It’s no surprise that our area is a favourite for Hollywood locations when we have so many visitors awestruck by the beauty of Glen Nevis. Many big blockbuster movies are filmed here as well as not-so-well-known ones. We have listed a few below that you may recognise:
Harry Potter is the most noteworthy instance of a series of films being filmed in the Highlands. Glen Nevis scenery was used as backdrops for the Quiddich matches in The Philosopher’s Stone, The Chamber of Secrets and most noticeabley The Goblet of Fire in which An Steall waterfall can be seen during the scene when Harry is being chased by a dragon. Many pupils from Lochaber High School enjoyed being extras as pssengers on the Hogwarts Express. The steam train can be seen on its journey along The West Highland Line to Mallaig during the summer months as it crosses the famous Glenfinnan viaduct, also a location in the Harry Potter movies. Hagrid’s Hut was built in Glencoe although nothing remains of this or any other film sets.
Braveheart is another well-known film which featires Glen Nevis as a location. A notable landmark is the old Cameron graveyard in the glen where the funeral scenes were filmed, and the movie opens with horsemen riding through the area of The Soldiers’ Pool. Many scenes were filmed along the River Nevis including the barn where the nobles were slain. Most of the battle scenes were filmed in Ireland as even Mel Gibson couldn’t fight off the English soldiers and the Scottish midges at the same time! The Braveheart carpark was constructed to accommodate the mountains of equipment required for film making.
Rob Roy also featured Glen Nevis in its scenes. Most notably, the scene in which Rob Roy (Liam Neeson) rides on horseback with the Duke of Argyll on his way to the sword fight.
Highlander loved us that much that they also returned to shoot much of Highlander 3 in Glen Nevis. The village fair scene used the glen as its location as well as many other riverside scenes.
In the third one, many scenes were shot on top of the big mound on The Soldiers’ Brae including the backdrop to the opening credits with the snow covered “Mountains of Neerie”in the background.
The popular BBC television series Rockface dramatised the activities of a Scottish mountain rescue team. Glen Nevis, Fort William and various other locations in and around Lochaber were used for locations.
Some of the lesser known ones are Quest for Fire shot in 1981. This had scenes shot in Glen Nevis as well as Glencoe and Rannoch Moor in Scotland and then some scenes shot in Canada and Kenya! The most noticeable scene shot in Glen Nevis is towards the end of Quest for Fire shortly before the episode with the bear in the cave.
Restless Natives had a scene in which there was a far away shot of tourists on a bus this was filmed just beyond the picnic site.
The 1960 Walt Disney film adaptation of the novel Kidnapped had scenes shot in Glen Nevis and elsewhere in Scotland.
Being Human, one of Robin Williams’ lesser known movies had many scenes in Glen Nevis and nearby.
Do you remember Billie Piper’s Walk Of Life ? MTV chose this area to shoot the video for the song. Lower Falls and horseriding in the foothills of Ben Nevis were followed by scenes of Glenfinnan and Morar.
