The author of The Last Station interviewed

The Scotsman has an interview with Jay Parini, author of the novel The Last Station which is being made into a movie starring James McAvoy, Christopher Plummer and Helen Mirren.

It's the first time McAvoy, who plays Tolstoy's shy, virginal amenuensis, Valentin Bulgakov, has starred opposite his wife, the actress Anne-Marie Duff, since they met on the TV series Shameless.

The movie is due out later this year. "They have to gear these things to the timing of the Oscar nominations, apparently," says Parini, who is tipping The Last Station for at least seven nominations. "If we don't get them, I'll eat my hat," he says.

It's McAvoy's movie. "As Tolstoy's young secretary, he's in every scene and he's brilliant as the ingenue. He was born to play this part. He's one of Scotland's treasures."

Filming began this spring at a small railway station near Wittenberg, south of Berlin. The "station" was dressed to resemble Astapovo junction in Russia, where Tolstoy died in 1910, in the stationmaster's house, after fleeing his family and disciples.