Dr Who actress Karen Gillan is in Cannes to promote her first feature, the Glasgow set indie romantic comedy Not Another Happy Ending, directed by John McKay and produced by Claire Mundell of Synchronicity.

It’s been a pretty big week for Scottish actress Karen Gillan.

On Saturday she filmed her final ever Dr Who episode for the BBC and now she’s in Cannes for the first time to talk about her first feature project (first as the lead), Not Another Happy Ending, directed by John McKay and produced by Sychronicity Films, in which she stars as a writer who can only write when she is unhappy, much to the despair of her publisher.

Shooting is due to begin in July.

Gillan describes the Glasgow based feature as “an indie, quirky, artsy film” which was what also attracted director John McKay to the project. “I really liked the fact it was about likeable neurotic middle class people. We are very hung up on certain styles and genres in the UK. I really like American indie movies which have no problem portraying the city dwelling I know,” says McKay, who directed Gillan as Jean Shrimpton in TV movie We’ll Take Manhattan and decided to cast her in this latest project.

“She is a bit like a young Diane Keaton. Really bright and really good at falling over,” adds McKay.

The film is being backed by Steve Milne of the British Film Company and Creative Scotland. LevelK are handling international sales.

“There are two Scottish stereotypes on film - hills and glens and monsters. And there are the very gritty, violent, dark films.  As a producer living and working in Glasgow, I thought, why do we never see the other representation. I se an incredible amount of creativitiy and energy around me, but you don’t see that represented cinematically very often,” says producer Claire Mundell, who is next producing genre thriller The Devil’s Staircase and Marianna Palka’s latest film, Glasgow Kiss.

Meanwhile, Gillan has “absolutely no idea” what she is doing after Not Another Happy Ending. “And it’s the best feeling. I’ve put all my possessions into storage so I don’t even have a house. I’ll just see where I end up!”

She plans to “talk her way onto a yacht” during her short trip to Cannes “I think it’s all in the conviction”.