Scenes from forthcoming Netflix movie Rebecca were filmed on location in Hatfield.
Released in the UK on the streaming service on Wednesday, October 21, Ben Wheatley’s new adaptation of Daphne du Maurier’s beloved 1938 Gothic novel was partly filmed at Hatfield House.
Lord Salisbury’s Hertfordshire stately home doubles for the inside of creepy mansion Manderley in the psychological thriller starring Lily James, Armie Hammer and Dame Kristin Scott Thomas.
Scenes in the first trailer released by Netflix yesterday (Tuesday) feature Hatfield House’s magnificent Marble Hall, the Long Gallery with its distinctive golden ceiling, the Armoury, and the paintings-covered walls of the King James Drawing Room.
American actor Armie Hammer plays Maxim de Winter in the chilling romantic suspense movie.
The Man from U.N.C.L.E. and The Lone Ranger star posted the 2 minute 21 second trailer on his Instagram feed with the words: “This is Rebecca. Not the actual film, but just the trailer.
“The real film will be longer than this. By at LEAST fifteen minutes or so. Ben Wheatley directed in. The film. Well, also the trailer I guess since he directed the whole film.”
For those that don’t know the plot of Daphne du Maurier’s timeless novel, Rebecca centres on a wealthy widower and his naïve bride who moves to his family home in Cornwall but can’t escape the haunting shadow of his late wife.
After a whirlwind romance in Monte Carlo with handsome widower Maxim de Winter (Armie Hammer), an unnamed newly married young woman (Lily James) arrives at Manderley, her new husband’s imposing estate on a windswept English coast.
Naive and inexperienced, she begins to settle into the trappings of her new life, but finds herself battling the shadow of Maxim’s first wife, the elegant and urbane Rebecca.
Rebecca de Winter’s haunting legacy is kept alive by Manderley’s sinister housekeeper Mrs Danvers, played by Four Weddings and a Funeral favourite and Oscar-nominated The English Patient actress Kristin Scott Thomas.
Directed by Ben Wheatley (High Rise, Free Fire) and produced by Working Title Films (Emma, Darkest Hour), the official Netflix trailer shows Lily James’ character being introduced to Mrs Danvers in the Marble Hall at Hatfield House.
The menacing Mrs Danvers says rather ominously: “Welcome to Manderley.”
The trailer then shows Mrs Danvers giving the estate’s newcomer a tour of the house, with the pair walking down Hatfield House’s famous Long Gallery, which was also used by filmmakers for the Oscar-winning The Favourite.
As she’s being shown around, with the trailer also featuring Hatfield House’s King James Drawing Room and the Armoury, Lily James, as the new Mrs de Winter, says: “I’ve never seen a house like this.”
“Oh, I’m sorry. I thought you’d been a lady’s maid,” is Mrs Danvers’ barbed response.
Mrs Danvers later tells her: “The late Mrs de Winter was the love of his life.
“She’s still here. Can you feel her?”
She also says: “I wonder what she’s thinking about you. Taking her husband. Using her name.”
The trailer also shows Lily James’ Mrs de Winter telling her husband: “You can talk to me about her. I have no secrets from you.”
Maxim replies: “All marriages have their secrets.”
As well as Hatfield House, the movie was also filmed at Cranborne Manor in Dorset,
Rebecca isn’t the first movie starring Tring Park School for the Performing Arts alumna Lily James to be filmed on location at Hatfield House.
The Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again! and Cinderella star also appeared in Pride and Prejudice and Zombies.
She played a zombie-slaying Elizabeth Bennet in that Jane Austen-inspired horror movie mash-up which was partly shot in the grounds of Hatfield House and in Old Hatfield.
As well as the central triumvirate of Lily James, Armie Hammer and Kristin Scott Thomas, the cast of Rebecca also includes Keeley Hawes and Bill Paterson.
Keeley Hawes plays Maxim’s sister, Beatrice Lacy, in the movie.
The Durrells and Line of Duty star is no stranger to Hertfordshire having filmed scenes for TV mini-series Summer of Rockets in the county.
Bill Paterson will be known to TV audiences as Dad in Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s Fleabag.
Alfred Hitchcock’s 1940 film version of Rebecca starred Joan Fontaine – the sister of Olivia de Havilland and cousin of Hatfield aviation pioneer Geoffrey de Havilland.
She won an Oscar nomination for her role as the second Mrs de Winter, although she didn’t win.
Laurence Olivier was also nominated for an Academy Award in the Best Actor category for his portrayal of Maxim de Winter, owner of Manderley, in the film.
The movie claimed the Best Picture award.
For more, visit www.netflix.com/rebecca
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