Beyond Friendship

Liverpool Doubles as 1940's New York for Blockbuster

Feature filmmakers have yet again chosen world heritage status city Liverpool as a location double for New York.

'Beyond Friendship', which stars American Actress Winona Ryder is due to be partly shot in the city (Thursday 4th to 7th August) at the location of Brunswick St and Fenwick St, the setting used by the makers of the 2004 hit 'Alfie' (Starring Jude Law).

Filmmakers have been in talks with Liverpool City Council's Film Office (managed by North West Vision) to find an area that could most resemble 1940's New York. The production team were certain Liverpool could work for their production after seeing the how the city was transformed for Alfie.

Liverpool has a long tradition of being used a double for features, not least as New York and in recent years has doubled for many international cities including London, Prague, Vienna and Moscow.

Alice Morrison, Chief Executive of North West Vision, said:

"Liverpool has a great filming history and has been used for countless feature films and TV productions. This can be attributed to the film friendly local authorities, diverse range of filming locations and talented crew and facilities. Why go to New York when you have got Liverpool?"

Councillor Warren Bradley, Executive member for leisure and culture, said:

"This is a real coup for Liverpool and further evidence that the city has the locations and facilities that film makers want. We now have an unrivalled reputation as a place, which can handle any scale of production. The film economy is worth millions of pounds per year to Merseyside and helps sustain hundreds of jobs ranging from editors to caterers."

Pier Head in Liverpool will also be used as a location for the four-day shoot being made by Films 18 Limited. The filming in Liverpool follows an extensive shoot in Rhodes, Greece.

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For further editorial information contact Lisa Hill or Rachael Pilsbury at North West Vision on 0161 835 6266/ 07734193742 or email lisah@northwestvision.co.uk or rachaelp@northwestvision.co.uk