Written by Tom Deehan on Sep 26, 2017. Posted in On Location / Production News

Kingsman: The Golden Circle doubled Birmingham for London in an electrifying car chase

The opening scene for Matthew Vaughn's, Kingsman: The Secret Circle, uses a combination of London and Birmingham based locations to depict a death-defying car chase set on the streets of the UK capital.

Sindy Campbell, Manager of Film Birmingham details: “the production was based in Birmingham City Centre, shooting on Waterloo Street (pictured below), Cornwall Street and Margaret Street. These were night shoots, with the taxi being chased by three golden Jaguar 4x4s with mini-guns on the top. We closed the city centre down for the shoot, running from around 7pm to 7am the following day. The consultation was immense as a result, parking needed to be suspended and opened up elsewhere to maintain an operational environment. Some of the residents living in the city centre were given the option to stay in a hotel while the filming was happening as the noise levels might have proved to be a problem for some."

"We worked closely with the West Midlands police due to the nature of the scenes involved. Notifications needed to be set up for people coming to New Street Station. The terrorist alert had been heightened at the time and so we wanted to make sure that anyone who could hear the shots were well informed ahead of time. The project filmed over a course of four nights and operated with around 350 members of cast and crew."

Location manager Vinnie Jassal, who handled the London portion of the shoot adds: “organising the filming on Southwark Street was a complex process that involved liaising with many stakeholders. We found that conversations with organisations, buildings, businesses and residents were very productive from start to finish. Having the integral support of Transport for London, The Met Film Police Unit and FilmFixer was essential for the production, allowing us to film all the sequences planned with the minimum of fuss.”

During the shoot on London's Southwark Street and Lavington Street, FilmFixer were on hand to provide assistance alongside 150 members of cast and crew.

With a modern infrastructure and lower costs for filming permits, Birmingham is a popular alternative to shooting on location in London. The production industry will soon have another reason to flock to Birmingham, with the introduction of the GBP2.1 million West Midlands Film Fund.

Kingsman was able to tap into the UK’s tax rebate programme for filming. Feature films that spend at least 10% of their budget within the country can receive a lucrative 25% tax rebate to offset production costs.

Film Birmingham and other film offices from around the UK will be attending FOCUS - the meeting place for international production in December. Click here to register your attendance.