'Terrified' Grant to open film festival

Big screen star Richard E Grant confessed to being "slightly constipated, terrified, exuberant and exhilarated" at the prospect of opening the 59th Edinburgh International Film Festival tonight with his directorial debut.

Big screen star Richard E Grant confessed to being "slightly constipated, terrified, exuberant and exhilarated" at the prospect of opening the 59th Edinburgh International Film Festival tonight with his directorial debut.

The Withnail and I actor's semi-autobiographical feature, Wah Wah, will enjoy its world premiere later today and its screening will herald the start of the 12-day feast for movie fans.

A-list names Gabriel Byrne, Julie Walters and Elijah Wood are among those expected to grace the red carpets at some of the festival's numerous screenings.

Twelve world premieres and more than 50 UK premieres will be shown at locations throughout the city as part of the spectacle.

This year, British world premieres will open and close the festival - a first in the event's considerable history.

Wah Wah tells the story of a man whose family's disintegration mirrors the end of British rule in Swaziland.

The festival's artistic director Shane Danielsen has hailed Grant's creation as being "better than I could have ever hoped for as an opening night film" and the director today acknowledged the pressure that comes with such an honour.

Asked how he felt ahead of the red carpet event at the city's Cineworld venue, he joked: "Probably as you would imagine - slightly constipated, terrified, exuberant, exhilarated."

Surrounded by a number of cast members, including Byrne and Breaking the Waves star Emily Watson, he added: "I'm just so glad that everybody is here and that the film happened and that when people see it they laugh and they are moved."

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