Brad Pitt blockbuster takes over Glasgow

The city is set to reap a multi-million-pound benefit from the shooting of World War Z, with about 1,200 crew and production staff arriving for what will be Scotland's biggest film shoot.

Glasgow City Council said the filming, taking place in August, would be worth some 2 million to the local economy.

Scenes will be shot in George Square, Cochrane Street and other locations around the city.

The movie, produced by Pitt's Plan B production company and Paramount, takes place in the aftermath of a huge zombie uprising, leading to a horrendous world war.

Location manager Michael Harm said: "The production spent many months looking for the perfect city-centre location to play an important part in the film.

"Glasgow's architecture, wide roads and grid layout proved the ideal setting for director Marc Forster.

"The production is delighted with the support they are receiving and looking forward to filming in the city later this summer."

City council leader Gordon Matheson said: "I am delighted to see this massive production coming to Glasgow.

"The news that such a major film is locating in Glasgow will hopefully attract productions of a similar size to the city.

"Our distinctive Victorian architecture has proved a vital attraction to many location managers over the years, and it is great news that the producers have decided to come to Glasgow.

The film and broadcast industry has contributed more than 150m to the city's economy in the past decade, and the Glasgow Film Office has played a key role in attracting productions."

Stephen Williams, general manager of the 72-room Malmaison Hotel in the city's West George Street, said: "This will be a great boost for hotel business in Glasgow. We're the sort of hotel which would like to attract a high-profile guest like Brad Pitt.

"August can be a somewhat challenging month for hotels, and anyone who arrives in the city with over 1,000 crew and staff is very welcome indeed."

Ron Inglis, director of Regional Screen Scotland, said: "This is tremendous news for Glasgow. But it's a bit opportunistic in a sense and indicates that who-ever is putting it together has got a good deal.

"Glasgow is not suddenly turning into Hollywood in Scotland. It certainly doesn't mean that a whole lot of other films are going to turn up in Glasgow - it could just as easily be Prague."

Pitt, who is married to actress Angelina Jolie, has visited Glasgow before and gave an interview to Rolling Stone magazine in December 1994 after he visited the less salubrious areas of Maryhill and Drumchapel.

Scotland's starring roles . . . as a stand-in

GLASGOW will serve as a screen double for the US city of Philadelphia in World War Z. It is not the first time a Scottish location has been used as a movie stand-in.

The makers of the latest Batman installment, The Dark Knight Rises, are currently using Glasgow as a doppelganger for Gotham City.

The famous opening scenes of Chariots of Fire may have been filmed on the West Sands and Old Course links at St Andrews, but they were supposed to represent the town of Broadstairs in Kent.

Loch Craignish, in Argyll, served as a double for the Mediterranean coast when the makers of From Russia With Love were denied permission to film a James Bond chase scene by the Turkish authorities.

The 1975 production of The Land That Time Forgot chose Quiraing in Skye to represent the mystical land of Caprona.

When Mel Gibson played Hamlet in a 1990 film version of the Shakespeare play, Dunnottar Castle, near Aberdeen, stood in for Elsinore in Denmark. Gibson then recreated Scottish battlegrounds in Ireland when he starred in and directed Braveheart, left, five years later.