The Compleat Steve :: About Steve :: Person



				About Steve :: Person Scotland 1995 Steve was in Scotland in 1995 for the Edinburgh Festival and to see his friend, Billy Connolly.
			Scottish Daily Record August 25, 1995, Friday Page 16 He's Scot a Cheek; Steve Martin boasts of tartan roots, but refuses to eat Scotland's national dish. JOHN MILLAR finds out why ...; Actor Steve Martin visits Scotland John Millar Steve Martin has had a love affair with Scotland for more than 25 years. He's proud to claim Scottish blood, adores the pipes and Hogmanay and reckons we can throw a great party. But nothing could persuade the 48-year-old American superstar to take even the teeniest nibble of haggis. Even the mention of the national delicacy turns his face almost as grey as his hair. He said: "There are certain foods that I won't eat just based on what they are called - no matter how good they are or what they look like. Even squid does that to me. "I haven't tried haggis." However, he admitted that his Scottish ancestry had failed to enlighten him on the chieftain o' Scotland's puddin' race and quizzed: "Is it a vegetable?" After digesting the true ingredients of haggis he said: "Well , I wouldn't eat it any way because I don't eat meat." Grinning broadly, the star of hits like The Man With Two Brains, Roxanne and Trains Planes And Automobiles, said his introduction to Scotland was like stepping into one big party. "The first time I came to Scotland I was 21. When I got off the train the streets were full of people laughing, drinking and puking. "And I thought this place was incredible ... and it's only Thursday. "I assumed that this was something that went on all the time. Then I learned that these people were there for a rugby game between Scotland and Wales." Steve was at the Edinburgh Film Festival yesterday for the European Premiere of his latest movie, A Simple Twist of Fate. He said he thought the trip would be a lot of fun - and a bit of a trip down memory lane. Long before he was a famous Hollywood star, Steve was a part of the Festival Fringe scene. He revealed: "I was here 25 years ago and had my banjo with me. "I used to play for hours in a little coffee house in the city centre." But the king of the one-liners wasn't about to give a repeat performance having left his banjo at home in Los Angeles. What he has been doing all over again is wandering through the streets of the Capital. He said: "I enjoy just walking around and window shopping. I like just seeing the people and going into a record store and hearing Scottish music. "I'll probably get married and have kids here," he joked. But he was serious about enjoying the sound of the pipes and Scottish folk songs. He said: "I'm part Scottish, so I guess it's something in my genes. I've always loved Celtic music. For years I've played it and bought it." And he does know the pipes when he hears them. He said: "I've used them in films like LA Story." Steve's tartan connection continued during the filming of A Simple Twist Of Fate, which was directed by Scots movie man Gillies MacKinnon. Gillies introduced Steve to the tradition of Hogmanay and the American funny man certainly entered into the spirit of things. He danced a jig and brought in the gift of a piece of coal, which was actually a bit of rock painted black, since they couldn't find any coal in Atlanta where they were filming. But, perhaps because he's only half-Scots, a smiling Steve said that he didn't over-indulge during our "bizarre" Hogmanay celebration. He admitted: "I never really get drunk." Steve continued in jokey mood when asked if he'd managed to see director Gillies MacKinnon's latest movie Small Faces at the Festival. "No, but I saw a poster and I really enjoyed it," he laughed. And he had a one-liner reply to the question of his ambitions to try his hand at movie directing: "No way, I like to have a life." Though A Simple Twist flopped in the States, Steve Martin has no regrets and says he likes the movie which is one of his rare serious roles in a tale inspired by the Silas Marner story. But the joker is back on the laughter track with two comedies in the pipeline. He's made a sequel to Father Of The Bride - this time his married daughter and his wife both get pregnant - and he's taking on the role that Phil Silvers immortalised in his own big screen Sergeant Bilko. Steve doesn't worry that he's taking a bit of a risk playing a character who became such a comedy hit. He said he'd gambled before when he filmed Father Of The Bride because Spencer Tracy had been flawless in the original. The comedian told me: "I was reluctant at first because I grew up with Bilko. But the script was funny and so it all came together." While he's enjoyed his latest sojourn to Scotland, Steve admitted that he was starting to feel a wee bit homesick. He wants to get back to the States before he starts dreaming about a lop-sided haggis chasing him round a dinner table ...
