Monday 20 September 2010

Captain Northern Quarter

Last week I spent a few days visiting my good friend Paula, who lives in central Manchester. We were both a little bemused to come back to her flat to find that various men, besuited in bright yellow jackets, were busily attaching shopfronts onto the disused warehouse building opposite. Turns out she's currently living on a film set, because Hollywood has descended upon the Northern Quarter. The film in question: Captain America: the First Avenger, starring Chris Evans, Samuel L Jackson, Tommy Lee Jones and Hugo Weaving. Marvel-lous!

Apparently the Northern Quarter was chosen because "its wide streets, towering buildings and pre-war architecture make the perfect backdrop for 1940s New York." As of today, filming has begun, and there will be a carchase sequence plus explosions. The film crew will be in town for about three weeks before moving on to shoot some more scenes in the Liverpool docks. Obviously, this being me, I took some photos innit:









For rent: LES. Ooh-er. I hope Les knows what he's in for.




A lot les(s) saucy. You got off this time, Les.


I'd be a bit miffed if I were Paula though, cos they just started building this set on her road without really telling anyone, which seems a little unfair. There are at least 2 big blocks of flats on that road, which are not being New Yorkified in any way, and which are full of non-fictional 2010 Manchester folk, and now they're closing off the road, so she and everyone else will probably have to be relegated to entering and leaving through the basement car park via some longwinded circuitous route, like shady criminals. Bit of an arse. Least they could have done was give some advance notice, rather than be like, oh by the way, you can't come into your flat today, we're exploding things. Pfft. Hollywood. Oh well. I hope she gets an autograph at least! :D

[edit: more photos here -->