Luckily, Kate does have an advantage over the others: she has a very sexy Scottish accent.

What does it mean to be Scottish?  According to the film Stone of Destiny, it means drinking lots of beer, hating the English and never giving up on your dreams. Set against the lush landscape and detailed architecture of the British Isles, Stone of Destiny is a charming tale of dreamers and national pride. The film follows a group of Scottish college students as they attempt to steal an ancient rock known as the “Stone of Destiny”  from those darn English. While the stone itself is nothing but an odd-shaped rock, it  represents the glory of Scotland – and how England has taken that away from them (insert castration metaphor here).

These kids will stop at nothing to get this rock back – it’s not personal, it’s national. If anything, this movie seems to reinforce the idea that the English are a bunch of jerks. They pillaged the land of the Aboriginal Peoples, colonized just about anything and everything and, worst of all, started the skinny model trend (which, to this day, is the leading cause of the “I’m not skinny enough” mindset in teenage girls). I enjoyed the film quite a bit. After all, it followed the recipe for any great movie: attractive leading man, check; feisty female co-star, check; drunken sidekick, check; and, most importantly, everyone has to have an accent – check.

I was very impressed by the film’s star, Charlie Cox, whose humour and tenacity was refreshing. Kate Mara was delightful, too, and Lois Laneesque in her role as the only girl in
the ragtag group. The casual viewer, however, may clump her in with Amy Adams and Isla Fisher (a clone of the former) thanks to her looks. Luckily, Kate does have an advantage over the others: she has a very sexy Scottish accent. When the film was over, I was left with a feeling of bliss. It was nice to see a movie about something for a change. Stone of Destiny had a message: follow your dreams and never forget where you came from. But if I were only allotted one question to the film’s director, it would be this: why does a Michael Bublé song play in a movie set in the ’50s? Shame on you for thinking no one would notice.

But I really don’t think it has to do with whether you get along with them or not. It’s really just magic on set. And it has to do with the kind of character you’re playing, too, and how you interpret it.

Sexy, sensuous, subtle: There is a romantic frisson between the characters played by Kate Mara and Charlie Cox in Stone of Destiny, the inspirational true story of Scottish nationalists who steal the relic back from Westminster Abbey as a gesture of Scottish pride in 1950.

There was also a romance that bloomed between the American Mara — who also played the 19-year-old edition of Heath Ledger’s daughter in Brokeback Mountain — and the Englishman Cox — who is the charming leading man from Stardust.

It was obvious they were a couple at the Toronto International Film Festival last September, when Stone of Destiny delighted audiences as the closing-night gala. The two were planning a cross-country drive together in the U.S. following the filmfest, Fox told Sun Media.

Who knows what happened? Mara remains coy about whether there ever was, or still is, a relationship.

“Well, he’s a great co-star!” she says of Cox.

But Mara, who turns 26 on Feb. 27, is willing to discuss how couples relate on-screen.

Especially in a true story in which her character, Kay Matheson, and Cox’s character, Ian Hamilton, are real-life people who did steal the artifact, which is also known as the Stone of Scone and Jacob’s Pillow. It had been pillaged by the English king, Edward I, in 1296, although he may have ended up with a fake.

REAL-LIFE COUPLE?

Mara is not sure if Hamilton and Matheson, both still living when the film was shot in Scotland as a Canada-Scotland co-production, were a couple, either.

“I don’t know … they certainly didn’t stay together.”

Matheson went back to teaching and eventually ended up in a nursing home. Hamilton wrote a book about their exploits, served as a consultant to Smith, entertained the film troops with his stories and popped up in a sly cameo as a grumpy Englishman.

In writer-director Charles Martin Smith’s version, there is a romance between Hamilton and Matheson as their adventure unfolds. It is sweet and spiked with dry wit. Mara says it does not matter if the actors portraying a romantic couple feel romantic themselves.

