SCARLETT Johannson may be Hollywood royalty but her Scottish film plans face a Glencoe massacre.
Residents of the famous Highland community are furious at the decision to shut the main road south for shooting of her latest movie.
The A82 – which links Glasgow and Inverness- will be closed in Glencoe for much of Wednesday and Thursday this week.
Film-makers want the stunning peaks and ridges of the pass as a backdrop to the Johannson movie, Under the Skin, which has already shot in Angus.
But no-one consulted the residents of Glencoe village about the road closures, meaning travellers face delays or a diversion via Oban.
The row follows the closure of one of the Clackmannanshire Bridge for filming of Halle Berry’s Cloud Atlas.
Brad Pitt, who brought much of Glasgow to a standstill while shooting World War Z, was refused permission by Transport Scotland to use the same structure for his film, annoying executives at arts quango Creative Scotland.
Transport Scotland is now under fire from angry Highlanders over the A82 closure.
The road will will be closed just south of Loch Ba up to 20 times on Wednesday for around 10 minutes at a time. Similar closures will be experienced the following day.
Contempt
A spokesman for the lobby group the A82 Partnership said: “Over the years Lochaber has benefitted hugely from the filming of blockbuster movies and we would always welcome film companies to the area.
“But we believe that all closures of this economic and social lifeline route should be subject to local consultation and not be decided by central belt bureaucrats.
“To define this closure as a ‘minor disruption’ shows the contempt in which commuters on this road are held by TransportScotland.”
Glencoe and Glen Etive Community Council chairman David Doogan said: “I think the issue which is annoying people is they haven’t been consulted. I can confirm they did not contact the community council about it.”
Police will help to stop traffic and prevent any vehicles coming into shot. Traffic will then be released to clear any queues before the next 10 minute closure.
Transport Scotland said wider consultation was not considered necessary due to the “minimal delays and low traffic flows in this particular area.”
A spokeswoman said: “Following discussions with the filming company Saltfilm, our operating company Scotland Transerv and the police, we have granted an order giving permission to carry out filming for the film Under the Skin on the A82.
“The Scottish Government welcomes the continued interest in Scotland as a film location and we are confident that any disruption to drivers will be minimal.”
Scotland is currently a hotspot for Hollywood film makers, with both Halle Berry’s film and a Brad Pitt epic being shot here in recent months.
Brad Pitt travelled to Glasgow for the filming of zombie apocalypse movie, World War Z but was denied the chance of filming on the Clackmannanshire Bridge.
Just weeks later, Transport Scotland allowed a car chase sequence for Cloud Atlas to be filmed on the same stretch, resulting in a four hour closure.
Other films to have been made in Scotland over the years include Chariots of Fire, which was partly filmed on a St Andrews beach, The Da Vinci Code, which features scenes in Rosslyn Chapel near Edinburgh, and the Harry Potter series.
