Venice has been a major attraction for film-makers for decades — and it’s not hard to see why
Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One in cinemas nationwide now
Ed Grenby - 21 July 2023
Your mission, should you choose to accept it… involves Leighton Buzzard.
Not words you expect Tom Cruise’s Ethan Hunt to hear from his shadowy pals in the latest Mission: Impossible outing – and yet the Bedfordshire market town is indeed one of the filming locations for the seventh M:I movie. Also getting screen time are the streets of Rome, the rolling dunes of Abu Dhabi, the dramatic valleys of the More og Romsdal region of Norway, and a few other bits of Britain (from the Peak District to Birmingham’s Bullring shopping centre). But there’s no question over which location gets the starring role: Venice glows on screen. Hardly a surprise, since the elegant Italian beauty is an industry veteran. Here’s a handful of its previous appearances on celluloid – and how holiday-makers can enjoy its unique, scene-stealing, half-submerged cityscape.
DON’T LOOK NOW 1973
A psychological horror movie where the city’s labyrinthine lanes, canals and bridges create a mood of claustrophobic dread – and it makes you want to visit? Yes, Nicolas Roeg’s classic somehow also showcases Venice’s age-worn beauty – through the unsettling tale of Donald Sutherland and Julie Christie and what may or may not be the spirit of their recently deceased daughter. The couple’s hotel suite was in the Bauer, arguably Venice’s finest hotel, but that’s closed for refurbishment until 2025, so content yourself with Hotel Gabrielli, which stood in for exterior shots – and, of course, San Nicolò dei Mendicoli, the church that Sutherland is restoring in the film, and a location for one of its alarming moments…
CASINO ROYALE 2006
In a Bond film crammed with memorable moments – Daniel Craig’s visceral pre-title sequence fight in a toilet, his torture at the hands of Mads Mikkelsen, his betrayal by Eva Green – perhaps the most striking is the climactic sequence where he sinks an To receive emails with our latest news and offers, visit radiotimes.com/email entire Venetian palazzo by shooting out the airtanks keeping it afloat in the lagoon. That scene was actually shot in a huge water tank at Pinewood Studios, but the film’s list of location shooting sites reads like a greatest hits of Venice’s honeypot sites: the Rialto Bridge and Ponte dell’Accademia spanning the Grand Canal; the Gallerie dell’Accademia itself; Campo San Barnaba’s magnificent church; the Giudecca and its canal, floating serenely off the city’s southern side; and, of course, the splendid St Mark’s Square.
SUMMERTIME 1955
David Lean’s masterpiece is a classic of that genre (Rome-mances?) in which a cynic/ dreamer/singleton travels to one of Europe’s lovelier corners and falls in love with both a stranger and the destination itself. Here it’s Katherine Hepburn as a secretary escaping the mundanity of life back home in Ohio and swooning for Renato (Rossano Brazzi) – but, as ever, her (and the camera’s) infatuation with the city itself lasts longer than the love affair. Unusually, the film strays beyond the classic locations with visits to the islands of Murano and Burano (both beautiful spots to avoid the worst of Venice’s peak-season crowds today).
THE COMFORT OF STRANGERS 1990
What would be exploitative schlock in other hands is elevated by the class acts involved – Ian McEwan wrote the source novel, Harold Pinter the screenplay; while Christopher Walken, Rupert Everett, Natasha Richardson and Helen Mirren make up the cast – but it’s the Venetian setting that gives this borderline-sordid tale its seductive elegance. (Can you imagine a film about a young couple drawn into an older one’s murderously sadomasochistic sex life set among the canals of, say, Manchester?) Featured locations include the Hotel Gabrielli (yes, as in Don’t Look Now) and the Palazzo Loredan dell’Ambasciatore. The latter, a 15th-century Gothic palace, is one of the oldest buildings in Venice – and has several grand apartments available to rent (vovcollection.com/palazzo-loredan-dellambasciatore).
SPIDER-MAN: FAR FROM HOME 2019
In this 2019 addition to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, La Serenissima upstages both Prague and London – all three feature as destinations on Peter Parker’s high-school tour of “Y’rp” (Europe) – and the city bewitched the film-makers, too. Director of photography Matthew J Lloyd fell for what he called “the bright, pastel feel, where the light comes through and hits a building. It bathes people in this warm, sandy light.” In the film, Spider-Man battles something called a Water Elemental, which inevitably knocks chunks out of such notable sights as the Rialto, St Mark’s Square, the Grand Canal, the icing-sugar-look church of Santa Maria Formosa, Ponte de L’Arsenal and the tiny Leonardo da Vinci Museum. (But don’t worry; they’re all still there and intact in real life.)
