Glasgow's the Pitts!

Well from the looks of things it certainly isn't!

Over recent years, in particular 2011, Scotland has seen many influential people entering the city of Glasgow and using its venues to create blockbuster movies! Scotland proves to be the perfect host, with its beautiful, historic buildings, landscapes and lochs, that many argue cannot be found elsewhere in the world!

Beautiful shot of Kelvingrove Park and Kelvingrove Art Museum, one of Glasgow's many famous Landmarks

The most recent and most recognised film to be shot in Glasgow was World War Z, starring Brad Pitt, which began shooting in the city centre in August 2011.

Now who would complain about Mr Pitts presence in Glasgow? I know for a fact, myself being one of the many crazed fans, that I certainly wouldn't mind catching a glimpse of the "Hollywood Hunk" roaming around the streets of Glasgow. You don't get to see that every day!

Well sadly, even at my best efforts, I didn't manage to see him! I did however see the set, which transformed Glasgow's George Square overnight into Philadelphia.

Glasgow's George Square or Philadelphia?

It was estimated, over the seventeen days of filming, that World War Z and Mr Pitt generated around £3.3 million to Glasgow's economy last summer, according to Glasgow City council. Great for local business and aspiring actors, many of the extras in World War Z are from Glasgow based agencies which casting calls were held a month before shooting.

There was around 1200 cast and crew filming on location, staying in local hotels and dining out, all good for the city's economy, costly though for Paramount. Filming could have cost them much more, did they decide to film in Philadelphia however, they still carried the burden of changing a famously identifiable city, Glasgow, into another, Philadelphia.

So why did Paramount Pictures decide to shoot the majority of scenes in Glasgow?

According to the location manager for World War Z, Glasgow was chosen for filming for its wide roads, grid lay out and most importantly its architecture, with many of Glasgow's buildings similar to that of the buildings in Philadelphia.

Other sources say that the decision to film in Glasgow was over tax costs too, suggesting that it would be too expensive to film on set in Philadelphia and that it is too big a city to shut down major streets and roads for shooting, which could affect local business.

Changes to shop fronts, American street lights and traffic lights fitted, street names changed, cars, buses and armed vehicles too were brought in to complete the transition. All a costly matter.

World War Z is based on Max Brooks' 2006 novel World War Z: An Oral History Of The Zombie War, which is set in the aftermath of a war between humans and zombies.

There is no official trailer yet for the film as it is set to be released later this year, but I'll be sure to upload one when it appears!

For now, here is a YouTube clip of an amateur filmmakers video of some scenes he captured on set in Glasgow. Not the best, but everything else seems to be mash ups of past zombie filmes all combined together! At least this is actual footage of filming in Glasgow!

There is more links from this video if your'e interested in seeing some more scenes and people's own adaptations of what the film will be like!

Due for release in December 2012.

I hope you enjoyed reading my first blog! Next time I'll be blogging about the Glasgow Film Festival and more about other movies filmed in the Glasgow area!

Thanks for reading!