Clooney to film blockbuster in Scotland

Heart-throb George Clooney is coming to Scotland to film a Hollywood blockbuster, it was to be confirmed today.

Two big names were to be unveiled in Glasgow today as the stars of an action-packed thriller, it was understood.

Clooney has already visited Bathgate and Broxburn, in West Lothian, searching for locations for the film, believed to be a psychological drama about a Vietnam veteran who is wrongly accused of a crime.

The co-producer of the unnamed movie was to join leaders from Scotland’s film quango, Scottish Screen, for the announcement.

Scottish Executive culture minister Frank McAveety was also attending the press conference.

Clooney, 42, shot to fame in hard-hitting hospital drama ER, in which he played medic Doug Ross.

He went on to cement his fame as a Hollywood big-hitter with films like O Brother, Where Art Thou?, Ocean’s Eleven, The Perfect Storm and From Dusk Till Dawn.

He is currently starring opposite Catherine Zeta-Jones in his second film with the Coen brothers, Intolerable Cruelty.

Scotland’s mix of natural beauty, stunning architecture and stirring history has proved irresistible to film makers in recent years.

Apart from Mel Gibson’s Braveheart, the biggest Hollywood blockbusters to be filmed in Scotland lately have been the Harry Potter movies.

The Chamber of Secrets was partially shot in and around the famous Glenfinnan Viaduct in Argyll.

The Quidditch match from the same film was set against the backdrop of Glen Nevis, near Fort William.

This summer, Warner Bros moved the cast and crew of the third film about the boy wizard, The Prisoner of Azkaban, to Glencoe.

Filming on the fourth Hogwarts adventure, The Goblet of Fire – which is scheduled for release in 2005 – is due to start in January.

Trainspotting and Shallow Grave, filmed mostly around Edinburgh, are probably the biggest hits to come out of Scotland in recent years.

Ewan McGregor, who starred in both films, was also the male lead in this year’s Young Adam, which was shot around Grangemouth and Linlithgow.

All-time classic horror movie The Wicker Man was set in the Western Isles but filmed in Dumfriesshire.

Other famous movies shot in Scotland include Sweet Sixteen, Carla’s Song, Rob Roy, Mission: Impossible and Gregory’s Girl.