A Labour London council has banned Nicolas Cage from filming a WWII film in its town hall over fears it would be covered in Nazi flags.
Waltham Forest Council turfed out filmmakers after they revealed plans to display “highly visible” swastikas at their northeast London filming location.
The local authority’s decision came in the late summer, when St George’s flags and Union Jacks were being displayed on lampposts throughout the country.
This week, the council stated that “the high level of sensitivity to far-right iconography” had forced its hand.
The makers of Fortitude, a period spy drama, had originally secured approval to use Walthamstow Town Hall as a filming location.
The building’s “stripped classicism” architectural style, similar to the buildings of Nazi architect Albert Speer, made it an ideal stand-in for a German intelligence headquarters.
Mr Cage portrays Dusko Popov, a Serbian double-agent who has been cited as one of several inspirations for Ian Fleming’s James Bond.
The film centres on Operation Fortitude, the elaborate deception mounted by Allied Powers ahead of the 1944 Normandy invasion to mislead the Third Reich about when and where the assault would occur.
Simon West, who previously collaborated with Cage on Con Air in 1997, is directing the production.
Legendary actor Nicolas Cage stars in the Second World War spy thriller
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Permission was withdrawn just days before cameras were meant to start rolling, with the council claiming producers had broken their commitments around the Nazi symbols.
“The proposal was agreed with several conditions, including that the team consulted with nearby residents and that Nazi-era flags and symbols were not publicly visible,” council bosses said.
Officials were also left frustrated that the filming schedule was suddenly moved forward from October to September 15, which prevented the “community consultation” that had been previously arranged.
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Walthamstow Town Hall’s similarity to the buildings of Nazi architect Albert Speer made it an ideal stand-in for a German intelligence headquarters
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WIKIMEDIA COMMONS
The council added it was “very disappointed” upon discovering that correspondence sent to local residents by the location team explicitly confirmed Nazi symbols would be prominently displayed during the shoot.
Following the eviction, the production relocated to southeast London, where filming was captured on social media near the Old Royal Naval College in Greenwich.
An unverified social media post showed a sign reportedly erected by the producers at the Greenwich site.
It read: “We understand that there may be some sensitive imagery, however we hope to keep the film as historically accurate as possible.”
The decision was taken during ‘Operation Raise the Colours’
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The London Centric website first reported the council’s reversal of its filming permission this week.
One source with knowledge of the situation said: “I’m sure residents could tell the difference between real Nazis and fake Nazis at the town hall.”
The use of public buildings as filming locations for productions about the Nazi regime has previously sparked controversy elsewhere in Britain.
In 2017, York City FC’s Bootham Crescent stadium was transformed with swastika imagery for a Bollywood film set during the 1936 Olympics.
