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The Bourne Ultimatum at Waterloo

I got the train into Waterloo this morning and as soon as I got off platform 10 I noticed that the crew from The Bourne Ultimatum were filming there today.

I saw director Paul Greengrass in discussion with actor Paddy Considine and later on noticedย Matt Damon and producer Frank Marshall. They were filming there last October so maybe they are back to do pickup shots.

What struck me was how laidback (yet professional) the whole thing was. Despite the presence of a big star and one of England’s best directors, commuters went about their business as usual without causing any fuss.

Here are some pictures:


Director Paul Greengrass in discussions with actor Paddy Consindine


Matt Damon and Paul Greengrass in discussion with producer Frank Marshall (in the centre of the picture)


The camera and some extras


Poster informing commuters that filming is happening today


Some of the crew by the monitors


Some boxes and lights


Matt Damon (in the centre of the picture about an inch right of the “sale” sign)

The film is the third Bourne film (after 2002’s The Bourne Identity and 2004’s The Bourne Supremacy) and is scheduled for release later this year on August 3rd.

> Find out more about the film at Wikipedia
> IMDb entry for The Bourne Ultimatum
> Check out a set photos over at Flickr

7 replies on “The Bourne Ultimatum at Waterloo”

Interesting! I have always presumed that stations get completely shut down for a couple of hours when filming like this is going on. I guess I imagined that a ‘fault’ would be advertised or something to keep everything secretive and behind closed doors! Yet, in your picture from October, you’re walking right by the main stars!

To shut a UK station like Waterloo down in the middle of a weekday would be unfeasible – financially and logistically.

The picture from October wasn’t mine (it was from someone else’s Flickr account) and was from the first scenes they shot there. However, today I was surprised how smoothly things seemed to be running. There were police and crew members around but no one seemed to be hassling the actors or director.

A lot of people seemed to be fairly oblivious to the fact that a major Hollywood production was being filmed in front of them. But then I guess most people at a railway station are in a rush to get somewhere.

I was also at the station that day – they were also filming around the Millenium Wheel, which I gues will be some spectacular scene. The fact that the film crew could work without closing the station is a compliment to British calm – no-one wanted to get in the way, and no-one minded the crew being there: imagine doing that at Grand Central Station! And the film crew really did not interrupt the working of the station in the slightest.

From past experience with film production, I believe the smoothness of this particular production is due in large part a Mr. Pete Sandberg who, if memory serves me well, excels in ensuring as seamless an integration of field production as possible.

I just saw a clip of the film on Sky – the scene in waterloo has me standing in the background – but I can’t remember being there! Reckon I can ask for royalties?!

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