Batman brings big bucks to Badenoch and Strathspey
Holy cow! – filming of the new Batman movie in the strath last summer injected about £250,000 into the local economy.
The economic impact of shooting part of ‘The Dark Knight Rises’ in Feshie Bridge and elsewhere in the Highlands is featured in a Highland Council report which went before the council’s planning, environment and development committee.
Stuart Black, the council’s director of planning and development, said: "This production came to the Highlands in part because the production manager, who had worked on ‘Braveheart’ in the 1990s, knew the location and the quality of support available in the region.
"This in turn led to over 200 crew spending two months in the area, using local services, suppliers and accommodation and injecting £1.1 million into the Highland economy."
A film source told the Strathy the spend locally, including the cost of hiring local crew and accommodation, payments made to local estates and hiring Glenfeshie airstrip would have been in the region of £250,000.
Trish Shorthouse, Highland Council’s film commissioner, commented: "The logistics of the ‘Batman’ shoot were tough as the Scottish Open golf tournament at Castle Stuart was going on for part of the time so it required a huge effort to find accommodation for everyone.
"It just shows what we can do in the Highlands and bodes well for future film production in the area, as word will go around Hollywood about how well things went.
"To be able to handle a shoot of that size in the summer months shows what we are capable of.
"The Highlands is being looked at for two big movie projects at the moment so if we keep up the good work we can reap more rewards despite the difficult economic situation."
Ms Shorthouse was tight-lipped over the films in the frame. The strath had been in the running for the latest outing of 007 ‘Skyfall’ but just lost out in the end.
Scott Armstrong, VisitScotland’s regional director for the Highlands, said the report was great news for the strath and that it reaffirmed the importance of film tourism to the Highlands and the rest of Scotland.
He said: "We continue to attract major productions including ‘Harry Potter’, ‘Braveheart’ and ‘The Eagle’, all contributing significantly to the economy during filming.
"It also creates a legacy that has enticed visitors to ‘jet-set’ and explore parts of Scotland where filming has taken place.
"VisitScotland is also joining forces with Disney in a unique marketing campaign around Scottish tourism and the forthcoming Disney-Pixar film, ‘Brave’, providing the Highlands and Scotland with massive worldwide exposure and a huge boost to the Scottish economy."
Alan Rankin, chief executive of Cairngorms Business Partnership (CBP), said: "The film industry has brought in excess of £20 million to the Highland economy over the past five years.
"The strath knows at first hand the benefits of TV and film industry after the BBC’s Monarch of the Glen series was shot here. At its height that series brought significant levels of trade to the area.
"Kids’ TV programme Raven was filmed in the strath and that increased interest from the younger generation. We are about to see the impact of the Disney Pixar blockbuster ‘Brave’ when it is released late in the year."
Filming of ‘The Dark Knight Rises’ took place in the strath last July.
A white Hercules transporter, a small black twin prop plane and a helicopter which were based at Glenfeshie airstrip flew in very close proximity as part of the production for several days.
The film company had wanted to land the Hercules on the A9 Inverness-Perth road, but Transport Scotland reportedly feared the disruption to the region’s main arterial road and turned down the request.
There was also some Hollywood action after a stunt went wrong and a sheepish but lucky skydiver was left stuck in the roof of a house in Glenfeshie.
The strath is no stranger to being used for movies, although ‘The Dark Knight Rises’ was the biggest to date. Glenfeshie Lodge was used in the hit movie, ‘The Queen’, starring Helen Mirren, as well as the ‘swords and sandals’ thriller ‘Centurion’, while Ardverikie House, by Laggan, has been used for several films including ‘Mrs Brown’ and ‘The Missionary’.
Film tourism accounts for 10 per cent of visitors to the UK, earning £1.8 billion for the economy, and 20 per cent of visitors to Scotland say seeing it on TV or in films was an important factor in them deciding to come here.
‘The Dark Knight Rises’ is due for release in July and is director Christopher Nolan’s third and final Batman film.
