David Brent rocks up in north London
.jpg)
Several iconic north London music venues - as well as Hampstead Heath - play an important role in David Brent’s quest for rock stardom in the upcoming feature David Brent: Life on the Road.
Filming began last autumn on the project, which is released on 19th August. The movie sees Brent funding his new career as a rock ‘n’ roll icon and lead singer of Foregone Conclusion, including paying for the house at venues including The Barfly, Dingwalls and the Electric Ballroom.
Filming at each of the music venues took one day, and was arranged by location service company FilmFixer, which manages the film office for Camden Council.
.jpg)
Filmfixer director Karen Everett says of the location choices: “Camden plays its part in the joke brilliantly. The movie sets up a complicated fourth wall: fans of David Brent of course love the gigs in real life, but have to pretend for the film that he’s tragic and desperate.
“It makes perfect sense that Camden’s seminal rock venues played the locations for David Brent’s awful gigs and painful attempts at a rock lifestyle. And Camden was really happy to play along.”
Another well-known Camden location, the Flamin’ Eight tattoo parlour on Castle Road, hosted a scene where Brent gets inked…
The tattoo shop and the music venues scenes were filmed during the last week of November. Around a month previously, the autumn colours of Hampstead Heath provided the backdrop for the Stevie Nicks-type pastiche, Gypsy Lady, Brent’s toe-curling music video and single, see below.
FilmFixer manages 30% of the local borough film offices in Greater London, and prioritises consideration for the local community when negotiating the presence of film crews.
Also on The Knowledge
Freedom Scripted options Sebastian Faulks’ Engleby
Sebastian Faulks’ novel Engleby is set to be adapted for television by C4-backed indie Freedom Scripted, starring Noah Jupe.
Shetland wins double recommission
The BBC has ordered two more series of detective drama Shetland with the first (Series 9) filming this month.
Bank of Dave the Sequel begins northern shoot
Filming gets underway today (26 February) on the Netflix sequel to 2023 feature Bank of Dave with shooting taking place largely in Burnley and Leeds.
Filming underway on new series of Strike
Strike, The Ink Black Heart – the sixth instalment of the detective drama - has begun filming.
Feature film Lola and Freddie to shoot in London this summer
A new feature film, Lola and Freddie, will shoot in London locations this summer with Naomie Harris, Joel Fry, Jameela Jamil and Olivia Lee leading the cast.
Construction commences on BBC's West Midlands production hub as new series is greenlit
Ground has been broken on The Tea Factory, a new BBC production hub in the West Midlands that promises to be the BBC’s greenest building, with a new series featuring Billy Billingham to be produced in the region.
