'The Guernsey Literary And Potato Peel Pie Society' Hits Cinemas This Friday

UK movie 'The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society' is set to hit cinema screens this Friday, April 20, across Britain and Ireland.

The movie is directed by acclaimed award-winning director Mike Newell ('Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire', 'Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time', 'Four Weddings and a Funeral') and features a 1940s dockside created using Princes Wharf and the iconic ship 'Balmoral'.

During filming, Guernsey producer Paula Mazur said: "Due to the period setting, a very specific look was needed to recreate 1940s Guernsey both during and just after the occupation…. Bristol has a fantastic dockside museum, which has been beautifully preserved. It has enabled us to transform the exterior to represent Weymouth Docks in 1946. We're grateful for the support of the Bristol Film Office in helping us bring our scenes here to life."

Bristol Film Office assisted the production team for four months, providing location scouting, liaising with the industrial team at M Shed, securing unit base at Wapping Wharf, sourcing costume stores and arranging holding areas for extras. Locations matching Guernsey's countryside and coastline were also used on the south coast of the UK mainland, in Cornwall and Devon.
 
Natalie Moore of Bristol Film Office said: "Last year was particularly busy for feature films in Bristol – in addition to Guernsey we also assisted two other major upcoming features to film in the city, 'Stan & Ollie' and 'Hellboy 3'. Visiting shoots like these are so important to Bristol. They bring employment and spending that boosts our local economy – to the tune of £18.3 million last year alone. They show filmmakers in the UK and overseas that Bristol, a UNESCO City of Film, is a world class filming destination that is open for business."
 
Andy King of M Shed said: "Bristol made a brave and, at the time, controversial decision in the 1990s to conserve Princes Wharf as a working quayside. With the museum's operational cranes, steam railway and transit shed, it now makes an ideal and animated backdrop for film productions like this, and one that is unique in the UK."

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society is based off an internationally bestselling novel of the same name, and tells the story of Juliet Ashton (Lily James), a free-spirited, successful writer living in post-war London. She moves to Guernsey, due to lack of inspiration, after she receives a letter from a farmer talking about the curiously named Guernsey book club. As she bonds with the society and forms friendships Juliet begins to unravel a heartbreaking secret, and understands why they are so afraid to tell her their story.

Lily James is supported by fellow cast members Jessica Brown Findlay ('Downtown Abbey', '45 Years', Tom Courtenay (45 Years) and Penelope Wilton ('The BFG', 'The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel').

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society is produced by Paula Mazur and Mitchell Kaplan from The Mazur/Kaplan Company and Graham Broadbent and Pete Czernin from Blueprint Pictures (Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, 'In Bruges'). The film is financed and distributed by STUDIOCANAL.
 
Other features made in Bristol recently include Jon S. Baird's upcoming Stan & Ollie, the upcoming Hellboy 3, Ritesh Batra's 'The Sense of an Ending', Chris Menaul's 'Another Mother's Son', John Miller's 'Golden Years', and Damon Beesley and Iain Morris's 'The Inbetweeners 2'.

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society is in UK cinemas from Friday 20 April.