Scotland doubles for Russia in new Apple TV Tetris movie

The new Tetris movie, out now on Apple TV, tells the true story of Henk Rogers (played by Taron Egerton), who discovers Tetris in 1988, and then risks everything by travelling to the Soviet Union, where he joins forces with inventor Alexey Pajitnov (Nikita Efremov) to bring the game to the masses.

To replicate the streets of Soviet-era Russia, the Tetris crew travelled to Scotland, with £500,000 of funding for the project invested by Screen Scotland.

The movie was filmed in Edinburgh, Ayrshire, Glasgow and Aberdeen, the home town of director Jon S Baird. 

Aberdeen, which is known as the granite city, has solid structures which fit the Soviet aesthetic. Meanwhile, The University of Aberdeen’s zoology building exterior was used for filming as well as Seamount Court, opposite the North East Scotland College in the city centre, which featured in the trailer for the film.

Speaking to BBC Scotland, Baird said: "I will do anything to highlight that part of the country. We don't really have movies shot in Aberdeen or Aberdeenshire. 

"We were such a novelty for them, they were turning out in their hundreds to watch us film. It was really special. We found two or three of our best locations in Aberdeen."