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Hey guys today we are having some real fun! This is for you movie buffs out there and we are going to blow your mind by telling you some of the great movies that have been filmed here in Scotland….. but not only that just a couple of months ago the Michaels Fassbender movie, The Slow West was released. It was a pretty fun movie about a Scotsman making his way to the wild west to find the woman he loves, but many parts of it were filmed right here in Scotland and they even used one of our cottages to stay in while they were filming! So yeah, you deal with us and you are in the same boat as Hollywood actors and actresses.
Anyway lets have some fun and check out some of the best movies that have been filmed in Scotland.
Highlander
Let’s start with one of my favourite movies of all time, Highlander. Highlander tells the story of Connor McCloud an immortal who must face off against the last (or so he thinks) of his kind an evil and kind of cool Barbarian warlord. Highlander was filmed in a few parts of Scotland with the most notable areas being Skye, Glen Nevis and Eilean Donan Castle. One of the best places that you can check out is Glen Coe which may be a wee drive from our properties, but this is where they filmed the opening battle scene of Highlander. So grab a sword and get some awesome photos you can post on Facebook. While the original will always be my favourite the other Highlander movies also had multiple scenes shot in Scotland…… now if only I could get my other half to agree to going on a Highlander tour of Scotland (in costume of course) I would be living the dream!
The Dark Knight Rises
They did not film Batman in Scotland!!!!!! I can hear a few of you yelling at your screens right now, but actually some of the early scenes in the movie did use Scotland as a backdrop. Batman is put to the ultimate test as Gotham City is over taken by Bane and Bruce Wayne needs to dig deep to stop him and he even has some help from Catwoman…… and I will not spoil anymore of the movie for you if you have not seen it. The opening scene where Bane and his goons highjack the airplane was filmed right over, Loch Bealach Culaidh! That is right who knew that the Gotham City and the Scottish Highlands were so close together! I for one think that it is just really awesome that this was filmed here.
The Harry Potter Series
Four of the Harry Potter movies had scenes filmed in Scotland! The most famous one though has to be from the very first Harry Potter movie, The Philosophers Stone. Quidditch the sport that the wizards play in the Harry Potter series was filed with Glen Nevis serving as the backdrop. Through the use of CGI they were able to shove Hogwarts school on the actual mountain! The third movie in the series, The Prisoner Of Azkaban also made use of Scotland, specifically Glen Coe. There was around four sets built here at the cost of a few million pounds!
Monty Python & The Holy Grail
Despite telling the English story of King Arthur it was decided that Scotland looked more like medieval England than England did….. kind of weird I know, but the majority of this awesome, classic movie was filmed right here in Scotland with the most notable place being, Doune Castle which was used as Camelot and features in the movie multiple times. Sadly in case you were wondering the epic, Black Knight scene was not filmed here in Scotland. Still find a random woodlands somewhere and you can act out this classic scene all you want.
Stardust
In a just world Stardust is one of the most beloved fantasy movies of all time. Telling the story of a young boy on a quest to find a falling star, but he gets caught up in an adventure involving a witch, a family feud over a throne and finding out about his own past! Featuring one of the most over the top performances from Robert De Niro, Stardust used many locations in Scotland. Bealach na Ba is a mountain pass on the West side of Scotland and the scene where Robert De Niro takes his airship to the mountain top city uses this…. Of course the city was all CGI. A couple of places on the Isle Of Skye and Loch Coulin were also used, which is actually pretty close to our Stac Polly Luxury Lodge .
World War Z
Ok so this one is not in the Scottish Highlands, but I had to put World War Z here just because how weird it is. The Brad Pitt, World War Z movie took a zombie apocalypse to a whole new level. A zombie outbreak in Philadelphia is a huge scene of the movie…… but this mayhem on the streets of Philadelphia was actually shot in George Square in Glasgow! All the times I have walked through, George Square and never once did I think it could be used as an American City……. Or as a place where there could be a zombie outbreak!
The World Is Not Enough
This to me is one of the more under rated of the James Bond movies. James Bond needs to stop a nuclear threat and he deals with one awesome villain called Reynard played by Scotland’s own, Robert Carlyle. We already mentioned, Eilean Donan Castle when we talked about Highlander. But The World Is Not Enough also makes use of this castle as a base for the secret service there are all kinds of satellite dishes coming out of the top of it which certainly gives the castle a different look….. I wonder if these were added post production with CGI or if they were actually placed on the castle for filming? This would be a great question to ask the folks who work at the castle.
The Descent
I am a huge horror movie fan and one of the best horror movies of the last decade has to be the Descent. The movie is set in the Appalachian Mountains in the USA and is about a group of pretty tough women who are going caving…… in an unexplored caving system. There is something else down there with them and they have to do all they can to escape! Most of the outdoor scenes of the movie were filmed in Dunkeld. So if you are staying close by like our Kirkstone Lodge which is only about an hour way, you can go get some fun pictures of you pretending you are escaping from subterranean monsters!
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