Croydon will take a starring role on the big screen this week when a blockbuster action movie starring Kevin Costner and Tommy Lee Jones is finally released.
Directed by Ariel Vromen, Criminal stars Ryan Reynolds (Deadpool) as a CIA agent whose memories and skills are implanted into Costner’s unpredictable and dangerous death-row inmate in a last-ditch effort to stop an international terrorist plot.
Jones, Reynolds and Costner are part of an all-star cast that includes Oscar-nominated New Cross actor Gary Oldman and Wonder Woman star Gal Gadot.
Croydon was used extensively throughout the shoot.]
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Croydon College was used for scenes where Costner’s character, the CIA, Russian Mafia and MI5 arrive.
It was also host to a fugitive hide-out and CIA headquarters.
A shoot-out was filmed in College Road, George Street and Dingwall Road with Costner’s character escaping in an ambulance.
FilmFixer, which runs the council’s film office, had to seek approval from the CAA and Scotland Yard for the scenes.
Two-time Oscar winner Costner also filmed scenes walking down Croydon High Street and enters a pawnbroker’s shop, which in real life is actually High Street Radio.
A nighttime scene was shot in Park Lane underpass and Smith’s Yard.
Some street scenes were also shot in King’s Road, Kingston. We took this video of a security guard trying to prevent filming of the shoot.
As well as managing the production on behalf of the council, FilmFixer encouraged the production team to offer work experience to local students.
Croydon High School student Amy Jones, 17, was given one such opportunity.
She said: ““I was put in touch with FilmFixer when I said I was interested in seeing what happens on a film set. I’m hoping to go in to the film industry when I finish studying.
“Criminal was filming near Croydon College Fairfield carpark at the time, and the film officers arranged for me to go along and shadow the runners.
“Kevin Costner and Gary Oldman were in the scenes. For me it was very exciting of course. You don’t think of them as real people – it’s almost a surprise to find they are man-sized.
“But they were busy getting on with acting. If I’d just walked in I wouldn’t have recognised them necessarily, their acting looks so natural.”
Amy also enjoyed seeing, “somewhere so familiar converted into something so different”.
“It’s exciting for Croydon to have this creative stuff going on,” she said.
“We love filming here. Attracting all these A-listers is good for our self-perception.”
Criminal (15) is out Friday, April 15.
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