All the way from Queens, New York, Spider-Man returns to our screens and this time he has been spinning his webs throughout Europe in Spider-Man™: Far From Home and everyone at The Film Office was delighted to help make the production’s London leg happen in Newham! Following the events of Avengers: Endgame, in Spider-Man: Far From Home Spider-Man must step up to take on new threats in a world that has changed forever.
The production filmed in multiple locations across the borough. Involving more than a month of prep at one of our fantastic derelict private locations, Millennium Mills, the production filmed a high variety of action scenes, constructing sets within the building’s structure. The scene in the film followed Spider-Man travelling to Berlin for a chat with Mysterio in the Mills which created the backdrop for a high-tech fighting scene. Millennium Mills offers a post-industrial factory setting with waterways to the North and the East. Once a flour mill, it has now been stripped back and is a mix of bare concrete walls, floors and pillars, decaying architecture, broken windows, wide open-plan floors, original spiral flour slides, intriguing pieces of machinery, unusual factory remnants and a unique variety of spaces.
In addition to the Mills, other locations Spider-Man: Far from Home used in the summer of 2018 included Raines Foundation School, where the production dressed the empty school as an office for scenes with Spider Man’s Aunt’s workplace. York Hall, where the production created a presentation evening set in America, with Spider-Man meeting his fans. Plus tunnels located under the streets and buildings of Wapping where they created an underground lair.
Below: Spider-Man helps save London with the last showdown at Tower Bridge.
After the filming finished at Millennium Mills and thanks to both David Pinnington the lead Location Manager on the job and our local connections, we were able to organise a guest lecture at University of East London (UEL) – one of our fantastic film locations. David spoke for an hour talking to prospective students at the University about the challenges a Location Manager faces when filming a major production in such a busy city as London.
Emily, the Film Officer on the job commented, “It was great for the students at UEL to understand Location Management as a career. David spoke about starting his work within the industry and his great achievements over the years. It was spectacular to see a worldwide, franchise movie shoot such major scenes at locations across areas we manage. To see Newham and Millennium Mills double as Berlin, shows the diversity of sites we can offer at The Film Office for film productions visiting London. Call us to find out how we can help you!”
Spider-Man: Far From Home was directed by Jon Watts. Written by Chris McKenna & Erik Sommers. Based on the MARVEL Comic Book by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko. Produced by Kevin Feige and Amy Pascal. Louis D’Esposito, Victoria Alonso, Thomas M. Hammel, Eric Hauserman Carroll, Rachel O’Connor, Stan Lee, Avi Arad and Matt Tolmach serve as executive producers. The film stars Tom Holland, Samuel L. Jackson, Zendaya, Cobie Smulders, Jon Favreau, JB Smoove, Jacob Batalon, Martin Starr, with Marisa Tomei and Jake Gyllenhaal.
