ROBERT Carlyle, the actor and director of the opening gala of the Edinburgh International Film Festival, called for Scotland to build its own film studio last night.

Carlyle acts in and directs The Legend of Barney Thomson, which opened the festival at the Festival Theatre.

Carlyle attended the premiere as did actors Samuel Robertson, Ashley Jensen, Brian Pettifer, Stephen McCole, Kevin Guthrie, Tom Courtenay and James Cosmo.

He said the film, shot in Glasgow, was also a kind of tribute to the city and places he feels may not last much longer.

"It was very important for me to have that, I always thought if I was going to make a film, I would make it in my home town," he said.

"I deliberately chose places like Shawfield dog track, the Barrowlands, the Sarry Heid pub, Red Road flats, because these places are dying, they may not be here much longer - Barrowlands is threatened with closure, the Red Road is coming down, this is the last time you might see these places in the town," he said.

He added: "I saw it in a particular way - I have been in Canada the last seven years, doing American TV and all that, and I have been seeing a lot of the places I knew, they are gone now. It was important to me as a Glaswegian to document that."

Earlier in the day, the Scotland's culture secretary Fiona Hyslop said the prospect of a national film studio was still possible, but admitted its establishment - potentially in Cumbernauld - had been "frustrating".

Carlyle said: "I think we need a studio, for sure, that would put us up there with the rest of the cities in the UK, there's no doubt that we we need that - whether its in Glasgow, Cumbernauld or Edinburgh, it doesn't matter to me, as long as we have one. It's important."

He also said the prospect of a sequel to Trainspotting, it which he famously played the part of Begbie, was "closer than it has ever been."

Carlyle added: "It's a great honour to be here, a lot of my films have premiered here over the years, but this is a different occasion, this is my own thing and to be given the opportunity to be the opening night is fantastic.

"I am delighted. Edinburgh has been fantastic to me in my career."