Deanston takes step back in time as 1950s film set
Movie shot in village
Deanston has been taken over as the scene of a new movie set in the 1950s.
The tiny village has been transformed by the crew from a movie titled ‘Tell It To The Bees’ – with production staff, extras and on-screen stars enjoying some of the local sights and scenery.
Shooting is expected to last for six weeks while production crews have been based in Stirling for the last six weeks during the preparation period.
Cast and crew descended on the village starting on Wednesday August 16 until today (Friday) and they are also expected to shoot in the village for a further two days in September.
Filming saw a temporary road closure and suspension of parking in Teith Road and Deanston Road.
Residents have been asked by the production crew not to park on Teith Road on Friday when the camera will look the whole way up and down the street.
On Friday evening the cast will be filming a big scene in Deanston Road, outside the distillery, and may need to divert traffic to the other way into the village for several hours.
A host of TV and film stars are due to appear in the new film, adapted from the criticallyacclaimed novel by Fiona Shaw.
Among them are X Men actress Anna Paquin and Holliday Grainger.
Other cast members joining the production include Kate Dickie who stars in Game of Thrones as Lady Lysa Arryn, Star Wars actor Emun Elliott and Lauren Lyle from Outlander.
Set in the 1950s, the film features Paquin as Dr Jean Markham, who returns to the town she left as a teenager to take over her estranged late father’s GP surgery.
She develops a friendship with a young boy named Charlie and soon develops a relationship with Charlie’s mother, played by Holliday Grainger.
The two women find themselves drawn to one another, but, in 1950s small-town Britain, their new secret can’t stay hidden forever. The film is directed by Annabel Jankel and was adapted from the best-selling Fiona Shaw novel by scriptwriters Henrietta and Jessica Ashworth.
Ms Jankel said: “Fiona Shaw’s compelling love story was hugely inspirational to me for an unholy mash-up of 1950s social and magical realism. I’m totally thrilled to be working with our wonderful cast, that includes Anna Paquin, Holliday Grainger, Kate Dickie, Emun Elliott, the young Gregor Selkirk and of course, the bees.” Due to filming, the No 59 First Bus service was unable to access Deanston the village between 8am and 8pm earlier this week.
A taxi operating a shuttle service between Deanston and Doune was put in place up until today (Friday).