Scots Cannibal Zombies Are Box Office Hit In US
Source: http://www.sundaymail.co.uk/
A GORY movie starring Scots cannibal zombies is a massive hit in the States.
The bloody film Doomsday - shot partly in Glasgow on a £15million budget - is number seven at the US box office after just one week.
Its massive early success could see it overtake Scots hits like Trainspotting in takings - despite a critical mauling.
The post-apocalype drama, starring sexy heroine Rhona Mitra, has one of the most far-fetched plots of all time.
It begins in April 2008, when the Reaper virus wipes out most of Scotland’s population, forcing the UK government to rebuild Hadrian’s Wall.
The virus is contained until, in 2035, it breaks out in London and it emerges there are survivors in Scotland.
That sparks a 48-hour hunt for the cure among the weird survivors, led by Mitra’s character, Eden Sinclaia.
Most critics in the US and Canada have panned Doomsday - nicknamed the tartan Mad Max - but the lukewarm reception hasn’t deterred fans.
Newcastle-born writer and director Neil Marshall dreamed up the story while walking along the Roman remains of Hadrian’s Wall.
Marshall, whose previous hits include The Descent, said: “I wondered what circumstances would exist in which that wall would be rebuilt
“It is worse than any nightmare - because it could happen. There is an element of ‘what if?’ and ‘there but for the grace of god’.
“That’s my definition of terror - reality with a frightening twist.”
Doomsday, opening in the UK in May, also stars Bob Hoskins and Malcolm McDowell.
Some of it was shot in Glasgow and at Blackness Castle on the Firth of Forth. But most of the filming took place in South Africa.
Mitra spent 11 weeks working out for her fight scenes and learning how to wield a Samurai sword.
After seeing an Aston Martin in Casino Royale, Marshall ordered three new Bentleys as chase cars.
In one chase, a Bentley skidded over a 40-foot cliff, miraculously landing in a riverbed on all four wheels, injuring none of the four stuntmen inside.
Marshall is very proud of the realistic action. He said: “One of the things I was adamant about doing was going back to a kind of gritty stunt and action movie that doesn’t get made any more - real people in a real world doing really dangerous stuff.
“No green screen, no wires, just crazy ’stunties’ standing on, jumping into and hanging out of cars doing 80mph and smashing into each other.
“On Doomsday we were going to need 50 extras on the first day and almost 1000 in later scenes.
“We were going to have to shoot in a range of locations - streets, forests, mountains, castles and inside ships.”
Marshall added: “I do think it’s going to divide audiences. I just want them to be thrilled, enthralled and overwhelmed by the imagery. And go back and see it again.”
Producer Benedict Carver said the film’s climax could not have been shot elsewhere. He said: “We were thrilled to be shooting in Scotland.
“We have had a great relationship and a lot of help from Scottish Screen, and also from Historic Scotland and the Glasgow Film Office. Their help made the film what it is.”
