Former Telford College student talks about first big screen role with acting legends
An aspiring Edinburgh actor has been speaking about his “surreal” role playing Al Pacino’s bodyguard in an upcoming Hollywood blockbuster.
Michael Lockerbie, 33, from Marchmont, has had TV and theatre roles, including playing Sick Boy in ‘Trainspotting: Live’ for many years.
Now, he is set for his biggest role to date, and one he hopes will elevate his career, playing a bodyguard and mobster called ‘Rizzo’, with a speaking role in ‘Father Joe’, which is due for its premiere at the Venice Film Festival later this month.
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As well as ‘Scarface’ legend Pacino, Michael worked on this film alongside other huge Hollywood stars including Keifer Sutherland, who plays a priest taking on the mob, as well as Ever Anderson, Michael Rispoli, Chris Tardio, Stephen Baladamenti and Sebastian Sierra, filming in Paris and Bulgaria a year ago.
Speaking about how he landed this role, Michael said: “Initially they wanted to see me for an audition to play a guard with a speaking role. They saw my tape, and decided they wanted me for this role in the mafia crew instead. They cast me as a young mobster/ bodyguard for Al.
“The rest is history, I was on a plane to Paris the next day. I did a couple of days filming there, then we went to Bulgaria. However, you don’t know what goes in the finished film until you see it. So I’m looking forward to seeing the film.
“The whole thing was quite surreal. I’m a big Sopranos fan and a lot of the cast were in this, so it was unbelievable getting to see these guys at work up close.”
Explaining how big a deal this role could be for this career, Michael spoke about the main things he took away from the experience.
He said: “It’s a tough industry, so I was very grateful to get that opportunity to work on such a big production and to see how it all works at that level, as I’ve never worked on anything of that magnitude.
“And the relationships I formed with some of the actors, that was the main thing I took from it, working with guys who have had great careers spanning 3 or 40 years.
“For any actor it’s an incredible experience working with A-listers like that. It was just really surreal.
“Thankfully I have done bits here and there, so I kept it together, but it was very hard to comprehend at the time, working on a big budget movie with such great actors.
“One minute I was doing a job sitting in an office on George Street, then four days later I was sitting in a hotel lobby with Al Pacino. It’s just so far beyond what I ever envisaged.”
Michael studied at Edinburgh Telford College from 2011 to 2013, and has been acting professionally since 2016. The local actor is still thankful for what he learned at what is now Edinburgh College, and is hopeful that his latest role alongside Al Pacino and other Hollywood stars will help him fulfil his dream of acting full-time.
He said: “Acting was something I came to a bit later. I started at Telford College, that was amazing, a really good place to start. While I was there I auditioned for an acting school in London and finished my training down there. It was a big thing for me at the time, heading down to London.
“I still have to do stuff on the side, but I’m hoping this film helps with exposure and lands me more roles, as I really love doing this for a job. It’s my dream to do this full-time.”
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