Written by on Mar 5, 2014. Posted in On Location

Edge of Tomorrow director Doug Liman praises UK film industry

The director of Tom Cruise’s upcoming sci-fi movie Edge of Tomorrow has praised the UK’s production industry and London filming locations. For the project formerly known as All You Need Is Kill, Doug Liman directs Cruise as a soldier forced to repeatedly re-live his death in an alien war.

Production for Edge of Tomorrow was based at Warner Brothers Studios Leavesden in north-west London, but also involved a short but high-profile shoot in Trafalgar Square in the heart of the city.

“I've shot elsewhere in Europe and my experience has been that when you need a specialist you fly someone in from England,” Liman told the BBC at a preview screening event: “This was my first time shooting an entire movie in England and it really was an extraordinary experience. We shot the entire movie on the stages and back lot at Leavesden. The only time we left it was when we went to Trafalgar Square to land a massive military helicopter.”

Warner Brothers Studios Leavesden was home to all the Harry Potter films and was bought by Warner Brothers in 2010, after which it underwent a major refurbishment.

The UK has become one of the top production hubs in the world, with studio facilities, crew and filming incentives that are a major appeal for big-budget studio shoots. Marvel has become a regular visitor with Thor: The Dark World, Guardians of the Galaxy and now The Avengers: Age of Ultron all based in London, while the new Star Wars movie is also based in the capital.

(Main page photo: David James/Warner Bros Pictures)