Temporary film studio to be built in West Lothian for Trainspotting 2

Indoor filming will take place in Bathgate.

Author Irvine Welsh has revealed that indoor scenes for the long-awaited follow-up are to be filmed in a converted sound stage in Bathgate.

The news has emerged just weeks after national arts agency Creative Scotland revealed that the Pyramids Business Park, which was created out of the former Motorola plant, was being lined up for film and television productions.

The author, whose own sequel to Trainspotting, Porno, is being adapted by screenwriter John Hodge for the big screen, has revealed that the new film will also be shot on location in both Edinburgh and Glasgow, just like the original, which was released 20 years ago.

All of the key original cast members, including Ewan McGregor, Robert Carlyle, Jonny Lee Miller and Ewen Bremner, are back on board for the sequel, which is due to start filming in May, with Oscar-winning director Danny Boyle back at the helm again.

Welsh told the Glasgowist website: “TS2 will be filmed all over the central belt, basically anywhere we can find, location-wise.

“Interiors will be filmed in Bathgate, where our sound stage is, there will be a lot of exteriors in Glasgow, as most crew live in the Glasgow area, and also Edinburgh to give it the sense of place.

“We’ll probably do quite a bit more (in Edinburgh) than we did in the first movie as we have more money and aren’t operating with the same financial constraints, but it’s still a pain transporting crew around and putting them up in hotels.”

Creative Scotland, which has led efforts to create new studio facilities around the country, declined to comment on potential filming locations for the Trainspotting sequel.

However earlier this month the Bathgate site was cited as an example of “build space” which was being marketed to help attract local, national and international productions to Scotland.

The body also confirmed that it had already set aside £800,000 to support two productions to film in Scotland in 2016, but did not name them at the time.

Meanwhile McGregor, who also worked with Boyle on the Edinburgh-set thriller Shallow Grove, has described Hodge’s sequel to Trainspotting as “really, really, really good.”

McGregor told the Collider website: “I think we’re all sort of somewhat protective of what Trainspotting means to people, and what it means to us. None of us want to make a poor sequel. So had we not been presented with the most extraordinary script, which we were, I think we wouldn’t be making the sequel. But because we were, we are.”

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