Recently Wrapped: King and Queen of Scots

Director David Mackenzie returned to Scotland for his follow up to the Oscar-nominated Hell or High Water with Netflix’s Outlaw King starring Chris Pine as Robert the Bruce.

Mackenzie has reunited with Pine for this David v Goliath story of the War for Scottish Independence. Golden Globe winner Aaron Taylor-Johnson plays Bruce’s right hand man, James Douglas, as they plot to defeat the much larger oppressing English army. Filming took place in August at Historic Environment Scotland’s Craigmillar Castle.

Mackenzie previously filmed in Edinburgh with Young Adam in 2003 and Hallam Foe in 2007.

We go from King to Queen in Josie Rourke’s Mary Queen of Scots that sees Saoirse Ronan taking on the role of Mary Stuart who reigned over the country from 1542 to 1567. Filming took place in East Lothian.

The film, written by House of Cards creator Beau Willimon, is based on John Guy’s biography Queen of Scots: The True Life of Mary Stuart and features Margot Robbie as Queen Elizabeth I as well as Scottish Borders’ own Jack Lowden who plays Lord Darnley. Mary Queen of Scots is scheduled to be released in late 2018.

East Lothian was also chosen as production base and location by Tiger Aspect Productions for their genre busting new show Armchair Detectives for BBC One. The series combines murder mystery drama with a gameshow format as contestants and viewers are given the chance to solve a crime in the fictional town of Mortcliff.

Finally, one of Indonesia’s most successful films is getting a sequel. The romantic drama, Ayat Ayat Cinta 2 (Verses of Love 2), finds the characters in Edinburgh where protagonist Fahri is now a lecturer at Edinburgh University. The first film Ayat Ayat Cinta was more successful at the Indonesian box office than Titanic! The production spent two weeks filming across the capital with Edinburgh based production company Filming Scotland.