A specially built boathouse has appeared here in the West Country and rumours are that a Hollywood movie star has begun filming for a new film.
The boathouse, which was spotted in the Cleveland Lakes area, near Ashton Keynes, is rumoured to be the set of the George Clooney directed film 'The Boys in the Boat'. Film crews, sets and Universal Studio vans have even been photographed at the reserve, according to Wiltshire Live.
A notice at the site reads: "The Cleveland Lakes permissive path will be subject to intermittent closures until the end of July 2022 for the purposes of filming and key infrastructure repairs."
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Back in 2020, Wiltshire Council reportedly approved a planning application for the use of land at Rixon Gate for film-making for 12 weeks. This included the erection of sets and use of hardstanding for stationing of support services and storage.
Then, on April 11 this year, local resident Sarah Harris posted to Twitter that she had spotted a new building which had appeared on her village run route "as filming of The Boys in the Boat starts soon". According to one person replying to the tweet, junior rowers were "kicked off" their rowing stretch on the Thames earlier in the year so 'Boys in the Boat' crews could film while they were in London.
George Clooney, who owns a multi-million pound mansion just over the border in Berkshire, told the Daily Mail in December 2021 that he was angling to shoot a feature film in his own backyard. He said: "The river's there, at the bottom of my garden!"
'Boys on the Boat' - where else is it being filmed and who is going to be in it?
The story of the film is based in Berlin, which surprised fans when they discovered filming was taking place in the south west, however, according to KFT, shoots are also taking place in the German capital as well as in Los Angeles. The hotly-anticipated historical drama has sent the rumour-mill in overdrive over the last two weeks, as reports have spread around production crews having been spotted in action for what is believed to be the MGM-Spyglass Media Group and Smoke House Picture's movie based on the 1936 Berlin Olympics.
The Cotswold Lake Trust, which owns the Cleveland Lake reserve, said it was not able to comment on what production crews are filming in the idyllic spot.
The story of the Daniel James Brown book follows nine young Americans and their epic quest to win rowing gold medals at the 1936 Berlin Olympics. It is a tale of the triumphant underdog of the University of Washington men’s rowing team, who stunned the world by winning gold, reports Deadline.com.
The star-studded cast includes Chris Diamantopoulos as Royal Brougham, a sports journalist along with Joel Edgerton, Callum Turner, Jack Mulhern, Sam Strike, Luke Slattery, Thomas Elms, Tom Varey, Bruce Herbelin-Earle, Wil Coban, James Wolk, Hadley Robinson and Courtney Henggeler in the Mark L. Smith-adapted feature. Clooney and Grant Heslov are producing for Smoke House, with Spyglass executive producing.
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