Image may contain: Meal, Food, Face, Human, Person

Dame Helen Mirren is filming in Hyde Park for her new movie

Wonder if she’s had a bev in RPP yet


Academy Award winning actress and overall legend Helen Mirren has started filming 'The Duke' at Hyde Park Picture House and other venues in and around Leeds.

The British icon took to Instagram to show her love for the city with a series of photos in the iconic Hyde Park Picture House:

The film had previously been filming in Bradford before moving to Leeds this week.

The film is believed to follow the real-life story of taxi driver turned art thief Kempton Bunton; the only person to ever successfully steal artwork from The National Gallery. Dame Mirren is playing Bunton's wife, with Bunton himself being played by Oscar-winner and fellow British cinema icon Jim Broadbent.

She gave followers a behind the scenes look at the Hyde Park cinema – which uses old projectors and reel-changes to show films – on her Instagram:

Hyde Park Picture House is Britain's only gas-lit cinema and is now recognised as a Grade II listed building having been built in 1914.

Filming is now believed to have moved to Beeston, in the south of the city. According to a Beeston resident: "They've cornered off a whole estate for filming," and have made "several fake shops – a grocery store, post office, a bookies." In keeping with the 1961 setting, the crew have installed red phone boxes and are using an old fashioned bus.

Outside of filming, the British actress has visited other areas within the city, including a historical cemetery in St. George's Field. The actress paid tribute to Leeds' industrial heritage upon visiting the cemetery:

'The Duke', which also stars Black Mirror and Dunkirk actor Fionn Whitehead, is expected to be released later this year.

If you're out and about in Leeds soon, keep an eye out for the star of the silver screen gracing the streets with her presence.