Your mission, should you choose to accept it… involves Leighton Buzzard.
Not words you expect Tom Cruise’s Ethan Hunt to hear from his shadowy pals in the latest Mission: Impossible outing – and yet the Bedfordshire market town is indeed one of the filming locations for the seventh M:I movie. Also getting screen time are the streets of Rome, the rolling dunes of Abu Dhabi, the dramatic valleys of the More og Romsdal region of Norway, and a few other bits of Britain (from the Peak District to Birmingham’s Bullring shopping centre). But there’s no question over which location gets the starring role: Venice glows on screen. Hardly a surprise, since the elegant Italian beauty is an industry veteran. Here’s a handful of its previous appearances on celluloid – and how holiday-makers can enjoy its unique, scene-stealing, half-submerged cityscape.
DON’T LOOK NOW 1973
A psychological horror movie where the city’s labyrinthine lanes, canals and bridges create a mood of claustrophobic dread – and it makes you want to visit? Yes, Nicolas Roeg’s classic somehow also showcases Venice’s age-worn beauty – through the unsettling tale of Donald Sutherland and Julie Christie and what may or may not be the spirit of their recently deceased daughter. The couple’s hotel suite was in the Bauer, arguably Venice’s finest hotel, but that’s closed for refurbishment until 2025, so content yourself with Hotel Gabrielli, which stood in for exterior shots – and, of course, San Nicolò dei Mendicoli, the church that Sutherland is restoring in the film, and a location for one of its alarming moments…
CASINO ROYALE 2006
In a Bond film crammed with memorable moments – Daniel Craig’s visceral pre-title sequence fight in a toilet, his torture at the hands of Mads Mikkelsen, his betrayal by Eva Green – perhaps the most striking is the climactic sequence where he sinks an To receive emails with our latest news and offers, visit radiotimes.com/email entire Venetian palazzo by shooting out the airtanks keeping it afloat in the lagoon. That scene was actually shot in a huge water tank at Pinewood Studios, but the film’s list of location shooting sites reads like a greatest hits of Venice’s honeypot sites: the Rialto Bridge and Ponte dell’Accademia spanning the Grand Canal; the Gallerie dell’Accademia itself; Campo San Barnaba’s magnificent church; the Giudecca and its canal, floating serenely off the city’s southern side; and, of course, the splendid St Mark’s Square.
SUMMERTIME 1955
David Lean’s masterpiece is a classic of that genre (Rome-mances?) in which a cynic/ dreamer/singleton travels to one of Europe’s lovelier corners and falls in love with both a stranger and the destination itself. Here it’s Katherine Hepburn as a secretary escaping the mundanity of life back home in Ohio and swooning for Renato (Rossano Brazzi) – but, as ever, her (and the camera’s) infatuation with the city itself lasts longer than the love affair. Unusually, the film strays beyond the classic locations with visits to the islands of Murano and Burano (both beautiful spots to avoid the worst of Venice’s peak-season crowds today).
THE COMFORT OF STRANGERS 1990
What would be exploitative schlock in other hands is elevated by the class acts involved – Ian McEwan wrote the source novel, Harold Pinter the screenplay; while Christopher Walken, Rupert Everett, Natasha Richardson and Helen Mirren make up the cast – but it’s the Venetian setting that gives this borderline-sordid tale its seductive elegance. (Can you imagine a film about a young couple drawn into an older one’s murderously sadomasochistic sex life set among the canals of, say, Manchester?) Featured locations include the Hotel Gabrielli (yes, as in Don’t Look Now) and the Palazzo Loredan dell’Ambasciatore. The latter, a 15th-century Gothic palace, is one of the oldest buildings in Venice – and has several grand apartments available to rent (vovcollection.com/palazzo-loredan-dellambasciatore).
SPIDER-MAN: FAR FROM HOME 2019
In this 2019 addition to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, La Serenissima upstages both Prague and London – all three feature as destinations on Peter Parker’s high-school tour of “Y’rp” (Europe) – and the city bewitched the film-makers, too. Director of photography Matthew J Lloyd fell for what he called “the bright, pastel feel, where the light comes through and hits a building. It bathes people in this warm, sandy light.” In the film, Spider-Man battles something called a Water Elemental, which inevitably knocks chunks out of such notable sights as the Rialto, St Mark’s Square, the Grand Canal, the icing-sugar-look church of Santa Maria Formosa, Ponte de L’Arsenal and the tiny Leonardo da Vinci Museum. (But don’t worry; they’re all still there and intact in real life.)
ED GRENBY