Fast and Furious 9: Everything we know about Edinburgh blockbuster

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The production team for Fast and Furious 9 will be setting up camp in Edinburgh's Holyrood Park in September.

The Fast and Furious action films focus on illegal street racing and international espionage and is Universal's biggest franchise of all time.

The series is currently the ninth-highest grossing film series of all time - ahead of Batman, Jurassic Park, Transformers, and Pirates of the Caribbean.

The Fast and Furious franchise is coming to Edinburgh.

Actors including Vin Diesel, Paul Walker, Michelle Rodriquez, Dwayne Johnson, Helen Mirren, John Cena, Charlize Theron and Jason Statham have all starred in the series.

Scenes for the new outing of the blockbuster movies will be filmed on the Royal Mile, Parliament Square and St Giles Street on Monday 9 and Tuesday 10 September.

A shoot is also scheduled to take place in East Parliament Square on Sunday 8 September. The area has been chosen as one of the 'hero locations'.

The four-week filming schedule will involve nearly 800 crew members and has been billed as "one of the largest and most complex shoots ever" to film in Edinburgh's historic Old and New towns.

Earlier this year spin-off movie Hobbs and Shaw was shot in Glasgow.

Local residents and businesses have already been contacted by letter from FF9 Productions Ltd with details of the timetable.

The leaflet explained the scenes being shot in the capital involve "vehicles travelling at speed" which is why road closures must be put in place.

Police will be on site during the filming.

During the production a total of 52 roads in Edinburgh will be closed at some point.

Local residents and businesses were contacted by the film production studio.

The letter, which was posted on discussion website Reddit, revealed the stars and camera crews will be using Holyrood Park from September 4-13 as their 'unit base' for trailers and a large marquee.

The makeshift studio will be position on an aluminium pad to protect the park's ground and a perimeter fence will be set up.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.”

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.”

When the production was announced Jade Falconer, co-manager of Burgers and Beers grill house , High Street, said: “We’re absolutely delighted Edinburgh’s most famous street will feature in this fabulous film. Having big film productions in the city is just great.”

Adam McVey, council leader, Edinburgh City Council, added: “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 very 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.”

The ninth Fast and Furious movie is due for release in 2020. The tenth is due in 2021.

When the Edinburgh Evening News published the full list of all 52 capital roads which will close during filming, the news was met with a mixed reaction from our readers.

One reader, Steven Robertson, said: "Our city is not for us, it’s only for tourists, students and film makers apparently. We should stay at home and be grateful if our bins get emptied!"

Ilona Dawidziuk said: "By looking at the state of Edinburgh's roads it will be a real hardcore part of fast and furious."

May Mclaughlan said: "So... Edinburgh council are closing lots of roads/streets once a month so people can casually walk around without pollution.. but now we are going to have high powered vehicles racing around Edinburgh!! Think the council are kidding themselves with some of their weird decisions! Lol Unbelievable!!"

Aurora Maccarone quipped: "Fast and Furious 9: the pothole after the temporary traffic light. I’m sure the plot is full of twists and turns!"

Yvonne Calvert said: "They better look out for the 20mph zones and speed cameras. This is going to be an interesting film lol x"

Full list of road closures:

Note - road names marked * 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.

Pedestrian closures

The below roads are closed to all pedestrian traffic in the interests of public safety and for those taking part in filming. However, exceptions apply for those accessing homes and for emergency services.

Lawnmarket - From George IV Bridge to the High Street - 8am on Sep 9th to 6pm on Sep 10th.

High Street - From Lawnmarket to Parliament Square - 8am on Sep 9th to 6pm on Sep 10th.

West Parliament Square, Parliament Square and St Giles Street - In their entirety - 8am on Sep 9th to 6pm on Sep 10th.

Victoria Terrace (From Upper Bow westwards to Johnston Terrace), Victoria Street (In its entirety) and West Bow (From the Grassmarket to Victoria Street) - 8am-4pm on Sep 11th and 8am-4pm on Sep 18th.

Cockburn Street - In its entirety - 8am-6pm on Sep 14th and 8am-6pm on Sep 22nd.