Jude Law, Cameron Diaz and Kate Winslet
(Image: FilmMagic)
It’s one of our best-loved modern Christmas films.
But fans of The Holiday had a shock earlier this week when Jude Law, who stars alongside Kate Winslet, Cameron Diaz and Jack Black in the charming rom-com, admitted the idyllic country cottage at the heart of the movie is fake.
The actor starred as the handsome widower Graham, a book editor with two young daughters, in the 2006 film about a house swap between two disillusioned women: Winslet’s Iris, and a successful if neurotic American, Amanda played by Diaz.
Iris, who is a journalist, swaps “Rosehill Cottage”, a quaint stone building in Surrey, for Amanda’s LA mansion. While Amanda travels to the UK to get away from a cheating partner and find peace and quiet in the quaint country setting.
But speaking on Radio 2 last week, Law, 51, admitted to host Zoe Ball: “That cottage doesn’t exist.” He revealed that the exterior shots were filmed at a fake frontage built in a field, adding: “The director [Nancy Meyers], she’s a bit of a perfectionist? and didn’t quite find the chocolate-box cottage she was looking for, so she just drew it and had someone build it.”
All the interiors of Iris’s cosy home were shot in LA in a film studio. Law added: “I’ve just burst the bubble, sorry.”
So what film locations CAN you actually visit?
Bridgerton: Bridgerton Family Home, Greenwich, South London
Fans of Netflix’s hit Regency drama series will recognise the wisteria-covered, red brick villa that serves as the Bridgerton family’s cosmopolitan London home.
The facade belongs to Ranger’s House in Greenwich, a stunning English Heritage mansion built around 1722. It’s open to visitors but it costs nothing to enjoy its stunning and familiar exterior. Ranger’s House even has its own fascinating story of royals, and lavish entertainments during the Regency era. Augusta, Dowager Duchess of Brunswick, moved there in 1807, amid scandal surrounding her daughter, Caroline, Princess of Wales, the estranged wife of George IV, who lived next door.
(Image: Getty Images/iStockphoto)
Sherlock: Speedy’s Sandwich Bar & Café, London
This greasy spoon cafe in the heart of London enjoyed global fame appealing in nearly every episode of the BBC’s hit series, Sherlock. Despite its celebrity – producers transformed the flat above into 221B Baker street for Holes and Watson, played respectively by Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman – Speedy’s remains an utterly no-nonsense working men’s caff.
Aside from a change of door number, the cafe appears on film just as it does in real life. Fans are welcome; visit after the morning rush to grab a table and soak up the surroundings.
(Image: Daily Mirror/Ian Vogler)
Rebus: The Oxford Bar, Edinburgh
No tour of Edinburgh is complete for a crime fiction fan than the Oxford Bar, home to Sir Ian Rankin’s grizzled detective John Rebus, propping up the bar and sipping a glass of whisky or pint of IPA.
The cosy, unpretentious backstreet watering hole – a real-life favourite of the author himself – appeared in the earlier TV adaptations starring John Hannah and Ken Stott as Rebus. But more recently, it stars in the BBC’s new series, Rebus, featuring Richard Rankin (no relation) in the titular role.
(Image: BBC/Viaplay /Eleventh Hour/Graeme Hunter)
Monty Python and the Holy Grail: Doune Castle, Scotland
Even though it was filmed in 1974, more than half of TripAdvisor reviews mention the fact that the Monty Python team filmed extensively at Doune Castle, using both the exterior and interior of this striking medieval stronghold in the resulting movie – including the iconic song and dance routine, Knights of the Round Table, in the great hall (one of the best preserved in Scotland).
Originally built in the 13th century, and damaged in the Scottish Wars of Independence, Doune was rebuilt in its present form in the late 14th century with its 100-ft high gatehouse. Today owned by Historic Scotland, it’s open daily to visitors.
(Image: Mirrorpix)