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The last episode of Walking Wandsworth in the present series is Ninette Finch’s film walk. I’ve known Ninette since we worked together on the film Suffragette about 4 years ago. I was new to the world of the supporting artist and Ninette had been doing it for a long time so she offered me a lot of advice about the industry from that day forward.
When I approached Ninette to be on the podcast a few weeks ago she came up with a great idea of a film walk that involved locations of productions she’s been involved with, the challenge was to find a route that could be easily walked in one go rather than having to travel a long distance to lots of different locations. Fortunately Ninette has been in enough films to make it possible to join several of them together into a walkable 4.59km route.
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Here’s Ninette at the start of our walk. The filming location for “The Flood”.
Only recently has it been possible for film companies to get permission to use the interior of the Houses of Parliament as a filming location. Ninette was there when it was opened up to the cameras for Suffragette for the first time.
We paused for a warming cup of coffee at Westminster Central Hall. I’ve not mentioned yet, that we were in the middle of ‘The Beast From the East’ when this walk was recorded.
At Parliament Square Ninette was involved with Shanghai Knights – the first movie that was permitted to film in Parliament Square and Johnny English which involved a filming technique known as ‘Crowd Duplication’. Ninette is in costume below.
The Foreign & Commonwealth Office, the location for The Good Shepherd, a Robert De Niro film – a really cold, long, night of filming. Being an extra involves a lot of hardship sometimes.
Ninette and I went down to Horse Guards. I’d never been in here. Although not part of Ninette’s walk ‘The Household Cavalry Museum’ is a must visit.
Ninette worked on a production that’s more memorable for the catering, than anything else. Ninette breakfasted at the Athenaeum Club.
Did I mention that it was a cold day? Look at the frozen Trafalgar Square fountains .
We headed up to The Garrick where Ninette was involved in a scene for Christopher Nolan’s Batman Begins.
Back to Trafalgar Square for two films Enigma and The Core. Ninette has provided the image off the bird of prey that scares off the pigeons.
Ninette in Enigma
Ninette in full costume for The Young Visitors.
looks like being an extra is so much fun. love the photos and the costumes.
I enjoyed the different images of The Ninette Finch Film Walk. Great that you could find one good location for the walk
Where I am from being a film extra is a thing. Sure it is not as stable as people think but a job none the less.
What a wonderful idea, a film walk… wow, she has been on a lot of productions, it must be really nice to be able to be her colleague and hear all her experiences. And I loved the photos of your route!
The filming location is so beautiful. London never runs out of gorgeous places. This city always leaves me open-mouthed.
I love the images and the consumes used for The walk.The locations used are all lovely.Great job you did.
I thought at first she’s the queen especially on the last photo. I think she’s so adorable.
Lovely pictures ninette. The views are awesome, but looks cold. brrrrr!
From the picture you could see she looked very happy, and that she enjoyed every role played in the locations and she looked very happy going to those locations. which simply meant she loved what she did.
What an interesting career … access to exclusive locations, donning incredible costumes, hobnobbing with celebrities. I wouldn’t mind it if I had to stand in the freezing cold for 10 minutes! A lovely sneak into the life of an extra, thanks for taking us on the walk Ninette!