Tag Archives: Clerkenwell

Closed for Extended Bank Holiday Weekend!

28 Aug

Making the most of the last UK Bank Holiday before Christmas, yours truly is… enjoying a few days off!

No new Islington Film Location this week then, but feel free to peruse our previous posts and Islington’s Filmography to choose a movie to enjoy, discover which Movie Stars ‘Live’ in Islington, find out which of our Tube Stations appears on screen and which Films were recently shot in the borough!

If walking and wondering around Islington is more your thing, wherever you live or whichever area you fancy we will have covered it at some point. From Clerkenwell to Finsbury, Tufnell Park to Highbury or Holloway to St Luke’s, you can plan your walk with our Islington Film Locations Map.

 

  ‘Coming Soon’

To whet your appetite, in the next few weeks we will be spotting Gary Oldman’s House, having a date with Ricky Gervais, and travelling back in time with a 1933 black and white movie featuring not only a scene but also a song to the glory of one of Islington’s iconic landmark!

 

Usherettes 1

 

Enjoyed this post? Feel free to comment, share it with your friends and come to Islington to discover our locations! Don’t forget to send me your pictures.

And if you do know any Islington location used for Film, TV, photo shoot or have been involved in the process, drop me a line at LightsCameraIslington(at)gmail.com or via Twitter

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Michelle Williams spotted in St John’s Street

14 Aug

A few weeks ago we saw how Northampton Square, the Brunswick Estate and Emberton Court in particular as well as City University had taken centre stage in Incendiary (2008), a movie about the aftermath of a suicide bombing at a North London football ground, starring starring Ewan McGregor and Michelle Williams.

Since they both live around Northampton Square, it is almost normal that another scene, an everyday one for that matter, ended up being shot nearby.

Towards the end of the movie, Michelle Williams, the young mother who has lost husband and son in the terrorist attack can be seen popping to her local food shop.

When she steps out, she meets the child she has befriended since losing hers with his mother: the son and widow of the suicide bomber. There, she realises that the son she had kept alive in her head is no more, and rushes towards her flat in Emberton Court.

Such scene was shot in a place familiar to many residents and students: the row of shops and fast-food restaurants in St John’s Street, opposite Finsbury Library. The Library can be spotted very briefly when the camera faces the mother and her child, the food shop, the ‘Food & Wine’ shop at the corner of St John’s Street and Wyclif Street and the fast-food restaurants can be recognise more easily.

Incendiary - Northampton Square - FILM 14

Incendiary - Northampton Square - FILM 15

Incendiary - Northampton Square - MRX 02

Incendiary - Northampton Square - FILM 16

Incendiary - Northampton Square - FILM 17

Incendiary - Northampton Square - MRX 01

Fade Out

 Related Incendiary post

Northampton Square: Home of Ewan McGregor and Michelle Williams

 

How to get there?

Islington Film Locations Map

St John’s Street EC1V 4PE

Angel Tube Station (Zone 1)

Many buses to St John’s Street

 

Enjoyed this post? Feel free to comment, share it with your friends and come to Islington to discover our locations! Don’t forget to send me your pictures.

And if you do know any Islington location used for Film, TV, photo shoot or have been involved in the process, drop me a line at LightsCameraIslington(at)gmail.com or via Twitter

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At St John’s Gate, the clues you’ll get

10 Jul

This week, Lights, Camera…Islington! is back in Clerkenwell on the lookout for the A Fish Called Wanda (1988) gang.

We already saw that while the robbery was going on in Hatton Garden Wanda (Jamie Lee Curtis) was waiting for the gang in a getaway car on Clerkenwell Green, and how shortly afterwards they swapped cars on Clerkenwell Close before vanishing.

However, to make it the perfect robbery our culprits had to make sure that no clues remained behind them, in particular Wanda’s fake moustache! And this is where Ken (Michael Palin) came in. When Wanda & Co. leave Clerkenwell Close in a car, Ken gets on a motorbike and with the bin bag to get rid of.

Before you know it, he rides under St John’s Gate and throws the bag into a skip.

A Fish Called Wanda - Moto Escape - FILM

Originally built in 1504, the Gate was the south entrance to the inner precinct of the Priory of the Knights of Saint John. Quite a stunning structure, St John’s Gate was selected to represent Islington for the London 2012 Games.

Since you are there you might as well visit the Museum of the Order of St John.

A Fish Called Wanda - Moto Escape - MRX

As you can see, the 3 sequences we talked about were all shot within yards of each other, and probably on the same day!

That’s the Wrap!

With this post we say goodbye to A Fish Called Wanda in Islington, unless you do happened to know otherwise. In which case feel free to let us know!

Fade Out

 

Related A Fish Called Wanda posts

Clerkenwell Green: Fishy Wanda on the Run

Clerkenwell Close: A Fish Called Wanda Returns

How to get there?

Islington Film Locations Map

St John’s Gate EC1M 4DN

Farringdon Station (Zone 1)

Many buses to Clerkenwell Road, Farringdon Road and St John’s Street

 

Enjoyed this post? Feel free to comment, share it with your friends and come to Islington to discover our locations! Don’t forget to send me your pictures.

And if you do know any Islington location used for Film, TV, photo shoot or have been involved in the process, drop me a line at TheUnbelievableMrX(at)gmail.com or via Twitter

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Farringdon Station: Vendetta on the Way

9 Jan

Countless films shot in London feature its famous and instantly recognisable underground stations be it the corridors, carriages, ticket halls, exits or familiar London transport signs. Such scenes, no matter how brief they may be, allow the spectators to relate to those familiar sitesand at the same time act as ‘establishing shots’: in a blink of an eye, we know where we are.

I am pleased to say that Islington’s tube and train stations have enjoyed their fair share of spotlight.

In the science-fiction thriller V for Vendetta (2005), by the late 2020s Great Britain is a fascist state. One freedom fighter known as V (Hugo Weaving) fights this oppressive society and threatens to blow up the Houses of Parliament on 5th November, as attempted by Guy Fawkes in 1605. In doing this, he meets a young woman called Evey (Natalie Portman).

Before Islington appears on the screen, the borough is mentioned at the very beginning of the movie. While Evey is getting ready to go out, the TV is on and presenter Lewis Prothero (Roger Allam) warns his viewers about the situation in the USA and how similar it is to the one faced by Great Britain years ago “(…) Islington, Enfield, I was there, I have seen it all (…)”.

However, the first time we get to properly spot Islington is later on when Evey tells V about her childhood. While she talks about the death of her brother, her parents’ political engagement, we can see her as a young Evey (Madeleine Rakic-Platt) handing leaflets out outside Farringdon Station.

 V for Vendetta - Farringdon Tube Station - FILM

 

V for Vendetta - Farringdon Tube Station - MRX

Since many scenes of V for Vendetta were shot across Islington we will have the opportunity to get back  to it!

Fade Out

Enjoyed this post? Feel free to comment, share it with your friends and come to Islington to discover our locations! Don’t forget to send me your pictures.

And if you do know any Islington location used for Film, TV, photo shoot or have been involved in the process, drop me a line at TheUnbelievableMrX(at)gmail.com or via Twitter

How to get there?

Islington Film Locations Map

Farringdon Station (Zone 1)

Many buses to Farringdon Road

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