02/02/2006

The UK capital is still the third most important production centre in the world after Los Angeles and New York, and 2005 saw the number of shooting days increase by 18%, from 10,683 in 2004 to 12,655, according to Film London, the film and media agency that promotes the city.

The figures, which combine TV, advertising and feature film shootings in London, were put together by each of the capital’s 33 boroughs and, according to their analysis, the most popular filmed-in location was Westminster (home to the House of Parliament), with 2,231 shooting days in 2005, while the borough that registered the biggest increase in production activity (138%) was the London Borough of Richmond.

A wide variety of feature films were shot in the UK capital in 2005, such as the next Cannes Film Festival opener, The Da Vinci Code, the sci-fi films V For Vendetta [+see also:
trailer
film profile] and Danny Boyle’s Sunshine [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: AndrewMacdonald
interview: Danny Boyle
film profile], Alfonso Cuaron’s thriller Children of Men, Anthony Minghella’s contemporary drama Breaking and Entering, football drama Goal by Danny Cannon, Europacorp’s romantic comedy Love & Other Disasters by Alek Keshishian, and Working Title’s coming-of-age story, Sixty Six by Paul Weiland.

Big projects set to shoot in London in 2006 include the US romantic comedy Penelope, starring Christina Ricci and Reese Witherspoon; Roger Michell’s Venus, still shooting at Ealing Studios until February; Kenneth Branagh’s The Magic Flute, which just started shooting at Shepperton Studios; Miss Potter, starring Renee Zellweger and Ewan McGregor; Working Title’s sequels to horror film Shaun Of The Dead and costume drama Elizabeth; Sony’s Holiday, starring Kate Winslet and Cameron Diaz; Paramount’s Ripley’s Believe It or Not, directed by Tim Burton; New Line’s first film of its fantasy trilogy, His Dark Materials; and, of course, the fifthHarry Potter, which will start shooting for Warner Bros next month.