icture the scene.
It’s a wet Tuesday
afternoon in what
appears to be 17th-
century Paris.
Rainwater steams
from the uneven
cobblestone floor,
the scattering
of straw and
freshly laid horse
dung underfoot
becoming increasingly gloopy in the downpour. Timber-
framed houses line the narrow street. A scruffily attired
peasant scurries past, ignoring a bucket of sharp-
looking duelling swords that sits on the ground, while a
young, handsomely coiffured man leans against a pillar.
We are, of course, standing on a film set. Tap one
half of the street and it rings hollow, a fibreglass mirage
grafted onto the walls of an old monastery. Viewers of
the raucous Brit teen drama
Skins
may also recognise
the long-haired actor as Luke Pasqualino, AKA Freddie.
With a pistol and sword hanging from his belt, a leather
jerkin stretched across his chest, there’s no hint of the
laid-back schoolboy the 23-year-old is known for
playing. Then again, after this big-budget TV show airs in
the UK later this month, it may be impossible not to think
of him as D’Artagnan. The BBC has been here filming its
adaptation of Alexandre Dumas’s classic 1844 novel,
The
Three Musketeers
, for the past year and for most of those in
the production, this elaborate setting has been the norm.
But as to where ‘here’ actually is… Well, it’s not Paris
– but then, that part is obvious. Nor is it Bucharest,
Bratislava or Sophia: those cities that have, in recent
times, become popular as film locations. This is Prague.
A lot of people don’t realise it, but if you’ve watched
a movie in the past two decades, it’s likely that you’ve
already seen the Czech capital standing in for Paris,
London, Budapest, Moscow or a hatful of other places.
From
Mission: Impossible
to
The Bourne Identity
and
Casino Royale
, some of the most successful franchises
in Hollywood’s history were shot here during the
noughties. Then, as quickly as it started, the gravy train
departed and, four years ago, you’d have been hard
pushed to find an international film crew here at all.
Now it seems the circus is back in town. For the
producers of
The Musketeers
, the appeal was simple: the
architecture. Few cities can rival Prague’s portfolio of
01
0 6 4
