EDINBURGH --

Andy Nyman joined the cast of Shut Up and Shoot Me before he had actually read the script.

The film, which was screened at the Edinburgh International Film Festival, sees Nyman (Severance) star as Colin, a distraught widower who hires a Czech man (Karel Roden) to kill him.

Director Steen Agro told DS that Nyman was unable to take a look at the screenplay before signing up due to time pressures. "We’d done a casting and I just wasn’t pleased with anybody," explained Agro. "A friend of mine had just shot a film with him - he recommended him, my agent recommended him.

"He came aboard at the last minute. He basically had to accept the role before he’d read the script which was kind of a leap of faith of his."

Meanwhile, the director had high praise for Nyman's co-star, branding him "the Czech version of Robert De Niro".

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