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W hen Vaclav M and Milos Havel, the
father and uncle of Czech president Vaclav Havel built the Barrandov Studios on the southern out-
skirts of Prague in 1931 they never thought it would become the new mil- lennium’s film capital of Europe.
The two entrepreneurs had been to visit the Hollywood studios in the late twenties and were so enthusiastic they came home and built Barrandov.
Hardly had the Czech New Wave begun (film production has been going in Prague since 1898 and they had a flourishing silent film era) and Prague became the film capital of
Europe than the Nazis appropriated the studios in 1939.
Within months of liberation the busi- ness was nationalised and then confis- cated by the Communists who churned out countless propaganda films. It is now owned by Moravian Steel and prop- aganda is firmly off the menu.
You are more likely to catch a glimpse of a Whiskas or a Heineken commercial (or the new snowboard- ing Nescafe ad shot on Fuji) or a take from a new big budget feature starring Sean Connery (The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, current- ly being shot there) or Edward Burns (Peter Hyams’ A Sound of Thunder) than a Czech film, such as the Oscar winning Kolya.
But it was not until 1984, when expatriate director Milos Forman famously returned home to make Amadeus, that Barrandov came back to our screens.
Now, with its massive back lot, seven sound stages (with three more being built), 540 sq metre water tank, top grids and power, labs, every possi- ble production facility and hangars full of props and costumes, it is the place where UK and US productions are coming for cinematic expertise, infra- structure and the best stages in Central Europe.
In the last couple of years you could have bumped into Bruce Willis (Hart’s War), Tom Cruise (Mission Impossible II), Matt Damon (The Bourne
Identity), Johnny Depp (From Hell), Heath Ledger (A Knight’s Tale), Vin Diesel (XXX) or Jackie Chan and Owen Wilson in the Shanghai Noon sequel Shanghai Knights. Not to mention Anthony Hopkins trading gags with his American co-star Chris Rock for the espionage comedy Bad Company.
BBC serialisations Oliver Twist and The Scarlet Pimpernel were shot at Barrandov. Right now, Granada’s Dr Zhivago, adapted for television by Andrew Davies and starring Sam Neill with Keira Knightley and Hans Matheson in the Julie Christie/Omar Sharif roles, is rolling.
“With extras costing only thirty US dollars a day and construction costs being considerably cheaper, it makes
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Marianne Gray casts her eye over versatile
Photos from left: stills from Amadeus, Bad Company with Anthony Hopkins, From Hell, The Bourne Identity, Hart’s War and a selection of services and facilities available at the versatile Barrandov Studios