The ninth chapter in Universal Pictures’ Fast & Furious franchise is filming in Edinburgh’s Old and New Towns this month – and, with the Festival only just finished, the city centre will once again be pretty much a ‘no go’ area for the capital’s motorists for the next four weeks.
Roads closed already include Waterloo Place, at the east end of Princes Street, off-limits in its entirety, except for local access from Regent Road to Calton Hill, and Calton Road, closed between Calton Hill and the entrance to the Waverley Gate car park. These measures will remain in place until 10pm on Thursday, 12 September.
And there are loads more to come:
Road names marked with an aserisk * are to be short traffic holds within the times stated below, with traffic flow brought to normal levels between each hold:
Waterloo Place – In its entirety except for local access from Regent Road to Calton Hill – 6am on Sep 2nd to 10pm on Sep 12th.
Calton Road – From Calton Hill to the entrance to Waverley Gate Gate car park – 6am on Sep 2nd to 10pm on Sep 12th.
Calton Road* – From the entrance to the Waverley Gate car park to New Street – 6am on Sep 6th to 10pm Sep 12th.
West College Street – in its entirety – 6am on Sep 6th to 10pm Sep 23rd
South College Street – in its entirety (except local access to the Festival Theatre loading bays) – 6am on Sep 6th to 10pm Sep 23rd
West Parliament Square/ Parliament Square and St Giles Street – In their entirety – 6am on Sep 7th to 10pm on Sep 11th.
High Street – From Lawnmarket to Cockburn Street (except deliveries from Cockburn Street to Parliament Sq) – 6am on Sep 8th to 10pm Sep 10th
Lawnmarket – From George IV Bridge to the High Street – 6am on Sep 8th to 10pm Sep 10th
Regent Road – In its entirety (except local access) – 6am-10pm on Sep 10th & 6am-10pm on 21st.
Chambers Street – In its entirety – 6am-10pm on Sep 11th and 6am on Sep 17th to 10pm on Sep 18th.
Guthrie Street – In its entirety – 6am-10pm on Sep 11th and 6am on Sep 17th to 10pm on Sep 18th.
Victoria Street and West Bow – In their entirety – 6am-10pm on Sep 11th.
Cockburn Street – In its entirety – 6am on Sep 12th to 10pm on Sep 15th
George Street (from Frederick Street to Hanover Street), Castle Street (From Rose St to George Street) and North Castle Street (From George Street to Hill Street) – 6am on Sep 15th to 10pm on Sep 17th and 6am on Sep 23rd to 10pm on the 25th.
George Street* (from Frederick St to Hanover St), Frederick Street* (From Rose St to Thistle St), Charlotte Square* (East Leg in its entirety), North Charlotte Street* (In its entirety) – 9:30am-4pm on Sep 15th and 9:30am-4pm on Sep 16th.
Cowgate – In its entirety – 5am-12pm on Sep 21st.
Mound Place, Ramsay Lane, The Mound, Market Street* (From The Mound 50 metres eastwarrds) and North Bank Street* – 6am-1pm on Sep 22nd.
St Stephen Street (From St Vincent Place to Clarence St) and St Vincent Place (From Great King Street to St Stephen Street) – 6am on Sep 22nd to 10pm on Sep 23rd.
Melville Street (From Manor Place to Stafford Street), Walker Street (From William Street to Chester Street), Manor Place* (From William St to Chester St) and William Street* (From William St SE Lane to William Street SW Lane) – 6am-1pm on Sep 23rd and 6am-10pm on Sep 24th.
Forrest Road* (In its entirety), George IV Bridge* (From Forrest Road for 100 metres northwards) and Candlemaker Row* (From George IV Bridge to Merchant Street) – 6am-12pm on Sep 21st.
Queens Drive* (from Broad Pavement car park to Holyrood Park Road), Holyrood Park Road* (In its entirety) and Dalkeith Road* (From Holyrood Park Road to East Preston Street) – 12pm-6pm on Sep 11th and 9am-5pm on Sep 21st.
East Preston Street, West Preston Street, Summerhall Place, Summerhall, Hope Park Crescent, Buccleuch Street, Chapel Street, Potterow, Teviot Place, Forrest Road, Bristo Place – all in their entirety – 12pm-6pm on Sep 11th and 9am-5pm on Sep 21st.
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Mind how you go!
The four-week filming schedule will see close to 800 crew members including 375 local hires working on location over the course of the shoot, which started filming in London in June.
The Council and the city’s film office, Film Edinburgh, have been working closely with the production team for the past nine months to facilitate all aspects of the production schedule and needs across the iconic World Heritage site locations. This will be one of the largest and most complex shoots ever to film in the historic Old and New Towns of Edinburgh.
One of the world’s most successful movie franchises, this newest chapter in the Fast & Furious series stars Vin Diesel, Michelle Rodriguez, Jordana Brewster, Tyrese Gibson, Chris “Ludacris’ Bridges, Nathalie Emmanuel, Charlize Theron, Helen Mirren and John Cena.
The film’s production team is making a concerted effort to minimise the impact of filming on the public while securing the required shots needed for the film. The production team has been in close contact with the Council and Film Edinburgh, alongside local businesses and residents in and around the key filming locations, to ensure the production’s shooting schedule limits disruption while ensuring public safety is the uppermost consideration.
Director Justin Lin said: “Edinburgh is such a unique and iconic location and we are incredibly excited about the opportunity to celebrate it in the Fast & Furious saga.
“The support from all local agencies, businesses and the community has been invaluable in helping to coordinate this shoot. We appreciate the entire city’s help and are excited to have such a beautiful and historic city in the film.”
Councillor Cammy Day, Depute Leader of City of Edinburgh Council, said: “Edinburgh has provided a backdrop for some exciting and high-profile film and TV productions over recent years. This promotes the city to audiences around the world, boosts the local economy and is great for us to see our home town on the big screen!
“Productions are extremely exciting for film fans in the city and the Council will continue to work closely with the production team to ensure there is limited impact on the everyday lives of our citizens while filming takes place.”
Rosie Ellison, head of Film Edinburgh, said: “Following our involvement with Avengers: Infinity War and Endgame, we could demonstrate that the city has the ability to host such a large-scale production but were nonetheless thrilled when the Fast & Furious filmmakers confirmed that Edinburgh had been chosen as a filming location for the next outing of this hugely popular franchise.
“We will continue to work closely with the production to ensure its smooth-running of the location shoot across the city.”
Smooth running, eh? There’s a first for everything!
