Originally published in Whale Talk magazine in Hermanus in Feb 2012
Film Crews love Hermanus (and Cape Town)
Hermanus and Cape Town are fast becoming THE place to be seen and work by many international film crews, with many new Hollywood block-busters being filmed at the recently opened ultra-modern and high-tech Cape Town Film Studios; while Hermanus attracts many nature documentary film-makers.
The list of recent movies filmed in Cape Town is most impressive – Halle Berry was here in late 2010 to film the shark movie “The Dark Tide” / “Dredd” finished filming it’s 3-D action epic in Feb 2011 and cost R245million to produce / Denzel Washington and Ryan Reynolds were here in March & April 2011 filming “Safe House” – while the next James Bond is predicted to be filming right now, especially as the 25th Bond book is set in Cape Town.
Before that we had - Clint Eastwood's “Invictus” in 2009 with Matt Damon and Morgan Freeman / the sci-fi “District 9” in 2009 - which was nominated for the 2009 Academy Award for Best Picture, along with nominations for Best Visual Effects, Editing, and Adapted Screenplay - Director, Neill Blomkamp then went on to direct “Elysium” predicted for a late 2012 production and will co-star Matt Damon, Sharlto Copley and Jodie Foster / “Flashbacks of a Fool” in 2008 with Daniel Craig / “Blood Diamond” in 2006 with Leonardo DiCaprio / “Lord of War” in 2005 with Nicolas Cage………..
Nico Dekker, CEO of Cape Town Film Studios, is quoted as saying – “There is a direct correlation between the film industry and the tourism industry. Studies have shown that for every unit of money spent on making a film in a country, there is a 2½ times impact factor on the larger economy. So for a film like Dredd, the R100 million ($12.5million) spent has a knock-on effect of R250 million ($31million) into the South African economy.”
South Africa produced 23 movies last year, with an estimated budget spend in South Africa of $3millions each; which directly creates 1,200 jobs and in-directly creates another 4,000 jobs
All excellent news, especially as this adds an enormous amount to the marketing of our picturesque region.
And that’s not all – many international famous Rock Stars and Movie Celebrities are flocking to Cape Town and Hermanus for holidays with their families, who then do loads of Activities like Whale watching boat trips and Shark diving in Hermanus & Gansbaai – including – Prince Harry, Brad Pitt, King of Jordon, Matt Damon, Katie Melua, Steffi Graff, Sting, Nicholas Cage, Richard E Grant, Ruby Wax, Colin Jackson, John Lydon, Jamiroquai, Robbie Williams, Leonardo DiCaprio, Jude Law, Richard Gere, Monica Seles, Michael Schumacher, Colin Farrell, Christopher Lambett, Maroon 5, One Republic, Justin Timberlake, Cameroon Diaz, Halle Berry, David Attenborough and all the worlds nature documentary makers – Discovery Channel, BBC, Animal Planet, National Geographic and a German film crew kindly donated their 6 fibre-glass Whales to Hermanus and Gansbaai, after they had finished filming.
These high-profile visitors are not only spending a lot of money on their holidays here, by staying at luxury 5 star locations, but by regularly updating their Twitter, Facebook and Blog pages, their fans are finding out that Cape Town and Hermanus are amazing and these fans equally follow in their foot-steps by coming to Cape Town and Hermanus to see where their idols have traveled to.
Amateur film-makers take and upload lots of their videos and photos onto the internet – a search for Hermanus on YouTube brings up 1,850 results – while a Google video search brings up a staggering 45,000 and Flickr brings up 19,000 photos and videos. All this additional action helps to promote and market our town to the outside world by show-casing its many incredible Activities, Restaurants, Accommodation and the myriad of tourism Attractions.
Hermanus has a huge amount to be very proud about – keep up the great work everyone
Authored by Percy Tours – Copy-write owned by Percy Tours cc - Feb 2012
Film Crews love Hermanus (and Cape Town)
Hermanus and Cape Town are fast becoming THE place to be seen and work by many international film crews, with many new Hollywood block-busters being filmed at the recently opened ultra-modern and high-tech Cape Town Film Studios; while Hermanus attracts many nature documentary film-makers.
The list of recent movies filmed in Cape Town is most impressive – Halle Berry was here in late 2010 to film the shark movie “The Dark Tide” / “Dredd” finished filming it’s 3-D action epic in Feb 2011 and cost R245million to produce / Denzel Washington and Ryan Reynolds were here in March & April 2011 filming “Safe House” – while the next James Bond is predicted to be filming right now, especially as the 25th Bond book is set in Cape Town.
Before that we had - Clint Eastwood's “Invictus” in 2009 with Matt Damon and Morgan Freeman / the sci-fi “District 9” in 2009 - which was nominated for the 2009 Academy Award for Best Picture, along with nominations for Best Visual Effects, Editing, and Adapted Screenplay - Director, Neill Blomkamp then went on to direct “Elysium” predicted for a late 2012 production and will co-star Matt Damon, Sharlto Copley and Jodie Foster / “Flashbacks of a Fool” in 2008 with Daniel Craig / “Blood Diamond” in 2006 with Leonardo DiCaprio / “Lord of War” in 2005 with Nicolas Cage………..
Nico Dekker, CEO of Cape Town Film Studios, is quoted as saying – “There is a direct correlation between the film industry and the tourism industry. Studies have shown that for every unit of money spent on making a film in a country, there is a 2½ times impact factor on the larger economy. So for a film like Dredd, the R100 million ($12.5million) spent has a knock-on effect of R250 million ($31million) into the South African economy.”
South Africa produced 23 movies last year, with an estimated budget spend in South Africa of $3millions each; which directly creates 1,200 jobs and in-directly creates another 4,000 jobs
All excellent news, especially as this adds an enormous amount to the marketing of our picturesque region.
And that’s not all – many international famous Rock Stars and Movie Celebrities are flocking to Cape Town and Hermanus for holidays with their families, who then do loads of Activities like Whale watching boat trips and Shark diving in Hermanus & Gansbaai – including – Prince Harry, Brad Pitt, King of Jordon, Matt Damon, Katie Melua, Steffi Graff, Sting, Nicholas Cage, Richard E Grant, Ruby Wax, Colin Jackson, John Lydon, Jamiroquai, Robbie Williams, Leonardo DiCaprio, Jude Law, Richard Gere, Monica Seles, Michael Schumacher, Colin Farrell, Christopher Lambett, Maroon 5, One Republic, Justin Timberlake, Cameroon Diaz, Halle Berry, David Attenborough and all the worlds nature documentary makers – Discovery Channel, BBC, Animal Planet, National Geographic and a German film crew kindly donated their 6 fibre-glass Whales to Hermanus and Gansbaai, after they had finished filming.
These high-profile visitors are not only spending a lot of money on their holidays here, by staying at luxury 5 star locations, but by regularly updating their Twitter, Facebook and Blog pages, their fans are finding out that Cape Town and Hermanus are amazing and these fans equally follow in their foot-steps by coming to Cape Town and Hermanus to see where their idols have traveled to.
Amateur film-makers take and upload lots of their videos and photos onto the internet – a search for Hermanus on YouTube brings up 1,850 results – while a Google video search brings up a staggering 45,000 and Flickr brings up 19,000 photos and videos. All this additional action helps to promote and market our town to the outside world by show-casing its many incredible Activities, Restaurants, Accommodation and the myriad of tourism Attractions.
Hermanus has a huge amount to be very proud about – keep up the great work everyone
Authored by Percy Tours – Copy-write owned by Percy Tours cc - Feb 2012