American Assassin, starring Michael Keaton and Dylan O’Brien, is now on general release at cinemas, and Croydon locations feature in this big-budget production
Glimpses of the scenes filmed in Croydon can be seen in this trailer.
The whole of St George’s Walk, including every single shop, was bought up for a week, and transformed into an Istanbul quarter, with elaborate sets and some 200 Turkish-speaking extras.
FilmFixer is the firm that works for the council to organise film-shoots in the borough. Its director, Andrew Pavord, said, “For the duration, St George’s Walk was transformed into shisha shops and Turkish restaurants, populated by 200 Turkish speakers, all in costume, serving real food and smoking real pipes. The smells and sounds were completely authentic.
“We were happy that Croydon was able to meet this extensive location brief. And we’re even more happy that the production brought in five film students, all but one from Croydon College, for a week of work experience.”
One of the five placements was Amy Jones, who’s already managed to land local work experience in the past on the set of Kevin Costner’s Criminal in 2014.
That time she introduced herself to the location manager herself whilst she was working in a Croydon café, after which she was offered a place on the crew.
For American Assassin, Amy was able to build on the experience of two years’ before and this time take on some more responsibility.
“I really hope that because this is a big scale set and I’ve been doing lots of different things, it will show just what I’m capable of and help me get work in the business when I finish my course,” she said.
“It’s really amazing to work here, in a place I know so well as a Croydon backstreet, which on-screen looks exactly like bustling Istanbul. It feels like a whole village has been built in the middle of my hometown.”
Amy Jones talks about her experience from the Croydon set of American Assassin here.
