SCOTLAND: TED DANSON AND JOELY RICHARDSON ATTEND PREMIERE OF THEIR NEW MOVIE 'LOCH NESS'

Record ID: 219873

  • Title: SCOTLAND: TED DANSON AND JOELY RICHARDSON ATTEND PREMIERE OF THEIR NEW MOVIE 'LOCH NESS'
  • Date: 3rd February 1996
  • Summary: LOCH NESS/ INVERNESS, SCOTLAND, UNITED KINGDOM (FEBRUARY 3, 1996/FILM CLIPS/FILE) (RTV/POLYGRAM/BBC - PART MUST ON SCREEN CREDIT POLYGRAM FILMED ENTERTAINMENT/PART NOT FOR LIBRARY USE/PART NO ACCESS UK) LOCH NESS, SCOTLAND, UNITED KINGDOM (FEBRUARY 3, 1995) (RTV) VIEWS OF CASTLE AND LOCH NESS JOHN CAMERON, RETIRED POLICE INSPECTOR (NESSIE WITNESS), LOOKING OUT OVER LOCH/WATER CAMERON SAYS IT WAS A JUNE EVENING IN 1965 AND I WAS OUT FISHING JUST OVER THERE WITH A FRIEND AND KEEPING AN EYE ALOFT AND SOMETHING CAUGHT MY EYE AND THEN SUDDENLY NOTHING WAS THERE. BEING A FISHERMAN AND ANY MOVEMENT IN THE WATER YOU JUST KEEP YOUR EYE ON IT. SUDDENLY I SAW THIS SURFACE. IT'S DIFFICULT TO DESCRIBE AND I HAVE GREAT DIFFICULTY DESCRIBING IT BECAUSE THERE IS NOTHING ELSE TO COMPARE WITH IT BEFORE. IT CAME UP LIKE A MASS AND I REALISED THEN IT WAS ROTATING. WHEN IT TURNED IT WAS A HEAD ON VIEW AND YOU COULD SEE THE CLASSICAL FEATURE OF THE UPTURNED BOAT AND THEN IT ROTATED, NOT SPINNING, BUT ROTATING QUITE SLOWLY AND PERFECTLY AT EASE ON THE SURFACE OF THE WATER AND CAME ROUND AND THE FLAT VIEW WAS LIKE A WHALE, LIKE A BIG SPERM WHALE GOING FROM INFINITY AND THEN COMING DOWN WITHIN A BLOCK END. (ENGLISH)
  • Embargoed: 18th February 1996 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Scotland
  • City:
  • Country: United Kingdom
  • Topics: Light / Amusing / Unusual / Quirky
  • Reuters ID: LVAEC6MY8PVHO9U0UJNMHVIO2U90
  • Story Text: The legend of the Loch Ness monster resurfaced on Saturday (February 3) when Ted Danson arrived in the northern reaches of Scotland to attended the premiere of his new movie.

    Loch Ness has for generations been credited with being the home of a fearsome-looking monster, but somehow the "water-kelpie", as the creature is affectionately known, has been regarded as a myth if not a joke.

    Over the years thousands have claimed to have seen it but, as yet, no-one has been able to prove .... or disprove it.

    Retired police inspector, John Cameron, is among the believers, he claims to have seen the monster one June evening in 1965.

    "Something caught my eye and then suddenly nothing was there," he recalls, "I have great difficulty in describing it because there is nothing else to compare with it .. it came up like a mass." The photograph that attracted more publicity than any other and remained (until recently) the most believable sighting was taken on the morning of 19 April 1934. The image of a figure with a long neck and bent head protuding from the water has become famous.

    A christian father, convinced of the monster's presence, once made a pilgrimage to the loch to exorcise the demon spirit but reports of strange sighting have continued.

    On Saturday night the crowds at Inverness were not gathered to see the fabled monster .. they were there to see the stars of director, John Henderson's latest creation "Loch Ness".

    Pipers played as Ted Danson, Joely Richardson and their 250 guests made their way to the premiere of the 20 million United States dollars film in the town's 90-year-old La Scala cinema.

    Danson was ironically returning to his roots while filming.The 47-year-old actor traces his Scottish ancestry back to his great-grandfather, a labourer who lived near Glamis Castle, the home of Macbeth.

    In the film, mainly shot on location around Loch Ness and the small village of Diabaig on the west coast of Scotland, Danson is caught up in a romance with Richardson, a single mother running a hotel by the loch Dr Jonathan Dempsey's (Ted Danson) formerly brilliant career as a zoologist is fading after years of gambling his reputation on mythical animals. His scheming boss blackmails him into disproving once and for all the legendary monster of Loch Ness.

    Initial conflicts with the local inn keeper, Laura MacFeteridge (Joely Richardson) develop into cautious romance. Dempsey also wins the friendship of Laura's daughter, Isabel (Kirsty Graham), who locals believe posesses a special 'gift'.

    Danson said of his young co-star who made her acting debut on the film, "She walks away with this film, she is so enchanting and wonderful".

    As for 'Nessie', Jim Henson's Creature Shop was called in to make the the fantasy behind the story. The Creature Shop's work on the film included life-sized animatronics and the use of new real-time computer graphics.

    After the premiere Danson admitted he believes "Nessie" could exist.

    "I've shared too many experiences of sightings of the monster with Scottish people to think otherwise." he said.

    Joely Richardson was not as convinced by the tales of the Loch whereas Kirsty Graham was adamant that something was taking the salmon from the lake and that something had to be the Loch Ness Monster.
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