Arts & Entertainment

Scotland’s cinematic seduction

By Guillermo Garrido

Edinburgh, Scotland, Dec 24 (EFE).- The home of Trainspotting and Braveheart, Scotland’s diverse aesthetics and wild beauty continue to draw in big-hitters from the world of TV and cinema.

The rural and breathtaking Highlands have provided a backdrop for Outlander, Edinburgh’s winding streets were the birthplace of J.K Rowling’s Harry Potter, and provided a filming location for Fast and Furious while more recently, industrial Glasgow was turned into Gotham for The Batman and starred in the upcoming Indiana Jones movie.

“There has never been a better time to film in Scotland,” a spokesperson for Screen Scotland, which promotes the industry, told Efe.

The Avengers, Da Vinci Code and James Bond: No Time to Die all chose Scotland for parts of their filming locations for the big screen while Peaky Blinders did so for the small screen.

The industry drummed up 560 million pounds (roughly $674M) for Scotland before the pandemic, according to a Screen Scotland study, and could hit 1 billion by 2030 if it grows at its current pace, Isabel Davis, the organization’s executive director, told Efe.

These numbers come after a positioning effort at the main film festivals such as Berlin and Cannes, the organization said, as well as a “close collaboration” with the British Film Commission in London and with Hollywood.

One of Scotland’s most famous cinematic exports is Trainspotting (1996), which director Danny Boyle adapted from the novel by Edinburgh native Irvine Welsh. Shot in both Edinburgh and Glasgow, its legacy continues to have an impact to this day.

“They didn’t need any support whatsoever, it was a tiny, tiny production,” Rosie Ellison, a film commissioner at Film Edinburgh, told Efe.

“But the impact has had very, very long legs. Still today, all these years later, we still get inquiries from people coming over to film in Edinburgh because of Trainspotting.”

Ellison extols the attraction of filming in Edinburgh’s Old Town.

“They all come for different reasons but one of the things that attracts them is the historic city center, this dates back to medieval times, it is still cobbled and the buildings are still as they were back in the 1600s if not earlier than that,” she said.

Avengers: Infinity Ward and Fast and Furious both chose to film on the city’s iconic Royal Mile.

Another perk of filming in Edinburgh is its wealth of nearby locations, from beaches and mountains to castles, she added. EFE

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