			The Herald (Glasgow) August 25, 1995 Pg. 3 Silver-haired actor goes back to roots. Heard the one about the Hollywood comedian and his Scots ancestry? William Russell delivers the punchline. William Russell HOLLYWOOD came to the West End of Edinburgh yesterday when Steve Martin, the American comedian and actor, launched a charm offensive against the Scottish media in the Caledonian Hotel. Martin was last in Edinburgh 25 years ago playing his banjo in a coffee house in Lothian Road. "I was 21, and when I got off the train I found the streets were full of people laughing and drinking and puking," he said. "I thought -- 'This place is incredible.' But it was the night of the Scotland and Wales rugby game. I had assumed this behaviour went on all the time. But the next night -- dead." He has returned because A Simple Twist of Fate, directed by Gillies Mackinnon, which he wrote and stars in, received its British premiere at the Drambuie Edinburgh Film Festival. Set in the present day in the American South it is based on George Eliot's novel, Silas Marner. Why had he chosen the book? "I had come to the decision I wanted to do a movie driven by plot. You can add comedy and flights of fancy because the subject drives you along. I read the book, analysed it, and reorganised it a bit -- but that is what we do in the movies." The critical reception has been mixed, but Martin charmed the premiere audience with an impromptu 10-minute comedy spot after the screening. Yesterday he turned his attention to the media, rashly laying claim, as visiting Americans always do, to Scottish ancestry. "I am part Scottish," he said to explain why he felt so at home. Which part was Scottish? "I don't know," he confessed. "It is in the mix there -- English, Scottish, and Irish. I guess there is something in my genes because I like Scottish music. I have played it for years." Such as? "Mary Black" he said. "But she's Irish," he was told. "Well, I like Scottish and Irish music," he said hastily. But if Martin was making the usual suspect protestations about his origins, the Scottish media were asking the same old questions, like whether he had yet tried haggis? "There are certain foods I will not eat, no matter how good they are or what they look like," he said. "It is based on what they are called and I guess even squid is included. Haggis is a vegetable dish, right?" He was told what it contained. "I don't eat meat," he said firmly. He said he did not think of roles in terms of what people expected him to do, but of what appealed to him. "It has never bothered me what people think," he added. "I choose the subject, start writing or reading a script, decide on the basis of liking it, and go on from there. If something is good it will be accepted. The hard part is making it good." The plot involves a dispute between a teenage girl's poor adoptive parent, played by Martin, and her wealthy natural parent, played by Gabriel Byrne, over who should have custody. He said there had been a lot of controversy in America about adoption and he thought it a very relevant, human story. As to the accuracy of the court hearing, the film's climax, at which the judgment of Solomon has to be made, he hedged his bets. "It could be accurate," he said. "There were a lot of trials like that. One occurred after the screen play was done which was virtually identical. I believe the foster parents won and got to keep the child, but a year later she decided to go back to her natural parents." He said he had no idea whether he was an actor or a comedian. He just did what he did. "I think films like Father of the Bride and Parenthood were highly dramatic so in my mind I have been doing drama," he added. "The Jerk, on the other hand, was comedy." He has just made a Sergeant Bilko film, having been reluctant for a long time to take on a role Phil Silvers made his own, but he had liked the people he would be working with -- Dan Ackroyd and Jonathan Lynn among them -- and it had all came together. He did not make films just to fund other films. Every one he had done he had wanted to do. Apart from Bilko, what else was on its way? There was Father of the Bride 2, he said. In it his daughter gets pregnant, he felt he was getting older, dyed his hair, exercised in the gym, and made love to Diane Keaton, who played his wife, on the kitchen floor. "She starts feeling funny and thinks it is the menopause, but it turns out she is pregnant and she and our daughter have their babies on the same day," he added.
			Scottish Daily Record August 24, 1995, Thursday Page 3 Steve Is So Shy; Funnyman Steve Martin goes walkabout in Edinburgh Hollywood funnyman Steve Martin hid behind his heavies yesterday when he went walkabout in Edinburgh. The reluctant star was in town for last night's European premiere of his latest movie, A Simple Twist of Fate. Wearing sunglasses and a baseball cap, Martin walked unrecognised among shoppers. He moved away when approached but said he was enjoying his stay. Steve had earlier flown into Edinburgh Airport and was driven to the city's Caledonian Hotel. The premiere, at the Dominion Cinema, was the highlight of this year's Film Festival.















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