Over the years, sites in Essex have been transformed into a marine training ground, a haunted island, and an Asian prison, amongst many others, for some of the greatest films in cinematic history. Here is a look at seven of those movie locations.
Bridget Jones’s Diary
Do you recall the scene in Bridget Jones’s Diary where her romantic interest Mark Darcy flies to the US for a new job? What appeared to be New York’s JFK airport in the movie was, in fact, Stansted Airport. Seeing as all the filming of the 2001 movie took place in the UK, it seemed rather pointless blowing the budget to fly to New York and back!
Full Metal Jacket
Legendary filmmaker Stanley Kubrick is often cited as one of the greatest directors to have ever lived. Alongside such classics as The Shining, Clockwork Orange, and 2001: A Space Odyssey, Kubrick directed this stunning film about a group of young marines in the Vietnam war. The first half of the 1987 movie Full Metal Jacket takes place in the army training grounds, and some of those scenes were filmed in Epping Forest.
Goldfinger
The third James Bond film in the series is one of the most memorable 007 movies of all time. The 1964 picture sees Bond investigating the gold smuggler Auric Goldfinger. As well as being filmed in exotic locations like Miami and places in Switzerland, Goldfinger was filmed in Essex! To be more precise, it is the original terminal building at Southend Airport that features in the classic spy movie. The scene in question features Goldfinger’s Rolls Royce being loaded onto a British United Air Ferries Carvair. With Bond staples like his Aston Martin, an innuendo-named Bond girl by the name of Pussy Galore, and loads of gadgets and action, the only thing missing from this 007 movie is a casino scene. But after watching Goldfinger, you could head over to Casumo online casino to play some of Bond’s favourite games like baccarat and roulette.
World War Z
Did you know a zombie apocalypse had happened in Essex? The 2013 movie World War Z follows Brad Pitt as Gerry Lane, a former United Nations investigator, who is travelling the world to find a way to prevent a zombie pandemic. The apocalyptic horror film is based on Max Brooks’ novel of the same name. A disused part of Hanningfield water treatment works was transformed into a South Korean prison for scenes in the film.
Four Weddings and a Funeral
Four Weddings and a Funeral is one of the greatest British comedy films of all time. When it was released in 1994, it became the highest-grossing British film in history at the time, and it won numerous awards. It also received Academy Award nominations for Best Original Screenplay and Best Picture. The funeral in the title was filmed at St Clements Church in West Thurrock. The director Mike Newell said he wanted to film in a traditional church that was amongst an industrial landscape. As anyone who lives near the church will know, beautiful St Clements is somewhat dwarfed by the Proctor and Gamble building looming over it from behind, so it was ideal.
The Woman in Black
Many elements make The Woman in Black such a fantastically haunting film. One of those elements is its misty, middle-of-nowhere setting in which the protagonist played by Daniel Radcliffe must stay put in an old house due to an inaccessible path from the rising tide. Many people wonder where the location for the 2012 horror film was. Well, you’ve guessed it! It was in Essex. More precisely, it was the landscape, cottages, and Edwardian manor house of Osea Island that was used for the filming location.
Batman Begins
You may remember the scene in the first film of Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight Trilogy where Bruce Wayne finds himself locked up in a Bhutanese prison. Well, rather than going all the way to Bhutan, the scene was actually filmed at Coalhouse Fort in East Tilbury. The docks of Tilbury were also as the docks of Gotham City in Batman Begins. Interestingly, Tilbury waterfront was also transformed into Venice for the movie Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. Batman Begins is often cited as one of the greatest and most influential films of the 2000s.
