Angelina Jolie filmed her true-life World War Two drama Unbroken partly on location in Queensland, Australia. Jolie’s second film as director needed the right combination of filming incentives and water tank facilities for a movie with many ocean-set scenes.
Egg Films of Cape Town recreated iconic French racing track Le Mans filming a new spot for Mazda in South Africa. The ad initially reverses its footage, showcasing the history of Mazda through the brand’s victory at Le Mans in 1991 and back to World War Two.
Filmmaker Christopher Nolan shot his sci-fi epic Interstellar on location mainly in Alberta and California, and also shot scenes in Iceland. Set in the near future, the film tells the story of a group of cosmonauts sent through a wormhole to seek a new home for humanity.
Film London has led a EuroScreen conference looking into the economic impact of screen tourism around the world. The event looked at how films like the Harry Potter series and TV dramas such as Wallander and Game of Thrones have benefitted their specific filming locations.
New Chinese movie Hollywood Adventures has become the largest Chinese-language film to shoot on location in Southern California. The production features three Chinese stars but has a US director and co-stars, and is mostly being crewed by Americans.
The BBC’s upcoming period drama series Dickensian may have to film on location in Eastern Europe due to a lack of UK studio space. Red Planet Pictures plans to build a portion of 19th century London for the shoot, which will be set across Charles Dickens’ literary world.
Location filming for Angelina Jolie’s World War II biopic Unbroken and Dwayne Johnson’s earthquake drama San Andreas has helped boost Australia’s international production spending by 50% in 2013/14. Altogether, Australia hosted nine foreign features and two foreign TV dramas.
Clint Eastwood’s true-life drama American Sniper and Liam Neeson’s action sequel Taken 3 were among the movie winners at this year’s California On Location Awards (COLAs). The ceremony has been recognising the achievements of location professionals in California for 20 years.