The streets of Glasgow city centre were transformed into the boulevards of Philadelphia yesterday as Brad Pitt’s latest film World War Z rolled into town.
The streets of Glasgow city centre were transformed into the boulevards of Philadelphia yesterday as Brad Pitts latest film World War Zrolled into town. Having previously been sighted on location in Falmouth, Cornwall and Valletta, Malta in the past few weeks, Pitt and his crew descended on the city for the post-apocalyptic zombie flick. The tabloids were buzzing with the news yesterday that Pitt had arrived in style earlier this week with wife Angelina Jolie and family in tow after hiring an entire Virgin train intercity rail service for the journey from London to Glasgow. The Scottish city was chosen for its strikingly similar architecture and comparable wide, grid-like streets which have proved to be a dead ringer for the Pennsylvanian city. The addition of street furniture ranging from new signage, road markings, yellow taxi cabs and American cop cars help to complete the overall look with Cochrane Street temporarily renamed John F Kennedy Boulevard. With a cast and crew of around 1,200 people the film will reportedly bring in £2million for the local economy. An open casting call was held in the city last month for zombie extras and with the help of the Glasgow Film Office and the City Council the production crew have spent the past few months securing locations and co-ordinating arrangements for the film around the city with filming expected to last two weeks. World War Z is an adaptation of Max Brooks novel of the same name which charts of a U.N. workers account of a decade long zombie war featuring a series of interviews with survivors of the zombie apocalypse giving accounts of their experiences. Admittedly this sounds like a tough narrative to adapt for film and controversially but not all that surprisingly the film version will apparently follow a different path, according to Paramount Pictures own press release;
The story revolves around United Nations employee Gerry Lane (Pitt), who traverses the world in a race against time to stop the Zombie pandemic that is toppling armies and governments and threatening to decimate humanity itself.
Directed by Quantum Of Solace helmer Marc Forster and starring Brad Pitt, Breaking Bads Bryan Cranston and The Killings Mireille Enos. World War Z is expected to hit cinemas on December 21st 2012.