Rhona Mitra
filmed in Glasgow

BURNT-OUT cars, gun-toting soldiers in black uniforms, boarded-up windows and Welcome to Hell' daubed on a tenement door - that was the scene in a usually quiet Glasgow street.

But as the shocked residents rubbed sleep from their eyes, it all became clear - the war zone on their doorstep was really the post-apocalyptic set of a £15 million blockbuster.

Hollywood came to Haghill yesterday as filming began in Marwick Street for the sci-fi movie "Doomsday", set in Glasgow in 2033. And on the pavements of the East End community stood Bob Hoskins and Rhona Mitra.

John Wilson, 32, of nearby Appin Road, got a shock when he woke up after a night out to see the view from his window. He said: "It was like wow, it's a war zone out there - it's so real! When I got the letter about it I couldn't believe it. I've probably got the best view. Zombie movies and sci-fi is my thing - to have it at the end of your street is amazing."

One couple's home was right in the middle of the action, and the outside of George and Ann White's ground-floor flat was transformed. George said: "My wife passed the time of day with Bob Hoskins and a woman upstairs got a kiss from him.

"Our dog Bruno was bemused - when I took him outside he was lost. It was as if he'd been taken somewhere else. It's a one-in-a-lifetime experience to see how a film is made. We'll definitely go to see it when it comes out."

Residents had been warned not to be shocked to hear gun battles during the filming, which has been months in the planning and continues tomorrow night. They watched as a major scene involving a helicopter - simulated by a giant wind fan - was shot in the street.

The film paints a grim portrait of a Scotland cut off from the rest of the world in the wake of a deadly virus. During a 30-year quarantine Scots scientists develop a cure for the disease but the victims have been forgotten by the rest of the world.

Most of the film has been shot in Cape Town, South Africa.

[source]