Written by new-contact on Jun 6, 2013. Posted in On Location

Great Gatsby executive producer considers Scottish Highlands location filming

A veteran producer may film a fantasy feature on location in the Scottish Highlands. Barrie Osborne was involved with the Lord of the Rings trilogy and Baz Luhrmann’s The Great Gatsby, and he’s now working on an adaptation of The Heartstone Odyssey.

The Heartstone Odyssey is a children’s fantasy written by Highlands-based writer Nick Sidle under his pen name Avran Kumar and the story takes place over 250 years in India, London and the Scottish Highlands. Osborne has scouted potential Highland filming locations including Fort George (below) near Inverness, which dates back to the mid-18th Century.

“Filming in the Highlands region will be a challenge but also a great opportunity,” Osborne told a civic reception at the Inverness Town House, “particularly to develop innovative techniques and approaches to filming, and you can’t fail to be inspired by the area.

“I cannot say for certain where production would be based in Scotland, but just as Peter Jackson was the creative force behind Lord of the Rings and this determined our decision to base production in New Zealand, Sitakumari (Sidle’s partner) and Nick are the creative centre of Heartstone and they are based in Highland, which cements our commitment to the region.”

Filming in the Highlands region will be a challenge but also a great opportunity ... you can’t fail to be inspired by the area.

Barrie Osborne, Producer

Recent high-profile features filmed in the Scottish Highlands have included The Dark Knight Rises, which shot its audacious opening aerial prison break stunt sequence near Inverness with the help of the Highlands of Scotland Film Commission.

(Fort George photo © Ronnie Leask and licensed for reuse)