Dunsfold Park

Buongiorno principessa – Life if Beautiful, an “accidental” film location

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I have a phrase whenever I stumble across a place which has been used for filming that I wasn’t aware had been a filming location: an accidental film location. It’s happened several times:

  • Going on a date (yes, really) in Bicester, Oxfordshire, I stayed overnight at RAF Bicester (Bicester Heritage) which I found on AirBnB. What I didn’t know is that where I was staying was literally next door to where they filmed a key scene in The Intimidation Game in which they’re working on the enigma machine.

  • Dunsfold Park. I think it’s fair to say it is an accidental filming location because who the heck knows what kind of projects film there. But we’ve had: Star Wars: A Solo Story, Top Gear, London Has Fallen, A Theory of Everything, Marvel’s Secret Invasion, Kingsman: The Secret Service, and many, many more besides.
Kingsman: The Secret Service practicing a chase prior to filming

You’ll see the final sequence of the practice chase in the final trailer below. All shot at Dunsfold (you’ll see the aircraft hangars in the background). Of course, the irony here is that the film was co-written by Jane Goldman whom I interviewed earlier on when she co-wrote Stardust with Matthew Vaughn.

Yeah, this is Star Wars – but not as you know it (nor as it appears in Solo, the film)

Hmmm…


Then there’s Arezzo in Italy. Back in October, 2005, I went to Italy with my wife (now ex-wife) and her parents and we hired a car and drove all around Tuscany. We stayed in a beautiful small cottage in the countryside. We made our way through many of the beautiful small villages that are dotted around the area and ended up in Florence, but one particular village stood out.

I was walking down one of the streets and it had an oddly familar feel to it. I knew it from somewhere, but I couldn’t be sure until I spotted a poster on a nearby wall. It confirmed it. We were in the filming location for one of my all-time favourite films, the Oscar-winning Life is Beautiful.


And the trailer for the film:


What was interesting is that we ate at a restaurant that Roberto Benigni either frequented (because he is a native of Arezzo and is a long time customer), or used many times during the filming, as it had big images of him on the walls. And judging by the position on one of the images, we were sitting at his table. Either way, this accidental film location was pretty darn special.

Though to be fair, 2005 was an interesting year overall. In December I flew to New York to attend to world premiere of Peter Jackson’s King Kong. It was a star-studded affair (so I’m glad I took a tuxedo with me) and I found myself looking back at George Lucas who was sitting several rows behind me. It was truly a surreal time.

Interestingly, the most recent event turned up while I was on holiday. It turns out that Hideo Kojima, a world-renowned games developer (the “Metal Gear” series and most recently “Death Stranding”) turned up at work with filmmaker Nicolas Winding Refn (“Drive”, “The Neon Demon”, “Bronson” and provides the likeness for Heartman in Death Stranding).

Marvel’s Secret Top Gear Invasion

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Marvel’s Secret Invasion did indeed revisit my old stomping ground of Dunsfold Park this week, where the episode did its best to try to outdo Top Gear. But try as they might, the Marvel team never came to the level of insanity (which we at Memset often witnessed in person) of the Top Gear team (Clarkson, May and Hammond – and then the other lot – and then the other lot – three sets of presenters during my tenure there).

Anyway, the shenanigans began as we looked out of Air Force One parked on the main Dunsfold runway. In the background we see the Memset building where I used to work (blue) and the former Top Gear studio (in red).


The majority of the action takes place on the other side of Dunsfold Park and where more Land Rovers than I could possibly count comes screaming out of bushes with helicopters and all sort of madness that was once only thought about on Top Gear start exploding with bullets and CG missiles flying about like War was having an end-of-year sale. It’s all very silly, to be honest.

Kaboom?

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I’m currently enjoying the current Marvel television series, Secret Invasion, on Disney+ which stars Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury who returns from shepherding Skrull refugees across the galaxy. Alas, when he returns to Earth, he finds himself during a full blown Skrull separatist invasion – made much more difficult given that Skrulls can shapeshift and become anyone… who do you trust?

Well, it turns out that the majority of the filming was made in the UK – London to be specific. This has had some interesting consequences because at the start of the first episode which is set in Moscow, it is clearly NOT Moscow because of London’s road markings, building style and bollards. Despite having been to Moscow myself many, many years ago, even a hamster could easily tell it was London and not Moscow.

What did surprise me was a particular scene in this week’s episode in which was – no, could it be? Shot at Dunsfold Park? Why, yes it was. Despite not working at Dunsfold Park for close to 6 years (which was home to Memset Ltd. for at least 5 years before I left) I could tell it was DP because of the planes, the hangers, the layout and most importantly – they were shooting the scene at Gambon corner. Directly opposite (almost) to the Memset building.

And speaking of the Memset building – you can see it in the official trailer in the background while a cavalcade of cars makes it way to the aerodrome except, well, they’re about to go kaboom because (CG) missiles are about to blow them to kingdom come. Naughty Skrulls.

In any event, it’s bloody strange seeing a former place of employment in an action-packed series like this. We can at least expect some interesting stuff to happen in forthcoming episodes that are going to give Top Gear a run for their money – although enhanced with VFX (an industry I also used to work in – oh, the irony).


The official trailer for the show: