Meryl Streep and Hugh Grant graced the capital between May and July last year, while filming the biopic Florence Foster Jenkins, with a number of our buildings standing in for New York locations.
Brixton Academy was used in Lambeth, including its back courtyard. Florence gets out of a cab, aghast by her surroundings, wondering whether the character Cosme McMoon (her accompanist) really lives there. She covers her face with a handkerchief before walking inside.
Interiors at Camden’s Freemason’s Hall play the hotel where Florence lives. And you’ll see Kingston’s Surrey County Hall.
The big sequence of Florence’s Carnegie Hall performance, just days before she died, was shot in the Hammersmith Apollo using FilmFixer sister product FilmApp.
The film opens today, celebrating the life of “the world’s worst singer”, whose happiness shone out in her joyful performances of terrible singing.
Given all the stunning period buildings London has to offer it makes perfect sense that we were able to re-create some of Florence’s New York haunts of the Thirties and Forties.
Take a look at the trailer here.