DIVA KINGS DP_SPREADOSCAR-winning actor Colin Firth was this week joined by Hollywood star Cameron Diaz, Harry Potter actor Alan Rickman and Golden Globe winner Stanley Tucci for five days of secret filming near Leamington.
Little did visitors to Compton Verney art gallery know that they were within stone-throwing distance from the world famous celebrities, who were working on a new Michael Hoffman film to be released next year.
Staff at the 18th century house, which is set in 120-acre grounds designed by Capability Brown, had been told it had been chosen for filming a few months ago, but as it was a top secret project, the details were few and far between until closer to the time.
Compton Verney’s director Dr Steven Parissien said “We are delighted to have been chosen as a location for this film. It has been a great experience and a pleasure to work with such a prestigious and professional team.
“We were told we had been chosen because our gallery space was perfect for what the filmmakers needed and we have the outdoor space to accommodate the facilities the film crew needed. We were also helped by our proximity to good hotels for the cast and crew to stay in.
Joining the stars behind the scenes at the gallery were director of photography Florian Ballhaus, who worked on The Devil Wears Prada and the Time Traveller’s Wife, head of hair and make-up Christine Blundell, who won an Academy Award for her contribution to Topsy Turvey, and production designer Stuart Craig, who has worked on Gandhi and The English Patient.
And although the actors had a busy filming schedule, Dr Parissien was pleased to be able to take them on a tour around the house’s galleries.
The film, The Last Station, centres on British art curator Harry Deane (Firth), who devises a finely-crafted scheme to con England’s richest man and avid art collector, Lionel Shabandar (Rickman), into purchasing a fake Monet painting.
In order to bait his buyer, he recruits a Texas rodeo queen (Diaz) to cross the pond and pose as a woman whose grandfather liberated the painting at the end of World War II.
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