Top 10 Actors To Have Filmed on The Isle of Man
29 June 2015
Since the Isle of Man first began attracting a serious number of movie crews to its shores in the mid-nineties, some massive names have filmed here. So many, in fact, it would be entirely possible to make a top 50 list. But we're in the business of producing top 10s so, in no particular order, here are our choices for the biggest names to have filmed in the Isle of Man:
1) Daniel Craig Best known worldwide for his acclaimed turn as 007, the incumbent James Bond once filmed a little known dark Irish drama called Love and Rage in Glen Vine and Laxey. Filming took place between November 1997 and January 1998 and also featured Greta Scacchi.
2) Alec Baldwin Undoubtedly the most famous of the Baldwin brothers, particularly since his turn as Jack Donaghy in celebrated US sitcom 30 Rock, Alec played the Fat Controller in the live action version of Thomas and the Magic Railroad. He was joined by Peter Fonda for the filming, which took place during the summer of 1999 in St John's.
3) Julie Andrews Julie Andrews was part of a stellar cast when she filmed Relative Values at The Nunnery from July to September 1999. The comedy, based on the Noel Coward play which played on the post-World War Two class system, also starred William Baldwin, Stephen Fry, Colin Firth (who could just as easily have taken Andrews' place on this list), Stephanie Beacham, Sophie Thompson and Jeanne Tripplehorn.
4) Kathleen Turner Screen legend Kathleen Turner found herself filming Cinderella at Laxey Studios in 1999. The woman who starred alongside Michael Douglas and Danny DeVito in a series of classic 80s films including The War of the Roses, played the wicked stepmother in a nineties reworking of the classic fairytale. Cinderella also filmed at Peel Castle, Cregneash and Castle Rushen.
5) Christian Slater Former teen heart-throb Christian Slater took on the role of an actor playing Winston Churchill in Churchill, The Hollywood Years, a comedy film about Hollywood's take on the great man's story. Filming took place in Jurby, Peel, Castletown and Douglas in 2003.
6) Johnny Depp Johnny Depp's arrival in April 2004 to film The Libertine at Island Studios caused a stir but there were very few, if any, local sightings of the man who came to the island fresh from his first outing as Captain Jack Sparrow. The film's other stars, Samantha Morton, John Malkovich and comedian Johnny Vegas, were a little more visible, with Morton and Malkovich even attending a charity gig, starring Vegas, at The Venue nightclub.
7) Patrick Swayze Dirty Dancing legend Patrick Swayze swapped the dancefloor for the golf course when he played the smooth golf professional who caught Kristen Scott Thomas's eye in comedy Keeping Mum. The late actor filmed at Braddan, Douglas, Foxdale and St John's during his stay, alongside Rowan Atkinson and Dame Maggie Smith.
8) Jude Law Brit star Jude Law played the title role in 2012's Dom Hemingway. The film, about a larger-than-life safecracker with a loose fuse, also starred Richard E Grant and was filmed at Island Studios. It gave a decent performance at the box office.
9) Renee Zellweger joined forces with Ewan McGregor to make Miss Potter in the Isle of Man, in March 2006. Douglas and Foxdale were the locations this time for a film which looked at the personal life of the great children's author Beatrix Potter.
10) Ewan McGregor joined forces with Renee Zellweger to make Miss Potter in the Isle of Man, in March 2006. Douglas and Foxdale were the locations this time for a film which looked at the personal life of the great children's author Beatrix Potter.