The last time one of our buses was used in a feature film, I had to avoid running over James Norton. He crossed the road in front of a slow-moving RM737 for multiple takes. Early that morning pop-up barbers on the Polish-Scottish production trimmed my hair on the street. Costume kitted me out with a heavy overcoat. Extras stood around freezing in the May haar of Edinburgh, with blankets draped around their shoulders.
The film, Mr Jones, sounded exciting enough – a Welsh journalist, the eponymous Gareth, uncovers Ukraine’s genocidal famine in 1933. He almost meets Stalin, flees for his life and his eventual scoop causes a sensation, alerting the world to the horrors of the Soviet regime. But it all fell strangely flat and the most tragic scenes turned out comical, including a spot of unwitting cannibalism that enraged Jones’s descendants for the liberties it took. And after a full day’s shooting (10 or more laps of Moray Place in the Georgian New Town, standing in for London) our bus appeared for less than half a second in the final release, and less than half the front of the bus at that. All that effort!
Preparing RM875 for filming at the Glasgow Vintage Vehicle Trust in Bridgeton
I have higher hopes for Borderland, an IRA thriller set in 1975 London and starring Aml Ameen, Colin Morgan and Felicity Jones. Last year we were in Glasgow for about 10 days in total, sometimes with two Routemasters, leading a motley gang of Morris Marinas, Ford Cortinas, Vauxhall Chevettes, old black cabs and other ancient vehicles.
The city has been a versatile stand-in for many places, including New York (lately in Succession with Brian Cox and Melrose, starring Benedict Cumberbatch). I know the words “IRA thriller” do not necessarily pair well if you or your family lived through the Troubles or you are among the many thousands directly affected by them. But that’s how this film will be billed.
As someone old enough to remember the bomb scares, and occasional bombings, of London in the 1970s and 1980s, it was strange to drive the bus back to a reconstructed version of that era. It was even weirder to learn that one of the areas they were recreating was Ladroke Grove, a few hundred yards from my childhood home.
Here at The Red Bus we are definitely looking forward to a bit more onscreen bus spotting when Borderland is released.
With thanks to The Red Bus drivers Gordon Stirling and Martin Denman, and Jerry Organ, action vehicles co-ordinator extraordinaire.