RICHARD MADDEN

JANUARY 2020 – PART 2

What’s new this month?

The World Premiere of 1917 Diary – uploaded 01 January 2020

Monday 27 January 2020
RIP Hector I wasn’t going to write a blog today, but Richard’s friend Jeremy has reported that Great Dane, Hector, has passed away. I don’t believe the dog was old, maybe only five, so it must have been a shock. Richard posted a sad emoji on Jeremy’s Instagram feed following the news. Miranda, a member of the Richard Madden Appreciation group on facebook, has put together a tribute to Hector:
Sunday 26 January 2020
Richard, aka Ikaris, on set in Camden Photo courtesy of Richard-Madden.net Apologies for the lack of blogs these past few days ... but I was out on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday evenings with my friend Ruth ... in Camden!!! And did we see Richard? Yes, we had a close encounter on Wednesday with Richard and Kit Harington between scenes, because we got trapped to the side of the set, in East Yard close to Dingwalls! I don’t have photos of this as we were hoping to leave, but then we saw the guys walking towards us, having crossed the canal bridge! We were only around 3 metres away from them at one point, before they turned down the slope leading to the towpath and the Dingwalls canal-side production headquarters!!! Richard and Kit were chatting to each other during this break, alongside the canal. At one point, Kit must have said something very funny, as Richard was almost doubled-over with laughter! We waited for them to return to the set, and watched as Richard and Kit headed back across the bridge. Our final view was of Richard standing silhouetted under the lights on the far side of the canal bridge. Kit Harington was easy to spot during filming, as he wore a camouflage coat to keep himself warm between takes. Richard less so, as he was wearing a dark coloured ‘anorak-style’ coat with a fur-edged hood, between takes. Although he probably wouldn’t thank me for describing it as an anorak. LOL! We also saw Richard on Thursday, but only outside Dingwalls having a break; but we did see a scene featuring Kit, Gemma and Lia, when they encountered a deviant in the High Street, on the City-side of the bridge ... and we heard Gemma calling for Ikaris to come help them! Then, on Friday, we saw Richard ‘flying’ above the canal bridge, then having a break between scenes, and finally in the High Street, again on the City-side of the bridge, also ‘flying’!!! As you can see from the above photo, Richard wore dark trousers, ankle boots and a long coat, over a navy blue t-shirt, during the scenes. However, this coat did have ‘points of location’ on the upper-left chest area – presumably for CGI – maybe he’ll transform into super-hero Ikaris, wearing the beautiful blue costume, during the course of the scene? Filming finished at Camden Lock on Friday evening/overnight into Saturday and there are reports that the entire movie has now wrapped too; that’s despite a rumour that filming had been extended into February. These are a number of my photos, taken with my mobile phone. In a lot of instances, the action appears further away than it actually was!
Wednesday evening 22 January; the production team are filming along the towpath to the left	Thursday evening 23 January; the crumpled kebab stall prop					Thursday evening 23 January; Lia, Gemma and Kit are filming close to the damaged kebab stall
Friday 24 January; Richard is suspended from a crane above the canal bridge			Friday 24 January; Richard is suspended above the roadway, seen here interacting with the boom camera
Monday 20 January 2020
As expected, night shooting for Eternals commenced in Camden yesterday and a number of videos have appeared on twitter: https://twitter.com/i/status/1219090003868966913 https://twitter.com/i/status/1219111509995016192 https://twitter.com/i/status/1219146405652070401 I’ve found an article from 20 November 2019, relating to Citadel, which appeared in Backstage with regard to casting. The description is interesting ... as it sounds very much like writer Neil Gaiman’s Eternals premise, which appeared in his comic book novel of the same name: The spy series will follow a group of covert operatives, whose memories have been wiped, on a mission to stop an evil and malevolent force that is hell-bent on destruction. In the case of the Eternals, Sprite had wiped everyone’s mind, with Ikaris the only one who could remember their past. The deviants are the evil force in the Eternals. The original casting news states that the action will mainly take place in the UK and Canada ... if true, I will definitely welcome that!!! Anyway, I’ve set up a new page in my Filmography for Citadel news. Hopefully there will be more fan videos tomorrow, of the tonight’s Eternals film shoot in Camden ... after a cold couple of nights, it’s due to get warmer towards the end of the week.
Sunday 19 January 2020
There’s so much information, and lovely photographs to report this month that, today, I’ve started Part 2 for my January blog!!! News came through early last week, via a local resident, that Eternals was due to film in Belsize Lane in Belsize Park on Saturday 18 January (yesterday); yellow warning road signs had been placed in the area and people in Belsize Village had received letters referring to ‘Sack Lunch’ which is the working title name for Eternals. There are a number of links, on twitter, showing yesterday’s filming: https://twitter.com/i/status/1218624452407132165 https://twitter.com/i/status/1218555066057220098 https://twitter.com/i/status/1218548073846247424 https://twitter.com/i/status/1218545893084999685
