Not one but two films featuring Great Yarmouth hit the big screen this year.
A number of scenes for wrestling film ‘Fighting with My Family’, which features a cameo role by The Rock, as well as The Beatles-inspired movie ‘Yesterday’, directed by Danny Boyle and written by Richard Curtis, were filmed over the last two years in the seaside town.
The trailers for both films have been released.
‘Fighting with my Family’, based on a Channel 4 documentary, is about the Knights, a wrestling family from Norwich who are famous in the USA.
It depicts the career of a professional wrestler Paige who grew up in a family of professional wrestlers.
Some scenes for the movie were shot on the Great Yarmouth seafront in 2017.
One involves the Knight family loading parts of a wrestling ring into the back of their van following a wrestling show.
Caesar’s, the amusement centre on Marine Parade, will be featured as the front of the wrestling venue.
Another scene, shot outside Caesar’s, is of the lead actress storming out of a small entrance next to the arcade, which in the film stands in as the backstage exit to a sold out wrestling show.
The American Diner, also on Marine Parade, doubles as a restaurant in Los Angeles.
The film crew did an evening crane shot panning the length of the Golden Mile, showing the seafront attractions all lit up.
And last year scenes for ‘Yesterday’ were shot on Gorleston beach, where over 5,000 extras sang along to some of the Fab Four’s greatest songs.
Cllr Barry Coleman, chairman of Great Yarmouth borough council’s economic development committee, said: ““We are really pleased that the Great Yarmouth borough will be appearing in two feature films due for release this year, including the Danny Boyle and Richard Curtis film starring Gorleston seafront in key scenes. In both cases, our officers worked very closely with the production teams and partners to facilitate filming and ensure that our borough is showcased in these films.
“The council are actively promoting the borough as a location for film-making to help promote our national cultural profile and to support the local economy. Apart from the money that visiting film crews bring to the area, there is an entire tourism economy based around locations that have appeared in films.
“We are really pleased to see that Gorleston appears in the trailer for Yesterday and we look forward to seeing Gorleston’s golden sands on the silver screen later in the year.”
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