Hollywood stars in North East for farming thriller
BBC
An actor who starred in the Jurassic World franchise has said “it’s been cool to get out of London” as she films a feature length film set entirely in north-east England.
Newcastle production company House 54 has been shooting MacDonald on locations in County Durham and Northumberland.
Directed, produced and the rural thriller focuses on a family of farmers under vast economic pressure who will do anything to survive
Isabella Sermon, who plays the role of Marlene, said: “I’m loving it, we’ve been filming on lots of farms and one night we watched the sun set over the fields – it was stunning, it’s really beautiful up here.”
Sermon played Maisie Lockwood in Jurassic World: Dominion and Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom.
“My great-great grandad was from around here so it’s quite nice to be up in the North East – and it’s cool to get out of London,” she said.
The independent film has attracted an experienced cast of actors including Jonas Armstrong (Robin Hood and Edge of Tomorrow), Nick Moran (Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels) and Bill Fellows (Ted Lasso).
The crew has been worked alongside local farmers to bring the vision of the film to life.
Vaughan said: “I don’t want to give to much away about the plot but I’ve always wanted to film up here and learning the pressures that land on the farming industry, I thought it would make the correct backdrop for a pressure cooker of a thriller.”
The film marks his directorial debut.
“I’m a cinematographer and all my work tends to drag me down south but as I’m directing, I wanted to film this on home soil.”
The film industry in the North East has been growing in the past few years, attracting productions such as 28 Years Later and Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny.
About 80% of the cast and crew of MacDonald live in the North East.
Statistics from regional screen agency North East Screen show more than 1,400 jobs have been created by film productions since 2022.
The money spent on productions has also increased in the past four years since the inception of the North East Production Fund, backed jointly by £3.6m from the North East Combined Authority and Tees Valley Combined Authority.
First assistant director Alex Challies is from Darlington and it is his first time working on a full feature film.
“We want this to be a film of real quality, the fact that it’s made in the North East by North East people is just a cherry on top.
“We want to be on the world stage not just a local one.”
Camera crew member Katy Jenkins, from Durham, said she was “very happy” to be at home during the shoot as she regularly has to leave the area to find work.
“This is a great project but you do have to move to find work in the industry, I’d love to stay up here forever but there aren’t enough jobs at the minute – but I hope that changes,” she said.
MacDonald will be filmed over the course of a month around various locations in Northumberland and County Durham, including Hexham and Barnard Castle, before it enters the post-production phase.
As an independent film, it has not yet been commissioned but Vaughan has high hopes for the project.
“We’ve already had interest in it from some of our partners but we want to make the best product then we’ll send it off to some film festivals and let’s see what happens,” he said.
