Borders actor’s fundraising Trainspotting tribute given thumbs-up by author

Actor Jack Lowden's Trainspotting tribute to raise funds for Masks for Scotland.

The 29-year-old uploaded a home-made parody of the speech by Ewan McGregor’s character Mark Renton that opened the 1996 film mocking the ‘choose life’ slogan used by a mid-1980s anti-drugs campaign as part of an online variety show supporting the Masks for Scotland crowdfundining initiative.

Lowden, brought up in Oxton but now living in Leith in Edinburgh, urged viewers to comply with the current coronavirus lockdown, telling them: “Choose life, choose your future, choose staying at home, choose good health, choose rubber gloves, choose swapping your favourite-smelling perfume for the clinical musk of antibacterial gel.

“Choose watching every box set under the sun until your remote control’s your best friend, choose waking up on a Sunday morning and not knowing who the hell you are, choose not even knowing if there’s a Sunday morning.”

Trainspotting author Irvine Welsh. (Photo by Jeff Spicer/Getty Images)

He was among an all-star cast taking part in the event, organised by TV presenter Edith Bowman and titled For the Love of Scotland, including fellow actors Peter Mullan, Karen Gillan and James McAvoy, as well as Welsh, and the author has now given the Borderer’s contribution the thumbs-up.

“I tend to get a bit bored with Trainspotting parodies, but this one is for the NHS so it’s all good,” tweeted the Leith-born 61-year-old, sharing the near-two-minute video.

Lowden – seen in films including 2016’s Denial, 2017’s Dunkirk, 2018’s Calibre and last year’s Fighting With My Family – thanked Welsh for that show of support by replying: “Good sport.”

The Masks for Scotland appeal has now raised more than £220,000, and donations are still being taken at www.crowdfunder.co.uk/masks-for-scotland

Lowden’s video clip can still be seen at twitter.com/JALowden