In September of 2002, a cast and crew of 200 arrived in North Wales to film scenes for the blockbuster film 'Lara Croft Tomb Raider- The Cradle of Life'. The production planned to film on the real Great Wall of China, but were refused permission so decided on coming to North Wales and making it look like China. This was also easier as here, they only had to travel 5 hours by road from their base at Pinewood Studios, near London. For the next two weeks they filmed in many locations in the Gwynedd area.
The two main locations were Llyn Gwynant, where a Chinese village was specially built, and Alexandra Slate quarry, where a 100ft drop down a cliff was filmed. There was also a motorbike race filmed along and near a 'Great Wall of China' which was filmed at Pen Y Pass but most of the wall was created using CGI.
While filming, Angelina and Gerard Butler stayed at the Seiont Manor hotel. For more info click here
Angelina returned to North Wales in 2003 where she filmed scenes for 'The Fever' in Snowdon and Penmon, Anglesey.
Please click here to visit my other website on the filming of 'Half Light' which was also filmed in the region in 2004.
Llyn Gwynant was the first location to be filmed, It is where Lara and partner Terry land in their pod, this scene was done using real images of the lake along with CGI mountains to make it look more like China.
A short scene the takes place with both of them in the Chinese Village, where they get they're gear and motorbikes, this authentic looking village complete with Chinese Plants and trees was built at the 'Pen Helen' part of the lake. The village was gone after filming but the area is still a camping site.
The second major location was Alexandra Slate Quarry, near Y Fron, this location is quite difficult to find. In this exciting scene we see Lara and Terry escape from a Chinese Temple... headfirst down a 300ft cliff on ropes (pictured left). This cliff is actually only about 100ft, CGI was used to make much higher.
There is quite a big drop from the path to get to the bottom of the cliff, the crew had to build steps to get down. If visiting this location, be careful, it is dangerous.
Another scene was filmed a minutes walk from this cliff, where you see Lara and Terry being captured by the Shay Ling. There is a little tunnel located here, which they walk through in the beginning of the scene where Lara pulls a gun on Terry.
Other locations included Capel Curig, and a deleted scene from the film (can be seen on the DVD) which was filmed in the mountains of Snowdon.
Lara Croft Tomb Raider : The Cradle of Life generated between £500,000 and £1m for the region during production. Location manager Charlie Somers was said to be delighted to "discover" North Wales. It is Somers who brought Angelina and the crew to Wales after location scouting for suitable locations for the action sequel. "When you have 300 crew and you have to take them abroad you have to pay for flights, hotels etc. Whereas Wales is only four hours drive from the studio and it offers exactly what you see in China except that it's much easier to work here because you have car parks everywhere!" Somers told the Daily Post Newspaper.
This is not the first time North Wales has been transformed into locations set in foreign counties. 'Inn of the Sixth Happiness' starring Ingrid Bergman used the Sygun Copper Mine in Beddgelert to double as a town in China for the 1958 film and even way back in 1937 when Rudyard Kipling's 'Elephant Boy' filmed in Harlech which doubled as India. Most recently the Demi Moore thriller 'Half Light' used many locations across Anglesey and Gwynedd although set in the Scottish Highlands and Angelina Jolie returned to the area to film scenes for 'The Fever' where they used Snowdonia and Anglesey as locations set in Eastern Europe.
Llyn Gwynant with 'Chinese' CGI Mountains
Images © Paramount Home Entertainment
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