Sprite, Kingo and Sersi				Sprite and Kingo with Director Chloe Zhao
Kingo, who in the comic books is a Bollywood actor, has a purple car ... the number plate is ‘Kingo’!				Dane Whitman (played by Kit Harington) is human and is reported to be an archaeologist ... and Sersi’s love interest (in the present day) too!
And these are my photos ... LOL ... my friend Ruth and I couldn’t resist going along to take a look!
				The first photo is from our first position, before we were moved because the crowd’s reflection could be seen in the laundrette window! The second is our final morning location, the actors are to the right, outside the laundrette ... on the far side of the crew. The cars are just drive-by background action. The third and final one is when my friend and I returned after dark; Sersi (Gemma Chan) and Dane (Kit Harington) are interacting with an embrace and a kiss!!! It appears that the romance rumours are true, with Ikaris being Sersi’s old flame and Dane her new love interest! Needless to say, Ikaris will always be my love interest!!!
Unofficial set photos have now filtered out, of Gemma Chan (Sersi), Kit Harington (Dane Whitman), Sprite (Lia McHugh), Kingo (Kumail Nanjiani), Brian Tyree Henry (Phastos), Angelina Jolie (Thena) and Barry Keoghan (Druig). Earlier in the week, there were reports that Richard has finished filming his role as Ikaris ... but, who knows! If so, we’ve had no sight of him whatsoever on set, either in civvies or in his beautiful blue outfit L and soon Richard will be heading back stateside, preparing for Citadel ... and we will miss him so much ... Further Eternals filming is due to take place tonight (19 January) from 23:00 to 06:00 and continue until overnight Thursday/Friday. This is the report from the local newspaper ... it’s going to dry this week, but very cold!!! Marvel film makers to close off Camden High Street 'Camden is a sought after location for filming and we use these opportunities to raise much needed revenue' 17 January, 2020 — By Samantha Booth FILM crews for a new Marvel blockbuster set to star Angelina Jolie will take over part of Camden Town for five evenings from Sunday. As the New Journal reported before Christmas, residents have received letters about filming of Sack Lunch in Camden Market and on the Regent’s Canal towpath. Sack Lunch has been reported as the working title for superhero franchise Marvel Studios’ next movie The Eternals. The cast includes Ms Jolie in the lead role of Thena and other appearances from Game of Thrones stars Richard Madden and Kit Harington as well as Kumail Nanjiani and Barry Keoghan. It follows a “group of immortal beings as they strive to protect humanity”. The letter does not detail which actors will be present during filming. Actress Gemma Chan was seen suspended in the air above Hampstead Heath last week. She is also thought to be filming for the movie. Sections of Camden High Street and Chalk Farm Road will be closed overnight between January 19 and 24 between 9pm and 6am so they can safely complete stunts, actions and special effects, the letter states. Black-out materials are being offered for anyone affected by lighting and say they will keep any disturbance to an absolute minimum. Residents and businesses were invited to a meeting at Hawley Primary School on Wednesday last week. The Town Hall said the closure and filming will be on Chalk Farm Road between the canal and the rail bridge and Camden High Street will be closed to all traffic at Hawley Crescent/Jamestown Road. Traffic will have access at Camden Town tube station but will have to exit at Buck Street or Jamestown Road. Camden’s culture chief Councillor Jonathan Simpson said: “Camden is a sought-after location for filming and we use these opportunities to raise much needed revenue to be invested back into the council’s services.” He added: “This particular filming is scheduled to take place overnight to ensure that it causes the minimum disturbance to residents and businesses in the area. There have been extensive consultations with local residents and businesses in the preceding months including letters, a community meeting and the film makers have also knocked on every door in the affected area to ensure residents and businesses are fully aware.” And, just setting the scene ... photos I also took yesterday ... we did a lot of walking, and not only in north London!
Camden Market		The Regent’s Canal towpath looking west			The Regent’s Canal towpath looking east
And, we took a trip to Archway too ... The bottom flat is the front exterior used in Bodyguard				The rear is the flat at the top of the slope ... although I’m not convinced it’s the same flat!
Sadly, despite entering the ballot for Film Bafta red carpet entry, my name didn’t get selected ... and it is ballot only this year L Okay, so it was a nightmare last year, gaining entry but, if Richard does attend, I’ll be gutted ... And finally, screenshots from 1917 (courtesy of @falamaddercriss) ... apologies if this is a spoiler, but the film has been released for over a week now ...