Lights, camera...
London, with its panoramic view, romanticised history and mix of elegant and avant garde architecture, has served as a location for countless movies.
Everyone remembers Bridget Jones (Renee Zellweger) walking across Tower Bridge ruminating over her life and Willaim Thacker (Hugh Grant) strolling through Portabello Market while contemplating his love for a movie star (played by Julia Roberts) in the film Notting Hill.
Then there’s Robert Langdon (Tom Hanks) and Sophie Nevaeu (Audrey Tatou) running after clues in Westminster Abby in Da Vinci Code and Pongo chasing Perdi through St James’s Park, where their owners met and fell in love in 101 Dalmations.
These locations - and 48 more - have been pinpointed in a movie map, courtesy Visit London and Film London offers people chance to walk in their favourite star’s footsteps.
So, film buffs, tourists and those looking for unusual city walks should arm themselves with a map and get walking.
... and action
It is tough work covering all 52 places in a day, a month, or even a year. But you may want to try the following route, which is very doable.
Start off at Trafalgar Square. The site where the opening and closing shots of the World War II thriller Enigma (2001) were shot is also home to the National Gallery, the National Portrait Gallery.
Art aficionados can spend some time wandering round the museum before heading to Whitehall.
Visit the seat of Her Majesty’s government that was also the location for the 2005 movie V for Vendetta. The area, which was transformed for the largest location shoot in London with over 1000 people and tanks used to shoot a ghastly revolutionary scene, is also where the former Whitehall Theatre stands.
Now called the Trafalgar Studios with seating capacities of 380 and 80 respectively – the theatre is a great example of the stark, unadorned 1930s architecture. But the insides are a spectacular work of cubist design.
And it’s also the current home of the Royal Shakespeare Society.
Next on the list is St James’s Park. It might be infested with tourists, especially in the high season. According to Time Out and the Evening Standard it has London’s best park restaurants. It is also the site where the dogs’ masters fall into the pond in Disney’s 1996 version of 101 Dalmations.
A short walk from there is Westminster Abbey. Visit Sir Isaac Newton’s grave as Langdon and Neveau did while looking for the cryptex in Ron Howard’s Da Vinci Code.
Then walk across Westminster Bridge (where the Cillian Murphy starrer 28 Days Later was shot in 2002) to the London Aquarium where Jude Law and Julia Roberts share an illicit kiss in Closer.
To wrap up the walk, head either to the Tate Modern where a scene from Woody Allen’s tennis film Match Point was shot or head over to Somerset House where the cross-over film Pride and Prejudice was filmed. Both art galleries have some very interesting exhibitions going on right now.
