Veteran actor Jim Broadbent has been spotted filming on Minchinhampton Common this morning.
Broadbent was snapped by Deborah Escamilla as the 72-year-old film star was filmed inside a phone box used especially for the scene near Tom Long’s Post.
Broadbent, star of Harry Potter, The Borrowers, and Paddington, was shooting a scene from The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry, from the 2012 book by Stroud author Rachel Joyce, who also penned the screenplay.
The story follows a seemingly unremarkable man in his 60s named Harold (Broadbent), who one day learns his old friend Queenie is dying. He embarks on a walk, only to keep going for 450 miles until he reaches Queenie’s (Bassett) hospice, much to the despair of his wife Maureen (Wilton), left reeling at home.
Shooting is taking place entirely on location and sequentially, mirroring Harold’s own journey in the story.
Linda Bassett, star of East Is East and Kinky Boots, has joined the previously announced cast alongside Broadbent and Penelope Wilton.
The film is produced by Kevin Loader, Juliet Dowling and Marilyn Milgrom, and was developed in conjunction with Film4 and the BFI, and awarded National Lottery funding. Financing was arranged by Embankment Films and is provided by the BFI and Ingenious.
