Spielberg gets permission to film war epic at Glasgow docks

0 Steven Spielberg will be in Glasgow from April for filming Steven Spielberg has been granted permission to film scenes for a new war movie in Glasgow.

Described as “a historic drama based during the First World War”, it is thought to be 1917. Sam Mendes – fresh from his work behind the camera on James Bond films Skyfall and Spectre – is lined up to direct that film.

Crews will be in place at the Govan Graving Docks from 22 April for ten weeks, with filming taking place for four days in early June. A set, including a bridge over a canal, will be built on the site with the film company planning to hire Govan Shed warehouse as a workshop for construction. The initial planning support statement says the same approval was being sought as the World War Z production in Glasgow that starred Brad Pitt.

Filming took place at George Square in 2011 with more than 1,000 cast and crew, but Spielberg’s production visiting the city this year has “significantly less people and risk”.

It also says a “series of locations around the UK are being used to film specific aspects of the production, including land in MOD ownership on Salisbury Plain, Wiltshire”.

A previous residential application for housing at the Govan docks was rejected last year.

Permission for filming was granted on Monday with the decision stating a condition “limited to 29 June 2019, at which date the use of the area/ premises shall stop”.

Last year Glasgow city centre was also used for filming scenes of a new Fast and Furious spin-off, Hobbs and Shaw, starring Dwayne Johnson, Jason Statham and Idris Elba.

Glasgow Film Office said the film helped bring £19.1 million to the local economy last year.