Philly’s in Glasgow, Jolie’s in... Croatia

Despite having settled her six children and partner Brad Pitt into the 16th century Carnell estate in Ayrshire for the duration of Pitt’s Scottish shoot on blockbuster movie World War Z, Jolie, reportedly with two of her children, flew into the Croatian island of Brijuni on Friday night on the invite of fellow actor and friend Rade Serbedzija, where she attended a production of Shakespeare’s King Lear.

Yesterday the actress, who is a goodwill ambassador for UNHCR, met Croatian president Ivo Josipovic to discuss the issue of landmines, which is still a problem in the country following the Bosnian war.

Back in Glasgow, apparently with Brad in charge of the children remaining at their Ayrshire estate, filming was still very much in the air.

Jolie was the hottest topic at Greggs the Bakers on George Square, where the usual flow of traffic outside the window had been silenced, replaced instead with rows of parked cars, American street signs and traffic lights.

After three days of filming on World War Z, Glasgow is beginning to get used to playing host to a Hollywood film set.

Saturday shoppers were happy to have a quick peek over the barriers at their unfamiliar looking city before getting on with their day in town, while in George Square itself, part of which was accessible yesterday, there was something of a carnival atmosphere as policemen joked with the crowds and grannies chatted away on long wooden benches.

Graeme Hamilton and Darren Foley, two 23-year-old PE teachers, had been standing around for three hours, leaning over the barrier at the crossroads between 16th street and Arch Street – or George Square and Hanover Street – in the hope of watching a big crash scene being filmed.

“We really want to see it,” said Foley, as wisps of smoke filtered from a row of three trucks on the other side of the square that were rumoured to be being blown up at any moment. “It’s an action scene in a huge Hollywood movie. How often does that happen on your front doorstep?”

Some however, weren’t quite so fussed. “It’s a nuisance,” said 66-year-old May White, who’d popped along for a quick look after lunch with a friend. “It took me an hour-and-a-half to get to work the other day, it’s ridiculous.”

What many had come to see however, was Pitt, but there was no sign of him. In fact, he was alleged instead to be at a Kwik Save in Cardonald – a rumour so ludicrous it was probably true – doing some filming on a closed set.

“We’ll just come back tomorrow,” said one fan.