Award-winning classical British actor Timothy Spall is the lead in a new emotional road-trip film titled The Last Bus, and Collider can exclusively reveal the trailer which showcases Spall’s character’s commitment to undergo the final and most memorable journey of his life.
Directed by Scottish filmmaker Gillies MacKinnon, The Last Bus centers around elderly widower Tom Harper, an ex-soldier and retired engineer who has lived in a modest village in the northernmost part of Scotland for fifty years but is determined to make an 874-mile journey south across Britain, with little more than his free bus pass with him, to a place which is appropriately called Land’s End, given that it is England’s most south-westerly point, and where he was born and lived for a time. Our unlikely hero turns what would be a mundane road trip for most people into an epic journey against time fueled by the desire to keep a promise to his late wife.
The trailer begins just as Tom's story begins: with him waiting to catch the first bus that will take him away from the place he has called home for so many decades. A stranger strikes up a conversation with him, asking him for his name, to which the old man curtly replies: “Tom.” This is only the first of many strangers that Tom will cross paths with in his journey across the country. The trailer shows us snippets of moments in which Spall’s character is shown the kindness of strangers — like, for example, a woman on the bus who offers to pay for his ticket without needing anything in return.
Written by Joe Ainsworth, who wrote several episodes for the TV drama series Holby City, The Last Bus was filmed in October and November 2019 in multiple locations across Scotland. In addition to Spall in the main role, other members of the cast include Phyllis Logan as his wife Mary, Natalie Mitson as a young Mary in the film’s flashback scenes, and Ben Ewing as a younger version of Tom. At the Bari International Film Festival this last year, Spall won the award for Best Actor for his performance.
The Last Bus is distributed by Samuel Goldwyn Films and will have its theatrical and VOD release on February 18. Check out the exclusive trailer below:
Here's the official synopsis:
Life is a journey and The Last Bus takes our old soldier, 90-year-old Tom Harper (Timothy Spall) on an epic trip from his home of fifty years - a remote village in the most northerly point of Scotland - back to the place he was born – close to England’s most southerly point. Battling against time, age and fate, desperate to keep a promise to his beloved wife Mary (Phyllis Logan), our intrepid hero Tom embarks on an odyssey, revisiting his past, connecting with the modern world and a diverse, multi-cultural Britain he has never experienced. The Last Bus is a road movie; a film about love, loss and the human spirit. A film that reminds us we are not alone - and that we're all on this ride together...