When your next-door neighbours live in some of the most recognisable buildings in Britain, you can expect to get lots of attention from movie-makers.
The Green Park, on the doorstep of Buckingham Palace, featured in the live action version of 101 Dalmatians (1996), starring Glenn Close, Jeff Daniels and Joely Richardson. (See also St James's Park) It was also a setting for The Mother (2003), Roger Mitchell's story about a widow (Anne Reid) who has a passionate affair in London with her daughter's boyfriend (Daniel Craig). See also Hyde Park.
Buckingham Palace also had a part in Michael Winner's The Jokers (1967). Oliver Reed and Michael Crawford as the Tremayne brothers plan a series of publicity stunts, including one at the Palace (see also Kensington Gardens). And the Palace is mistaken for the YWCA in The Knack ...And How to Get It (1965), by a tourist new to London (Rita Tushingham).
Another favourite location is one of The Green Park's other well-known neighbours, Lancaster House. The government conference centre on the Mall is the home of Mrs Bracknell (Judi Dench) in the Oliver Parker adaptation of Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest (2002). It also stood in for the Tsar's St Petersburg Winter Palace in Reds (1981), the true story of two radical Americans in the Russian Revolution, starring Warren Beatty and Diane Keaton. The inside of Lancaster House was used in The Golden Bowl (2000), starring Angelica Huston and Uma Thurman (see also St James's Park).
On the north side of The Green Park, another famous building has had its fair share of movie attention. The Ritz Hotel on Piccadilly was the setting for the press interviews in Notting Hill (1999). William (Hugh Grant) pretends to be a journalist from Horse and Hound to interview movie star, Anna Scott (Julia Roberts) who is promoting her latest film. The hotel also features in Neil Jordan's Mona Lisa (1986). Bob Hoskins won a Best Actor BAFTA for his role as George, a driver who takes the high-class call girl, Simone (Cathy Tyson) for an appointment at the hotel.
