Standing near the heart of Scotland’s largest city, Glasgow Cathedral is the only medieval cathedral on the Scottish mainland to have survived the Protestant Reformation of 1560 virtually intact.
The cathedral, which has witnessed countless pivotal moments in Scotland's narrative, welcomes over 450,000 visitors a year, enjoying worldwide appeal while also being a local parish church.
As a filming location, it has also been used for scenes in movies and TV shows such as The Princess Switch: Switched Again, Outlaw King, The Batman and Outlander.
Now the medieval cathedral looks set to captivate further interest and attract fresh tourist appeal by providing an authentic backdrop for a forthcoming Hollywood blockbuster production.
The awe-inspiring building dedicated to St Kentigern will play host to filming for Oscar-winning director Guillermo del Toro's reboot of Mary Shelley’s beloved novel Frankenstein for Netflix, The Herald can exclusively reveal.
READ MORE: Guillermo del Toro’s ‘Frankenstein’ Netflix movie to shoot in Scotland this summer
The Mexican filmmaker is writing and directing the film, which is being developed under the working title of Prodigal Father.
At the centre of Frankenstein are Jacob Elordi (Saltburn, Priscilla), Oscar Isaac (Ex Machina, Inside Llewyn Davis), and Mia Goth (X, Emma). Joining that main trio are Felix Kammerer (All Quiet on the Western Front), Lars Mikkelsen (The Witcher, Ahsoka), Christoph Waltz (Inglorious Basterds, Django Unchained), David Bradley (Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio), and Christian Convery (Sweet Tooth).
Principal photography began in February in Toronto and is expected to wrap later this summer.
The classic Mary Shelley novel follows Victor Frankenstein, a brilliant but egotistical scientist who brings a creature to life in a monstrous experiment that ultimately leads to the undoing of both the creator and his tragic creation.
What’s On Netflix has reported that del Toro's Frankenstein will be “set in Eastern Europe in the 19th Century, the story of Dr. Pretorious, who needs to track down Frankenstein’s monster- who is believed to have died in a fire forty years before–in order to continue the experiments of Dr. Frankenstein.”
Responding to the news, a Church of Scotland spokesman said: “Glasgow Cathedral will be used as a location for filming with Netflix later this month. The building has previously been used as a location for a number of different films.
The current Church of Scotland congregation within the Cathedral is always mindful of its importance as a sacred space to a number of Christian traditions and will ensure that all filming within the building is sensitive to its continuing role as a place of worship and spiritual reflection.
“Filming will have an impact on access to the Cathedral, but this will be well signposted on the Cathedral and Historic Environment Scotland’s websites.
“Glasgow Cathedral remains a place of pilgrimage, as well as of great historical importance as the only Scottish medieval cathedral to have survived the Reformation largely intact. As such, it attracts between 500,000 and 600,000 visitors annually, but we welcome opportunities such as this to help raise the Cathedral’s profile internationally and attract more people to share the experience of a visit to this very special place.”
A VisitScotland spokesperson added: “We know filmmakers – and film fans – love Scotland so it’s exciting that another major production is planning to shoot here. Screen tourism is a global trend in which filmgoers and TV viewers are inspired to travel to destinations they have seen on-screen. We’ve seen this in Scotland with Outlander, James Bond, and the Avengers, to name just a few. Glasgow’s amazing gothic architecture has added itself to many productions in the past and would provide the perfect backdrop to an adaptation of such a classic novel.”
READ MORE: Highlander reboot with Henry Cavill to be shot in Scotland
The Herald has learned that filming on the Netflix production will also take place in Edinburgh in September.
Letters sent to residents in the capital in early June indicate that filming will see parts of the city such as Canongate, Bakehouse Close and Makars' Court "transformed into 1850s Edinburgh" featuring carriages, carts and cast in period costume.
Filming in Edinburgh and Glasgow comes after Guillermo del Toro paid visit to both cities to scout locations for the movie.
In April last year, the Mexican filmmaker shared a picture with artist Guy Davis, who has collaborated with del Toro on 2022's Pinocchio, on X near the Scott Monument, adding that he was on his fourth day of "scouting for locations". Then in November, del Toro shared an image of himself in Glasgow's Blythswood Square outside the former home of Glasgow socialite Madeleine Smith, who was the accused in a sensational murder trial in Scotland in 1857.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel