Here’s
a selection of film locations where Scotland
stood in for somewhere else…
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Film:
Hamlet
Location: Dunnottar Castle
Director: Franco Zeffirelli
Starring: Mel Gibson, Glenn Close, Alan
Bates
The shooting script
Hamlet may be the great Dane, but two Scottish
castles star as Elsinore in Zeffirelli’s
version of the Shakespeare classic, rather than
the real thing, Denmark’s Kronborg castle.
Exterior shots were done at Dunnottar, on a
rock formation perched 160ft above the sea.
Zeffirelli first saw Dunnottar in 1989, and
later told writer Brian Pendreigh, "There are
rocks you have never seen and there is not one
tree. It looks like something from another planet."
His love of the place didn’t preclude making
a few alterations: Zeffirelli had a facade built
to extend the castle ruins. Blackness Castle,
near Linlithgow, provided some interior locations.
They used the hall in Stern Tower for Ophelia’s
room, and shot other scenes at the entrance
to the tower.
The real location
Located near Stonehaven, south of Aberdeen.
Despite its seemingly impregnable location,
Dunnottar changed hands repeatedly. England’s
Edward III captured it in 1330, but the Scots
nabbed it back. Mary Queen of Scots visited
in 1562. In 1651 the Scottish Crown Jewels were
hidden here for safekeeping, and 70 men held
out for eight months to keep them from falling
into Cromwell’s hands. In 1685, 167 Covenanters
were imprisoned here in a room with only one
window affording a sea view. After the Jacobite
rebellion the castle was abandoned, and fell
into ruins.
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Film: The House of Mirth
Location: Glasgow City Chambers
Director: Terence Davies
Starring: Gillian Anderson, Dan Aykroyd,
Eric Stoltz
The shooting script
"Don’t forget my prescription. It’s
on the bureau." Mrs Hatch gives her list of
orders to Lily Bart as they descend the marble
stairs of some glamorous New York building.
Poor Lily Bart. This is the beginning of the
end for her. Cast out of society she has found
employment as assistant to Mrs Hatch, a woman
whose sole aim is to use her connections to
get into society. Actually the building is Glasgow
City Chambers, but no matter. It looks right.
When director Terence Davies set about filming
his lavish adaptation of Edith Wharton’s
novel concerning the social mores of turn-of-the-century
New York, he scouted locations in Albany, Philadelphia
and Baltimore. None had architecture with the
kind of monumental Victorian feel he wanted,
so Davies ended up bringing the production to
Glasgow for the nine-week shoot. The Kelvingrove
Art Gallery and Museum also stood in for a Manhattan
train station.
The real location
The design of the City Chambers was the result
of not one, but two different competitions,
with the commission eventually won by Paisley-born,
Glasgow-trained William Young. With a budget
of £150,000, he created a grandiose building
full of intricate mosaics, trompe l’oeil
paintwork, and generous helpings of Carrera
marble. In 1883 more than half a million spectators
watched as the foundation stone was laid by
Lord Provost John Ure. Five years later, Queen
Victoria herself performed the inauguration
ceremony.
Film: Monty Python And The Holy Grail
Location: Doune Castle
Directors: Terry Gilliam and Terry Jones
Starring: John Cleese, Terry Gilliam,
Graham Chapman
The shooting script
There’s a certain irony that Arthur, the
most English of legends, was relocated to Scotland
in the film Monty Python and the Holy Grail.
Arthur and his knights gallivant around Scotland
on a holy quest to find Christ’s drinking
vessel. The principal location of their antics
is Doune Castle, situated between Dunblane and
Stirling. Doune Castle appears as the Castle
of Guy de Lombard, where Sir Lancelot causes
chaos, and Anthrax, where Sir Galahad has an
interesting offer! Other locations used include
the Cave of Caerbannog at Loch Tay where Arthur
learns of Tim the Enchanter, and Rannoch Moor,
for the scenes after the Bridge of Death. Castle
Stalker, 25 miles north of Oban, is used as
the castle which supposedly holds the grail.
The current caretaker is happy to demonstrate
the use of coconut shells for horse hooves on
request.
The real location
Founded on the origins of a Roman fort, the
castle was built for the powerful Robert Stewart,
Duke of Albany, who was Regent of Scotland from
1389-1399. He tried to ensure he remained there
by starving his brother’s eldest son and
the castle’s rightful heir to death, but
the building failed to stay in Stewart hands
after the Duke’s death, as his son Murdoch
was killed by James I. The castle then stayed
in the hands of the Crown, later being passed
on as a dower house for the consorts of James
II, III and IV. It also housed the exiled Mary
Queen of Scots in 1545, before finally being
seized by the Jacobites in 1745 and used as
a prison.
Film:
Mrs Brown
Location: Duns Castle
Director: John Madden
Starring: Judi Dench and Billy Connolly
The shooting script
Queen Victoria never lived at Berwickshire’s
Duns Castle, but it made a handsome substitute
for her true Scottish residence, Balmoral, during
the filming of Mrs Brown. Producer Sarah Curtis
explains that the decision to film at Duns was
precipitated by the importance of capturing
the feel of royal life. "The grand opulence
had to be there on the screen. Fortunately,
we live in a country that is filled with palaces
and stately homes." But they were unable to
use current royal domiciles because of the somewhat
controversial nature of the film. Madden also
wanted to contrast lavish palace life with the
wildness of the Highlands, and wound up shooting
in some of the worst weather imaginable. "Scotland
threw absolutely everything it has at us within
the first six days," said Curtis.
The real location
Duns Castle was built around a 14th century
peel tower given to the Earl of Moray by Robert
the Bruce. In 1696, the Earl of Tweedale bought
the castle for his son, William Hay of Drumelzier,
and the Hay family have occupied this tourist
attraction ever since. Maybe tourists come to
see the ghost of Alexander Hay, who died at
the Battle of Waterloo, and is said to haunt
his ancestral home. The Scottish Covenanters
used the castle as their base, and later, the
National Covenant was signed there.
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Film: The Wicker Man
Location: Castle Kennedy, near Stranraer
Director: Robin Hardy
Starring: Edward Woodward, Britt Ekland
The shooting script
The neo-pagan cult classic is supposedly set
on the Summer Isles, a small group of islands
at the mouth of Loch Broom in the Inner Hebrides,
off Ullapool. However, as these islands have
been uninhabited for some time, the film cunningly
uses several locations on the West Coast to
masquerade as a mountainous island. Sergeant
Howie (Edward Woodward) arrives on the island
to investigate the mysterious disappearance
of a local girl, and finds himself led into
dream-like intrigue involving pagan ritual and
strange sexual practices. Castle Kennedy was
used for the surreal naked dances and colourful
May Day procession that Woodward stumbles upon
during his investigation. The stone circle seen
at the location was fake.
The real location
Castle Kennedy, near Stranraer, has been described
as one of Britain’s most dramatically located
gardens. Seventy-five acres in size, its mild
winter climate and acid soil nourishes a range
of plants from the Southern hemisphere and allows
trees to grow much taller than in cooler parts
of the country. The castle itself doesn’t
amount to much these days, having been burnt
down in 1716. Much of the garden’s design
was established by the Second Earl of Stair,
a military commander in 1720. A British ambassador
to Paris, his ambitions for the gardens were
to create something as spectacular as Versailles.
Sadly they were neglected after his death, but
were resurrected at the end of the 19th century
by the eighth Earl.
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