Damaged star Samuel L Jackson tracked down by determined Scots mum while filming

Samuel L Jackson‘s latest film is set to hit the big screen in a few short weeks. Crime thriller Damaged will air in theatres from Friday, April 12.

Directed by Terry McDonough, the film tells the story of Chicago detective Daniel Lawson travelling to Scotland to link up with a local detective after a serial killer’s crimes match an unsolved case.

In a boon to the Scottish film industry, much of the movie was shot on location, with Livingston-based firm Stream Digital partnering with Red Sea Media and Bondit Media Capital for the project.

And last March, one determined mother was able to track down Jackson while filming in Bathgate – and she even received a cheeky quip from the iconic actor for her efforts.

Deborah Gemmell shared footage from the memorable moment on her Facebook page, saying she finally tracked the star down on Mid Street after “stalking” him.

She revealed that she and her Marvel-daft son went out on a mission to spot Jackson – who plays Nick Fury in the Marvel Cinematic Universe – and ended up driving down the same road dozens of times until they saw him.

In the footage, Jackson can be seen on the pavement as Deborah shouts: “Nick Fury” at him. He looks up, smirks, and replies: “This is the third time you’ve been by!”

Speaking shortly after the encounter, Deborah said: “It was a wee bit of excitement for Bathgate. My son loves Marvel so I couldn’t not take him out last night to find him.

“We drove along the Mid street around 40 or 50 times from around 5.30pm until around 9pm looking for him and eventually saw him, although he must have spotted us first because he said that was three times we had gone by.

“I was driving and my friend Mo was in the passenger seat taking pics and videos and my son was in the back.

“He was filming in the street. That’s why I kept driving up and down as all the film crew were out there and crowds of people. They were there from 5pm until 11pm last night doing a car scene for one of his new movies.

“I did the same pre-Covid with my son to see Lewis Capaldi and managed to get a photo with him and my son gave him a milkshake and a protein bar!”

Jackson was first seen in West Lothian at Almond Valley Heritage Centre in Livingston, when he was shooting scenes at a nearby church, before the production team moved to the Tony Macaroni stadium.

Heritage Centre staff took to Facebook to say: “A string of big fancy trailers parked up in our field, providing base camp for cast and crew as they filmed at various local locations. It was (and is) all very top-secret and even if we knew more, we wouldn’t clype.

“Suffice to say, we’re preparing a commemorative plaque, proudly stating ‘somewhere near this bush, make-up was applied to Samuel L. Jackson.’

“Saturday and Sunday were supposed to be quiet days for the film production, with the big trailers shunted into a corner of the field so as not to get in the way of our visitors.

“But plans changed, (that’s showbiz) and the full crew decided to move out today, just as happy visitors were arriving for a mother’s day visit to Almond Valley. Our apologies if anyone was inconvenienced by all these goings-on – these marvels don’t happen every day.”

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