Press release -
Edinburgh and East Lothian set for victory with Churchill
The Edinburgh region is ready for its latest starring role this month when it will appear in Lionsgate’s latest production, Churchill, opening in UK cinemas on 16 June.
Set in the 96 hours ahead of the infamous D-Day landings in June 1944, Churchill follows Britain’s most iconic Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, as he battles his political enemies and personal demons before taking the final decision to launch the allied forces attack on Nazi-occupied Europe in Normandy.
Making the most of the region’s period and picturesque locations, Edinburgh and East Lothian double for London and Kent throughout the film. National Trust for Scotland property, the 17th century Palladian house, Newhailes in Musselburgh, stands in for Churchill’s family home, Chartwell. It’s also the backdrop of where actor Brian Cox delivers Churchill’s famous final broadcast to rally the troops for the D-Day landing.
Working closely with Film Edinburgh to source locations, this is the second time director Jonathan Teplitzky has chosen to film in the region, filming his 2013 acclaimed film, The Railway Man, starring Colin Firth and Nicole Kidman on East Lothian’s coastline and on Calton Hill. In fact, Calton Hill also makes an appearance in Churchill, with the pillars of Scotland’s National Monument the setting for his meeting with General Eisenhower.
Other key locations include Cramond foreshore, Rutland Square and Yellowcraig Beach in East Lothian, a scene where Churchill remembers his disastrous command and mass slaughter of troops cut down on the beaches of Gallipoli in 1915 – a scenario he fears repeating with D-Day.
Filmed on location in the region for over four weeks in June 2016, along with a month additional preparation, the shoot took place during a busy time for the city, which was also a live film set for Danny Boyle’s T2 Trainspotting at the same time.
Paul Van Carter, Founding Partner of Salon Pictures, the production company behind Churchill, said: “It was terrific to be back filming in Edinburgh and East Lothian last summer. The diversity of locations, alongside availability of quality local crew in such close proximity to Edinburgh’s city centre made this the ideal base for our Scottish filming schedule.”
Rosie Ellison, Film Manager for Film Edinburgh, said: “There is a close working relationship between Film Edinburgh, East Lothian Council and City of Edinburgh Council to help facilitate productions of every scale. We were all thrilled to welcome back director Jonathan Teplitzky to the region for the filming of Churchill. The film is a terrific showcase of the diversity in locations the region has to offer.”
Councillor John McMillan, Cabinet Spokesperson for Economic Development and Tourism at East Lothian Council, said: “Seeing East Lothian on the big screen is not only tremendously exciting, it also has a positive economic impact for local businesses and showcases East Lothian to a worldwide audience. We look forward to welcoming more production companies to East Lothian, as well as visitors who want to see for themselves what the county has to offer.”
Rhiannon Naismith, Property Manager for Newhailes, National Trust for Scotland, said: “Newhailes has a starring role in Churchill and looks fantastic. We hope that film-goers are inspired to visit in real life after seeing the house as an amazing backdrop to several scenes.”
Jenni Steele, Film and Cultural Tourism Manager at VisitScotland, said: “Edinburgh has featured in countless productions over the years and the capital’s appearance in Churchill further reinforces its cinematic aesthetics as well as its versatility. With set-jetting an increasing popular activity among visitors, we hope that cinema goers and movie fans will be inspired to explore the locations they see on screen while also immersing themselves in Edinburgh’s unique culture.”
Earlier this year, Film Edinburgh reported its most successful year for film in the Edinburgh city region on record, with 2016 film productions injecting £7.7 million into the local economy, an 11.5% rise on 2015 figures. Alongside Churchill, 321 productions filmed in the region in 2016 including T2 Trainspotting and popular dramas including Outlander and BBC Three’s hit Clique, currently screening on BBC1.
Tickets for a special preview of Churchill with an exclusive Q&A with Brian Cox will take place at The Cameo Cinema in Edinburgh on Wednesday 7 June at 8pm. To book tickets visit: www.edinburgh.org/churchill
Alongside Brian Cox, Churchill stars Miranda Richardson, John Slattery, Ella Purnell. Churchill goes on general UK and Ireland release on 16 June 2017.
Topics
- Tourism
Regions
- Scotland
Issued by: Ali Liddy of Wire. For further information, please contact 0141 648 9610, 07342 882 380 or on email at ali@wearewire.co
For all direct Film Edinburgh enquiries, please contact: Rosie Ellison, Film Manager at Film Edinburgh: 0131 622 7337, or on email at rosie.ellison@marketingedinburgh.orgwww.filmedinburgh.org @FilmEdinburgh
Notes to Editors
About Film Edinburgh:
Film Edinburgh is part of Marketing Edinburgh, the official agency to promote Edinburgh as an outstanding city to live, work, invest, study and visit.
