Irvine Welsh makes Kenny Richey movie for Edinburgh Film Festival

TRAINSPOTTING author Irvine Welsh has made a movie about former Death Row Scot Kenny Richey.

The short film centres on Richey's struggle to readapt to life since his release from a US jail in January.

Now the former inmate, who is currently unemployed, says he fancies a job as an actor.

The movie will be premiered at this summer's Edinburgh International Film Festival (EIFF) which is officially launched on Wednesday.

The picture, which is currently untitled, was filmed last month in and around Richey's Dalry neighbourhood.

Welsh and his film crew met with the former inmate at his mum's flat where they enjoyed a few cans of beer.

Stony-faced Richey is seen talking about his fight against depression since he was released from an American jail last January.

The former US marine was also rigged up to an audio device which recorded his heartbeat which is used as the movie's soundtrack. Richey suffered heart problems while living on Death Row.

The pair are then seen leaving the flat and walking along the street swigging from their tins of lager.

They make their way to the local pub, Dickens Lounge Bar, where they happily chat away with regulars.

The movie is approximately ten minutes long and is forms part of a collection of other short films.

Richey is currently looking for a job and says the experience has given him the taste for the big screen.

He said: "I enjoyed filming and wouldn't mind doing more in the future.

"However at the moment, I would do anything – I don't care what.
"I just want to start earning money and have a normal life like anybody else."

The ex-con says he was only too happy to work with Welsh as he is a big fan of the author.

He said: "I've got a lot of love and respect for Irvine. He is a great guy and we got on really well.
"He even invited me to stay with him in Dublin."

Richey recently revealed how he had been barred from a string of Edinburgh nightclubs who said he was bad for their image.

He said: "I hate bouncers. I could take them out before they blink and they'd be too goddamn stupid to realise it.

"They stand there with all the attitude. Sometimes when I ask them why I am not getting in they just say because they said so.

"I prefer to drink locally anyway. People there treat me normally."

Richey was freed from Death Row after agreeing a plea bargain to quash his conviction for the murder of two-year-old Cynthia Collins.

The toddler died in a fire in her Columbus, Ohio, apartment while drunken revellers partied outside.

Richey always denied setting fire to the apartment building in a revenge attack on a former lover who lived below the dead girl's flat.

The EIFF's programme is being officially launched tomorrow.
Last year Halam Foe, starring Billy Elliot's Jamie Bell, opened the event which started in 1947 as a documentary-based festival.

Previously it has showcased the blockbusters The Full Monty, East Is East, Billy Elliot and Amelie. The EIFF takes place this year from June 18 – 29.