LORD of the Rings star Billy Boyd, Oscar-nominated actress Brenda Blethyn and award-winning Scots actor Peter Mullan are filming a big budget movie in Port Glasgow about the demise of the shipyards.

The movie heavyweights were joined by young Scottish star Jamie Sives, who appeared in Wilbur (He Wants To Kill Himself) and Jodhi May who appeared in Last Of The Mohicans.

The film, On a Clear Day, follows a man"s struggle to come to terms with his life after he loses his job.

Peter Mullan, who starred in My Name Is Joe and Trainspotting, plays the main character, Frank Redmond, who decides to swim the English Channel.

Many of the workers at Ferguson's Shipyard, where the scenes are being shot, are getting in on the action.

They are hoping to be used as extras on Saturday when the crew return to film the scenes where Peter Mullan and Billy Boyd, who played Pippin in Lord Of The Rings, lose their jobs.

Peter said: `The film is about a community trying to help a guy find himself by swimming the English Channel.

`He loses his job and falls apart. He comes close to having a nervous breakdown and that is when he decides to swim the channel. He finds his true self and confronts his past, present and future.` Peter, who has also been in Young Adam and wrote The Magdalene Sisters, is no stranger to Inverclyde.

He said: `I remember teaching a drama class down here at Port Glasgow High School in the 1980s.

'I used to come down on a Thursday night and take this class. I did it for a good six months. It was great.` Brenda Blethyn, who was nominated for Oscars for her roles in Little Voice and Secrets and Lies, told the Telegraph: `It is a lovely story about family values and friendship. It is dignified, it is a fresh and lovely story with a lot of heart.

She added: 'I had a day off the other day and I went to visit a friend in Oban. It is absolutely beautiful and I am very jealous of the Scots because you have such a beautiful country.' Inverclyde is becoming a hot-spot for film makers. Ken Loach set Sweet Sixteen in Greenock, Dear Frankie was filmed here and River City producers chose Greenock"s district court to film gripping murder trial scenes earlier this year.