Launched 26 years ago, Film Edinburgh is the longest-standing regional film office in Scotland. Its mission is to attract and facilitate filmmakers to Edinburgh, East Lothian and the Scottish Borders by helping filmmakers find locations, crew and facilities in the area.
Since its inception, it has dealt with over 9,000 enquires, converting into more than 5,500productions filming in the city region. The total economic impact for the city is estimated to be worth in excess of £75 million.
Working closely with the local authorities to ensure a film friendly reception, Film Edinburgh has established procedures to deal with every possible type of filmmaker request. This can range from parking and road closures to sourcing locations and dressing streets for period dramas.
About VisitScotland:
- Follow us on twitter: @visitscotnews
- VisitScotland is Scotland’s national tourism organisation. Its core purpose is to maximise the economic benefit of tourism to Scotland.
- The organisation’s core objective is to contribute to the Tourism 2020 Strategy ambition of growing tourism revenues by £1 billion by 2020.
- This will be supported by seven overarching strategies:
- Marketing: we will market Scotland and its outstanding assets to visitors from all parts of the world, including the promotion of Scotland to people living in Scotland to visit different parts of the country
- Events: we will support the national events strategy and its delivery, and sustain, develop and promote Scotland’s international profile as one of the world’s foremost events destinations
- Internationalisation and International Engagement: we will utilise all our platforms to enable Scottish-based tourism businesses to better understand international opportunities and market to a global audience and we will work within One Scotland Partnerships to optimise the potential of Scotland’s Diaspora and our strategic partners at regional, European and global levels
- Customer Experience: we will provide information and inspiration to visitors both locally and globally via their preferred medium of choice
- Quality and Sustainability: we will provide support and advice to businesses, with the goal of improving the quality and sustainability of the tourism sector in Scotland. We will provide quality assurance to visitors through our Quality Schemes
- Inclusive Tourism: we will strive to make tourism in Scotland inclusive and available to all
- Working in Partnership: we will listen to and work with the industry, partners and communities to shape our offering and support
- To ensure everyone can safely enjoy Scotland’s amazing countryside and landscapes, VisitScotland encourages all visitors to fully respect their surroundings by behaving in a responsible and appropriate way.
- VisitScotland works together with tourism businesses to make tourism a success for everyone and ensure the industry continues to grow.
- The organisation employs 700 people and has offices and VisitScotland Information Centres across Scotland.
- Spending by tourists in Scotland generates around £12 billion of economic activity in the wider Scottish supply chain and contributes around £6 billion to Scottish GDP (in basic prices). This represents about 5% of total Scottish GDP
- The Scottish Government is the Managing Authority for the European Structural Funds 2014-20 Programme. For further information visit www.gov.scot or follow @scotgovESIF
- For VisitScotland’s press releases go to http://www.visitscotland.org/media_centre.aspx, tourism statistics and frequently asked questions go to http://www.visitscotland.org/
- Where possible, a Gaelic speaker will be made available for broadcast interviews on request (Far an tèid iarraidh, agus far am bheil sin nar comas, bruidhinnidh neach le Gàidhlig aig agallamh) 2017 Year of History, Heritage and Archaeology
- 2017 is the year to delve into the past and discover Scotland’s fascinating stories through a wide-ranging variety of new and existing activity to drive the nation’s tourism and events sector, boosting tourism across Scotland.
- The Year of History, Heritage and Archaeology begins on 1 January 2017 and will end on 31 December 2017. It will build on the momentum generated by previous themed years in Scotland including the 2015 Year of Food and Drink, Homecoming Scotland 2014, the Year of Creative and the Year of Natural.
- The Year of History, Heritage and Archaeology is a Scottish Government initiative being led by VisitScotland, and supported by a variety of partners including Creative Scotland, Scottish Tourism Alliance, Scottish Enterprise, The National Trust for Scotland, Historic Environment Scotland, Highlands and Islands Enterprise, Built Environment Forum Scotland, Heritage Lottery Fund, Museums Galleries Scotland and Traditional Arts and Culture Scotland.
- The Year of History, Heritage and Archaeology is supported by £570,000 of Scottish Government funding.
- The Year of History, Heritage and Archaeology events fund is managed by EventScotland, part of VisitScotland’s Events Directorate.
- For more information visit visitscotland.com/HHA2017 or join the conversation at #HHA2017
