English fort filming for Mike Leigh’s Peterloo
British filmmaker Mike Leigh shot key scenes for his period film Peterloo on location at Tilbury Fort near London.
By Nick Goundry 31 Oct 2018
British filmmaker Mike Leigh shot key scenes for his period film Peterloo on location at Tilbury Fort near London.
Leigh’s film charts events leading up to the infamous Peterloo Massacre of 1819 where British government forces charged a peaceful protest of more than 60,000 people at St Peter’s Field in Manchester, causing death and injury.
Henry Woolley worked with Leigh as supervising location manager on Peterloo, building on a working relationship with the director that has included locations for Mr Turner, Another Year, Vera Drake and All or Nothing.
“We started scouting locations for Peterloo in January and began a 15-week shoot in around May,” Woolley tells KFTV.
The massacre itself was staged at Tilbury Fort, an historic structure built in the 16th century by King Henry VIII.
“Tilbury offered a controlled space for the five weeks we needed to shoot the massacre,” says Woolley in comments to KFTV. “It’s very tricky to get that level of control and we also needed a significant set build.”
Key scenes depicting early-19th century Manchester were filmed in the historic streets of Lincoln in the East Midlands, and in Chester, south-west of Manchester.
As is usually the case on a Mike Leigh production, the script was developed as the team went along, meaning a lot of flexibility was required with location selections, as with every other department.
“We worked with the city council in Lincoln,” says Woolley. “They pointed us to some of the period streets and squares.
“Filming outside London is often a fun experience. Local support can sometimes be less experienced than in the capital, but it can sometimes be a bit less cynical as well.”
See KFTV's production guide for more on filming in the UK.
Images: Simon Mein/Cornerstone Films
Henry Woolley worked with Leigh as supervising location manager on Peterloo, building on a working relationship with the director that has included locations for Mr Turner, Another Year, Vera Drake and All or Nothing.
“We started scouting locations for Peterloo in January and began a 15-week shoot in around May,” Woolley tells KFTV.
The massacre itself was staged at Tilbury Fort, an historic structure built in the 16th century by King Henry VIII.
“Tilbury offered a controlled space for the five weeks we needed to shoot the massacre,” says Woolley in comments to KFTV. “It’s very tricky to get that level of control and we also needed a significant set build.”
Key scenes depicting early-19th century Manchester were filmed in the historic streets of Lincoln in the East Midlands, and in Chester, south-west of Manchester.
As is usually the case on a Mike Leigh production, the script was developed as the team went along, meaning a lot of flexibility was required with location selections, as with every other department.
“We worked with the city council in Lincoln,” says Woolley. “They pointed us to some of the period streets and squares.
“Filming outside London is often a fun experience. Local support can sometimes be less experienced than in the capital, but it can sometimes be a bit less cynical as well.”
See KFTV's production guide for more on filming in the UK.
Images: Simon Mein/Cornerstone Films
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