Is Anybody There? Film Poster © Optimum Releasing
Director: John Crowley
Writer: Peter Harness
Starring: Michael Caine, Bill Milner, David Morrissey, Anne-Marie Duff, Ralph Riach
Production Company: Heyday Films, BBC Films, Big Beach
Kent Filming Locations: Hythe, Folkestone Central Train Station and St Peter’s CEP School in Folkestone
Set in the 1980’s, Is Anybody There? is about a young boy called Edward (Bill Milner) growing up in an old people’s home. Whilst his parents struggle with their personal problems, Edward becomes obsessed with ghosts and the afterlife. Arming himself with his trusted tape recorder and camera, he tapes the residents in his quest to find out more about what happens to people when they die.
Living a fairly solitary existence, Edward strikes up a friendship with resident magician and rebel Clarence (Michael Caine). The pair become good friends, teaching each other to live each day in the present and how to come to terms with the past.
In 2007, the production visited several Kent locations including Folkestone Central Train Station which doubled as a Yorkshire train station Princes Parade in Hythe was turned into Yorkshire for two days where they used the sea-shelter as a bus shelter (see the movie poster!) and the road was used for the scenes where Clarence (Michael Caine) and Edward (Bill Milner) are pushing the vehicle along the sea road after the crash.
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Filming on Princes Parade in Hythe © Kent Film Office
Produced by the same company who bring Harry Potter to the big screen, the film also visited St Peter’s CEP School, Folkestone where the children themselves were extras for a day! To thank them for their time and help they were rewarded with signed posters from the main cast of Harry Potter and Michael Caine signed their school mural.
The seaside town of Folkestone has an elegant clifftop promenade, a lower coastal park, a fishing harbour and Victorian cliff-top lifts. Hythe is a small coastal town situated between Folkestone and the Romney Marsh. The area has featured in a wide range of productions including Future Tense: The Story of H.G. Wells (2016), The Tunnel: Sabotage (2016) and Everyone’s Going To Die (2013).
The film was released on 1st May 2009 and is now available to buy on DVD.
For more information about Kent’s Filming History please visit our Movie Map.
