Inkheart (2008)

Silvertongue reading to a young Meggie. Both on green armchairs with a table in between them. Bookshelves can be seen behind.

Silvertongue played by Brendan Fraser reading to a young Meggie © Entertainment Film Distributors Ltd 

Director: Iain Softly

Starring: Helen Mirren, Brendan Fraser, Eliza Bennett, Jim Broadbent, Paul Bettan

Production Company: New Line Cinema, Internationale Filmproduktion Blackbird Erste

Kent locations used: Hever Castle

Based on the best selling novel by Cornelia Funke, Inkheart is about Mo ‘Silvertongue’ Folchart (Brendan Fraser – The Mummy) who has a special gift when reading aloud: the characters come to life. One night, he unknowingly brings to life three characters from a novel entitled Inkheart who kidnap him. Now it is up to Mo’s daughter Meggie (Eliza Bennett – Nanny McPhee) and her great-aunt Eleanor (Helen Mirren – The Queen) to rescue him from the cruel dictator Capricorn (Andy Serkis, Lord of the Rings) and return the characters back to the pages of Inkheart. Alongside her real and fictional friends, Meggie learns the importance of family and having a place to call home.

Andy Serkis holding the Inkheart book staring at the camera

Andy Serkis in Inkheart © Entertainment Film Distributors Ltd. Photo: Close Murray

Helen Mirren wearing a red headscarf with her hands clasped together under her neck

Helen Mirren © Entertainment Film Distributors Ltd. Photo: Close Murray

Directed by Iain Softly (Hackers, The Skeleton Key) and featuring an all-star cast, Helen Mirren (Calendar Girls, The Queen) Brendan Fraser (George of the Jungle, Journey to the Center of the Earth), Jim Broadbent (Bridget Jones’s Diary, Moulin Rouge!) Paul Bettany (A Knight’s Tale, Wimbledon) and Eliza Bennett (The Prince and Me, Nanny McPhee).

Hever Castle was used for three weeks for the filming of Inkheart, transforming the historical site into the Italian lakeside home of Great Aunt Elinor as the historical home of Anne Boleyn and the beautiful Italian gardens complete with a lake were ideal for this family-orientated fantasy film.

Hever Castle is a thirteenth century Tudor castle near Edenbridge, Hever which was originally the home of the Boleyn family. Hever Castle is a popular filming location with its stunning Italianate gardens, beautiful lake and a mock Tudor village.  Hever Castle has also be used for other productions such as  Walking through History (2013),  The Other Boleyn Girl (2008) and Anne of a Thousand Days (1969).

Inkheart was released in cinemas in December 2008 and can now be bought on DVD.

 

For more information about Kent’s Filming History please visit our Movie Map.