Pinewood Studios could not have wished for a better, or more fitting, birthday present than the news, confirmed this week, that the next Bond movie will be shot on its celebrated 007 stage rather than in Eastern Europe.
It’s 70 years since the unlikely triumvirate of the Sheffield building tycoon Sir Charles Boot, the eccentric jute heiress Lady Yule and the Methodist flour magnate J Arthur Rank joined forces to redevelop Heatherden Hall. Their idea was to turn this Buckinghamshire country house into Britain’s most modern film studios.
Pinewood – the new name had both a Home Counties ring and a Hollywood twang – had much to recommend it. It was within easy reach of London. (When actor and fanatical runner Bruce Dern was starring in The Great Gatsby in 1973, he was able to jog home every evening to his hotel, Claridge’s. “It was only 12 miles. I measured it,” he claimed.) Everything about the new premises conveyed luxury and class. Not only did Pinewood boast the largest private swimming pool in Europe; it had a Turkish bath, squash courts, spectacular gardens and acres of land. Boot even commandeered the old library from the liner Mauritania to lend a little distinction to Pinewood’s boardroom. more…
20/07/2007...10:12 am
Hooray for Pinewood: Celebrating seventy years of movie making
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