Martin Clunes: Leamington stands in for New York this Christmas

LEAMINGTON OBSERVER
By Steve Carpenter Thursday 06 February 2014 Updated: 10/02 08:38

 

LEAMINGTON will be standing in for New York next Christmas - or at least a small part of it will.

The town's All Saints' Church was recently taken over by film folk for a day while shooting the third instalment of feel-good festive favourite Nativity.

The forthcoming film, titled Nativity 3: Dude, Where's My Donkey? stars Martin Clunes, Catherine Tate and Nativity regular Marc Wootton as the big kid of a classroom assistant Mr Poppy.

All Saints' stands in for a church in the Big Apple in a pivotal end of film wedding scene for which the church is turned into a winter wonderland.

The Nativity franchise is in fact known for keeping it local as it were.

Penned by Coventry writer Debbie Isitt, the franchise focuses on the underdog winning through at Christmas - with the underdog being the city's fictional St Bernadette's Primary School - first in a nativity play, and then in a song contest.

But will they succeed again in their latest adventure after the school accidentally enters a flash mob competition? Cinema-goers will find out come Christmas.

Previous films, which have featured Hobbitt and Sherlock star Martin Freeman, and former Dr Who David Tennant, have been shot in and around Coventry and Warwickshire, including Warwick Castle and the RSC's Courtyard Theatre in Stratford.



Read more:  http://leamingtonobserver.co.uk/2014/03/02/news-Leamington-stands-in-for-New-York-this-Christmas-96316.html

Martin Clunes: Coventry director Debbie Isitt starts filming Nativity 3: Dude Where's My Donkey?

COVENTRY TELEGRAPH
By Catherine Vonledebur
21 January, 2014



Filming is underway for Coventry director Debbie Isitt’s latest movie  Nativity 3: Dude, Where’s My Donkey?

Cast and crew gathered at Leamington’s All Saints Parish Church to shoot a key scene.

The church in Priory Terrace doubles as the interior of a New York chapel for the filming of a Christmas wedding scene.

And its stars Catherine Tate, Martin Clunes, Marc Wootton, Australian actor/dancer Adam Garcia and Royle Family star Ralph Little were all in attendance.

The church was transformed into a winter wonderland  with white Christmas trees, white carpets and a Gospel choir from Coventry University. All the cast were dressed in white dresses and suits.

Doc Martin star Martin looked tanned and slim. Last September he revealed he had lost a stone in weight last September after catching a virus.

This time the plot involves a school inspection, a love triangle between Martin, Catherine and Adam, and a school flash mob competition.

Nativity 3 is once again filmed without a script and the actors improvise their own dialogue.

Nativity 3’s British-Canadian film producer Nick Jones said: “There are a lot of Hollywood animations out there but we’ve made home-grown British family Christmas films. We use real kids and people identify with what goes on.

"Debbie’s films are authentic and have a lot of heart. It’s not just for kids there’s enough for parents and grandparents.

“Nativity 3 is all set around St Bernadette’s in Coventry. There’s an Ofsted inspection and a new teacher on the same day. The two names get confused - and the inspector Martin Clunes’ forgets who he is.

READ MORE HERE: http://www.coventrytelegraph.net/news/local-news/coventry-director-debbie-isitt-starts-6533334