Daniel Day-Lewis film shoot disrupted by traffic wardens
Shooting for Daniel Day-Lewis’s new film was interrupted at the weekend when traffic wardens ticketed cars being used in the project.
The 1980s vehicles were parked in Handbridge, an upmarket residential district of Chester, for the shooting of Anemone, which was co-written by the triple Oscar-winner and his son Ronan, who is also directing the film.
Residents claim that when the cars appeared for filming, the council sent traffic wardens in to issue tickets.
The production company, Focus Features, had requested a 12-hour road closure for Overleigh Road, where the fines were issued, according to Matt Carter, the Labour councillor for Handbridge Park. But the closure had been rejected by Chester West and Chester council.
A resident called Graham, who did not give a surname, runs the Handbridge Life Facebook page, and took photos of the wardens in action.
City ‘losing out on revenue’
He says he was told by a member of the production crew that parking permits were also sought, but denied by the council.
He said: “In an alleged fit of pique on hearing that filming was happening today without the relevant permits, [the council] sent their traffic warden down with the express instruction to ticket every vehicle.
“Unlike most cities in the country, Chester doesn’t have a dedicated officer to liaise with film production companies and is losing out on revenue as a consequence I was told.
“Street signs were removed so as not to be in shot as well as period bus stop timetables being put in place.
“Even 1986 paper licence discs were put in car windows.”
Graham added: ‘‘The warden was specifically sent by his managers to get there and ticket as many vehicles as possible... he was very aware of what he was ticketing.
‘‘The owners and drivers of the vintage cars were a little agitated as they were concerned about getting the penalty tickets and whether they’d be paid by the production company.
‘‘They got verbal assurance that they would be paid. Each ticket is ￡35 if paid within 14 days, after that they double.
‘‘I spoke to one of the production crew who told me that permission had been sought for a road closure and had been refused by Cheshire West and Chester council.
‘‘After that they had applied for bay parking permits but these were also refused, so they had to just accept getting perhaps as many as 10 tickets which would cost less – about ￡350 – than the ￡2000 to ￡3000 cost of road closure.”
‘Too much pressure’ on roads
Cllr Carter said he had made enquiries with the council and established that permission for the filming had not been granted.
Writing on Facebook he said: ‘‘Highways had not approved this and have had a meeting with the filming company to advise what permissions were required which have not been requested.
‘‘They had also applied for a full road closure, which had been refused.”
He added: ‘‘Cheshire West is a film-friendly borough and supports where possible all filming in partnership with the national film office.
‘‘Careful consideration is always given to each request, and in this case, not all of the production requests could be permitted as they would have put too much pressure on the busy roads.”
Day-Lewis’s last movie was Phantom Thread in 2017, for which he was nominated for an Oscar. The 67-year-old actor has come out of retirement to star in Anemone, which also stars Sean Bean, and is the directorial debut for Ronan Day-Lewis.
Focus Features and the council were approached for comment.
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