Border Telegraph | News | Borders setting for Armageddon scenes

Tuesday, 6th January, 2009

Published: Wednesday, 5th April, 2006 10:22

Borders setting for Armageddon scenes

By Border Telegraph Newsroom

MOVIE-MAKERS are heading for the Scottish Borders to film the end of the world.

BAFTA winners Mark Buchanan and Gregor Barclay will start shooting their epic sci-fi story, The Simulation, in November.

And will spend around two days in local towns and villages for some of the movie’s final scenes of death and destruction.

Director Mark Buchanan told the Border Telegraph: “The final scenes of the film will be the most dramatic, and we want to capture how the end of the world will look in several places across Scotland, and also a few landmarks across the world.

“We have looked all over the country and the Borders will definitely be one of the areas we are coming to. We looked at several villages and towns – the old architecture is brilliant in a lot of places in the Borders. We will certainly be down there for two days at the very least.

“A final list of locations has yet to be drawn up, but we have a good idea about where we want to go.”

It is hoped the feature-length movie, which is mainly set in an underground geological laboratory, will be premiered at Edinburgh Film Festival next year.

And the director also hopes The Simulation will lead to a resurgence in Scottish film-making. He added: “I was disappointed to discover that so few feature films are made in Scotland these days.

“We have such a great history of quality film-making in this country, and the talent is still present. It just needs to be encouraged.”

Amongst the considered venues for doomsday are Melrose, Selkirk, Lauder and Peebles.

And local film fans can become involved in the project.

Producer Gregor Barclay told us: “We have struggled to secure funding through the conventional avenues, so we have sought several alternative methods.

“One of them is by launching a website to allow the public the chance to become part of the film-making process. For a small fee they can become an associate producer of The Simulation, which gives them an invitation to the premiere and puts their name on the credits.

“This is a story worth telling, and we expect it to be shown at festivals across the world – it could even pick up a few awards.”

The Glasgow-based film-makers launch the promotional website, www.thesimulation.co.uk, on Thursday, April 6.

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