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Ten great silver screen sites in Cornwall
It’s just been announced that the new Star Wars film will be shot in the UK.
After Disney, who will produce the new batch of Star Wars adventures, chose our beautiful county for Alice in Wonderland and Pirates of the Caribbean recently, we reckon Cornwall must be high on their list of places to shoot. After all, where else would you find so many great backdrops away from the prying eyes of the media?
The rural splendor of our County has captured the imaginations of filmmakers for decades. Charlestown Harbour is probably the most popular of Cornish locations, requiring very little dressing to achieve an authentic 18th century look. Did you know it was first used as a film location for a silent movie called Street of the Abandoned Children way back in 1929?
Why not make a film tour part of your summer pilgrimage or bring along one of these fab flicks to enjoy in your holiday cottage?
Magical Mystery Tour
(1967)
The Fab Four brought Beatles fever to the Duchy, filming at the Atlantic Hotel and Towan Beach in Newquay and in Bodmin. See some great photos of their visit here.
The Eagle Has Landed
(1976)
Michael Caine, Robert Duvall, Jenny Agutter, Donald Sutherland – the list of stars is as long as your arm as sixteen German paratroopers land in the UK in 1943 and almost succeed in capturing Winston Churchill – and winning the war. Almost. Filmed at Charlestown beach and harbor and the Pier House Hotel, Newquay Airport (then RAF St Mawgan), around Newquay and on the sand dunes at Rock, across the Camel Estuary from Padstow.
Dracula
(1979)
The classic Bram Stoker vampire story by Universal starring Laurence Olivier was filmed at Crinnis Beach, Carlyon Bay, St Austell; Camelot Hotel, Tintagel (as Dr Seaward’s asylum); Marazion; Mevagissey (as the harbour where Dracula boards a ship); Mount’s Bay; Penwith, St Just; St Austell; St Just; St Michael’s Mount, Marazion (as Carfax Abbey) and Tintagel.
Never Say Never Again
(1983)
This unofficial 007 starring Sean Connery as James Bond featured a scene where two guided missiles fly over the countryside and out to sea, filmed over West Cornwall and St Michael’s Mount.
Omen III – The Final Conflict
(1981)
Horror fans take note! The last of the Omen series was filmed in the Luxulyan Valley and Penrice near St Austell, at Roche Rock near Roche (as the deserted church on the moor) and at Prideaux Place, Padstow.
The Witches
(1988)
A brilliant adaptation of the Roald Dahl classic starred Angelica Houston, Rowan Atkinson and Jane Horrocks, amongst others, and was filmed at the Headland Hotel in Newquay.
Die Another Day
(2002)
Bond was back in Cornwall in the official guise of Pearce Brosnan when scenes in the opening sequence in Korea were shot in Holywell Bay and the biomes of the Eden Project were used for some of the shots of the villain’s ice palace.
Alice in Wonderland
(2010)
Tim Burton used Antony House near Torpoint for the garden party scenes in his adaptation of the Lewis Carroll tale and filmed the harbor scenes at Charlestown.
Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides
(2011)
Parts of the fourth installment in the popular Pirates series of films were filmed in St Ives.
World War Z
(2013) The adaptation of Max Brooks’ gripping Sci Fi about a zombie pandemic stars none other than Brad Pitt on an epic quest to save humanity. Partly filmed in Falmouth, it’s one of the most hyped films this year – and it’s due out on June 21.
Image: Watergate Bay Hotel