Hollywood star Alan Cumming said he is considering moving back to Scotland – and fantasises about living in the middle of nowhere as a ‘Scottish Greta Garbo’.
The 56-year-old actor said his life had become too hectic since coming out of lockdown and that he is drawn to return to his home country after more than 20 years.
Cumming, who lives in New York, said he was harbouring a fantasy about moving back to Scotland and living in the middle of nowhere.
He secured American citizenship in 2008 but said he has a ‘primal’ urge to spend the latter years of his life in Scotland.
Cumming said travelling around Scotland over the summer for a new Channel 4 travel show got him thinking about relocating.
In recent years he has been a regular visitor to Scotland, including shows at the Edinburgh International Festival, where he performed this summer.
Cumming was speaking during an in-conversation event at the Toronto International Festival of Authors to promote his book, Baggage.
He told festival director Roland Gulliver he had been able to enjoy New York City over the last 20 years as he also had a home in the Catskill Mountains.
Cumming said: “Having spent so much time there during the pandemic, coming back to the city I’m like a country boy getting used to it again, the noise, the intensity and bustle.
“I love that, but I think I’m readjusting my ratio of how much time I’m going to spend here and there.
“I’m really feeling a draw back to Scotland.
“I feel a really primal thing that I’m going to end up there.
“I’ve had this fantasy of being a Scottish Greta Garbo, being reclusive, in the middle of nowhere.
“There’s something about that that I feel I want in my life.
“Sometimes you have to be away from where you are from to understand how much you are formed by it and how much of it is part of you.
“That’s definitely been the case for me and I’ve been spending more time there.
“I shot a travel show this summer with Miriam Margolyes.
“She and I went round Scotland in a van together, which was nuts.
“There was something about that that made me just sort of think that I could make it a reality.
“I’m not sure how my husband would take it.
“I’d probably be going off making the odd film here and he’d be stuck up a mountain somewhere on his own.
“I’ve gone back to pre-pandemic life.
“I thought there would be a gradual easing into it, but no. It’s kind of daunting.
“I’m actually good at relaxing. I give it as much focus as everything else.
“I think I might slow down a bit.”
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