From Hollywood to Highlands: a Brave new world

MOVE over Braveheart, here comes Brave. Scottish tourism leaders are banking on a cartoon feature by the makers of Toy Story to become a massive money-spinner for the industry.

They believe Pixar's first ever fairytale - which will be set in the Scottish Highlands and numbers Billy Connolly, Robbie Coltrane and Emma Thompson in its cast - can become the biggest on-screen boost Scottish tourism since Mel Gibson's Oscar-winning epic.

VisitScotland is to join with Pixar and Disney, which will distribute the film worldwide, to mount its biggest ever movie tie-in campaign to coincide with the film's release in June 2012.

The agency believes the combination of the film being entirely set in the Highlands and Pixar's track-record of hits like the Incredibles, Ratatouille, Wall-E and Up will make it one of the most important films to feature Scotland on the big screen.

Hopes are high that the animated feature will trigger a surge in interest in the Highlands, which benefited hugely from movies like Highlander, Rob Roy and Braveheart.

Pixar has just revealed full details of Brave's voice cast, including Glaswegian actress Kelly Macdonald in the key role of tomboyish heroine Princess Merida.

Connolly and Thomson play the king and queen in the kingdom where Brave is set.

Merida is their unruly daughter who brings turmoil to the kingdom by breaching a sacred custom of the land.

Jenni Steele, film tourism project manager at VisitScotland, said: "We're already in the early stages of discussions with Pixar and Disney and told them how keen we are to work with them on the film. The key thing about Brave is that it is entirely set in the Highlands and there is huge scope for us when the film eventually comes out, whether it is in terms of merchandising, creating new tours or history trails, or even the celebrities that are involved with the film.

"Scotland is still seeing the benefit of Braveheart and it was released more than 15 years ago and Brave could be just as big. The sky really is the limit."

Mike Cantlay, chairman of VisitScotland, said: "This film has the potential to be absolutely huge for Scotland. Pixar simply don't make bad films and we're already very excited about Brave, even though it's not out for another year."Never a camera-shy country

BRAVEHEART, arguably the most famous Scottish film to date, was partly shot in Ireland because it was cheaper. However, key scenes were filmed in the Glencoe and Glen Nevis areas.

Rob Roy, which like Braveheart was released in 1995, was filmed extensively in the Highlands, including at Loch Morar, Eilean Donan Castle and Rannoch Moor.

Local Hero was filmed at various locations in the West Highlands, including the Silver Sands of Morar, as well as the village of Pennan, in Aberdeenshire. The 1980s comedy, Restless Natives used locations in Edinburgh, Glasgow and Glencoe.

A special set was built close to Glencoe village to accommodate a variety of scenes in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.