Four Scottish landmarks you may not know were included in movies
By Dillon Morrow
Photo by Ray Harrington on Unsplash
The 123-year-old Scottish Harry Potter bridge is being repaired. The Glenfinnan Viaduct is one of the nation’s most famous man-made landmarks and needs renovation due to its century-old design.
Teams have been using ropes to access the bridge to strengthen the concrete arches. The Viaduct was made famous by the Harry Potter film series, with many members of the public gathering to see the Hogwarts Express cross the arches each year.
Here are four more famous filming locations in Scotland.
1. EDINBURGH OLD TOWN
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Edinburgh’s Old Town was used in Avengers Endgame for various scenes, with the most famous spots being Edinburgh Waverly Station and the Royal Mile which are used in action-packed scenes at the beginning of the film. This section of the film is filled with Edinburgh's gothic architecture, and the locations are easy to pick out.
2. NECROPOLIS
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Glasgow’s famous Necropolis was used to film parts of Matt Reeves’ The Batman. The cemetery's moody atmosphere sets a great tone for Matt’s take on Gotham. The filming location for The Batman is harder to pick out than in other films due to Gotham's fictional nature and many wouldn't be able to tell that Glasgow was ever in the film.
3. GEORGE SQUARE
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George Square was famously used in World War Z to depict the outbreak of the zombie apocalypse in the streets of Philadelphia. Glasgow is the perfect location to play the role of the American city, helped by great directing and camera work. The city's semi-modern architecture and busy streets are very believable. This is a great example of big box office American films being shot in the city due to lower filming costs in Scotland.
4. GLASGOW STREETS
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Glasgow's St Vincent Street and Cochrane Street were used in the film Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny. The producers decorated the streets of Glasgow with American flags and new signs for businesses to resemble the New York parade for the Apollo 11 mission. The streets used in the film are recognisable to native Glaswegians, however, general audiences believed they were viewing the streets of New York in 1969.
Scotland has been used in hundreds of different films for a variety of different reasons, whether it be cheaper filming costs or the multiple aesthetics of the country's changing architecture and sprawling hills. It's great that Scotland’s many faces will be immortalised in popular films forever.