Council officials in Waltham Forest pulled the plug on a Nicolas Cage movie due to film in the borough, over a row about Nazi flags.
Operation Fortitude – a Second World War military deception drama starring Nicolas Cage as Serbian double-agent Dusko Popov, alongside Sir Ben Kingsley, Alice Eve and Matthew Goode – was due to film in Waltham Forest Town Hall in September last year.
The venue, which built between 1937 and 1942, was chosen by the production company due to its stripped classicism architectural style, which was popular with the Nazi regime.
However filming was abruptly cancelled when the council learnt of plans to drape the municipal building in Nazi flags.
Commenting on the debacle, a council spokesperson explained: “In August we were approached by the Fortitude production team to use the Town Hall as a shooting location, depicting a Second World War German intelligence HQ.
"The proposal was agreed with several conditions, including that they consulted with nearby residents and that Nazi-era flags and symbols were not publicly visible.
“We were very disappointed when the shoot was abruptly brought forward from October to September 15, preventing the level of consultation previously discussed, and letters were sent to the community by the location team stating explicitly that Nazi symbols would be highly visible during the shoot.
"Because of these significant changes that did not honour our agreed conditions, and given the high level of sensitivity to far-right iconography, we felt we had no other choice than to refuse permission.”
Filming eventually went ahead at venues in Greenwich and Luton. The Times reported that an unverified post featured a sign said to have been put up by producers in Greenwich telling members of the public: “We understand that there may be some sensitive imagery; however, we hope to keep the film as historically accurate as possible.”
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