“You can really hate someone,” she offers, “but you can have like amazing chemistry with them in a scene. And you can really like somebody off-set and not have great chemistry. It’s weird. I don’t really know how it works because it really doesn’t make sense. It’s just either there or it’s not. But I really don’t think it has to do with whether you get along with them or not. It’s really just magic on set. And it has to do with the kind of character you’re playing, too, and how you interpret it.”

In Stone of Destiny, the reality appealed to Mara and overcame her fear of doing a Scottish accent for the role (thoroughly American, she was born and bred in New York as the great-granddaughter of Timothy Mara, founder of the NFL’s New York Giants).

“As a movie-goer but also as an actress, I love true stories,” Mara says. “It makes the movie just that much better for me.”

What Martin created, Mara says, is a film that captures the essence of the symbolic gesture that stealing the Stone of Destiny was for modern Scottish nationalism. And she is delighted that her character, Kay Matheson, was instrumental in the adventure.

“Yes! It makes you think, so she’s not just ‘the girl!’ She really had a role and had a really important role, in the taking of the Stone.”

The craziest thing was knowing they were so young when they did this huge thing.

For Kate Mara, the accent was on getting the burr just right to play a young heroine of the 1950s Scottish nationalist movement in Stone of Destiny.

The petite brown-eyed redhead had no trouble looking the part of a Scottish lass, but sounding convincing was crucial to her.

“It was really hard work,” the 25-year-old actor told the Star as the Toronto International Film Festival wound down last fall. Stone of Destiny was TIFF’s closing-night film. It opens here Friday.

“Being in Scotland and being surrounded by a whole Scottish cast (was intimidating), but everyone was so helpful and supportive,” she said.

“No one acted like they had any qualms with an American girl playing the lead and an Englishman (Charlie Cox) playing the lead guy.”

Written and directed by Charles Martin Smith, who movie fans will remember as Terry in 1973′s American Graffiti, the story recalls an important event in modern-day Scottish history.

Based on Ian Hamilton’s book, it follows the exploits of the young nationalist who banded with Kay Matheson (Mara) and two university student pals to swipe the 152-kg Stone of Scone from beneath the Coronation Chair in Westminster Abbey in London and repatriate it to its home in Scotland.

The students wanted the stone – a symbol of Scottish national pride nabbed by the Brits in the 13th century and used since in the crowning of English monarchs – out of England and back in its home country.

Glaswegian Robert Carlyle also stars in the movie as politician John MacCormick, who inspires the students with his fiery speeches.

Retired lawyer Hamilton (age 82 when the movie was being shot in Scotland two years ago), spent a great deal of time on the set, acting as historian, guide and even voice coach.

“I spent so much time with Ian, he was so present and he answered any questions we had,” said Mara. “He had Charlie Cox and me over to his house for dinner, and he told us stories. It was amazing.”

Mara was enthralled with the tales of the then-25-year-old rebel Hamilton.

“The craziest thing was knowing they were so young when they did this huge thing,” she added. “It’s hard to imagine being (that age) and doing something that huge and not knowing the consequences. And to be able to spend time with the guy who did it how many years later, that’s such a cool thing.”

Mara first gained critics’ attention for a small but pivotal part as Alma Jr. – Heath Ledger’s adult daughter – in Brokeback Mountain. She went on to roles in We Are Marshall and Transsiberian.

This was her first time doing an accent, aside from a Southern drawl that she said she didn’t find challenging, and getting it just right had Mara especially nervous. Stone of Destiny had its world premiere before a hometown crowd at the Edinburgh International Film Festival.

“It was really scary and it was the first time I’d seen the film, and those are the people you really want to like the film and respond.”

When the credits rolled, “there were a lot of tears and a lot of emotions. It means a lot to people’s heritage.”

Afterwards, the cast, crew and guests partied at Edinburgh Castle and saw the stone (it was officially returned by the English in 1996).

“Ian Hamilton led the way and it was so emotional. It was really fun,” Mara recalled.

“Robert Carlyle was very emotional. He was tearing up. It was very sweet to see that. I’ll never forget it. I felt so proud to be a part of this. I couldn’t believe I got lucky enough to play a Scottish girl in this true story.”