Pinewood gets green light to double in size

Pinewood Studios is well known as the film studio most associated with 007. Most of the Bond movies have filmed on the soundstages at Pinewood starting with Dr No in 1962.

Although the producers have sometimes used other studios for reasons of budget, such as Moonraker, which except for special effects work was filmed in France and Casino Royale, partly filmed using studios in the Czech Republic, and for tax reasons, such as Licence To Kill, filmed in Mexico, the Bond films have always returned to their UK base at Pinewood.

Pinewood is also home to the Albert R Broccoli 007 Stage, originally built for The Spy Who Loved Me and rebuilt twice after major fires, the last of which was a the end of filming of Casino Royale. and with highly rated facilities is much used by major international productions, such as Star Wars VII, which is currently filming there now.

However, such is the demand for the studio that it is operating at capacity and has been eager to expand to allow it to take on more film work. To date such expansion has been blocked by the local council as the plan would see the studio built on protected Green Belt land.

However, yesterday those objections were overturned and Communities Secretary, Eric Pickles, approved the £200m proposals. Pinewood had argued that the plans are essential for the British film industry as without them it would see big budget productions go to overseas studios instead.

The local council is said to be considering its options.

Source: Telegraph

 

 

David Leigh founded The James Bond Dossier in 2002. A fan of 007 since the age of 8, he is also author of The Complete Guide to the Drinks of James Bond. You can order a copy here if you don't own it already.

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