Hollywood came to Manchester on Monday as Fast Furious star Luke Evans and director Phil Allocco were spotted filming new movie 5lb of Pressure in Manchester. Welsh actor and singer Luke, 43, stars in the story of a man on a quest for redemption and the Northern Quarter was transformed for the scenes, believed to be set in Brooklyn, New York.
The Fast and Furious 6 and The Hobbit actor was seen strolling through the neighbourhood in a bomber jacket, jeans and hoodie and donned a baseball cap. He was also seen inside Little Aladdin vegan cafe on High Street with crew.
Luke began his career on the stage, performing in many of London's West End productions such as Rent, Miss Saigon, and Piaf before making his film breakthrough in the Clash of the Titans 2010 remake playing the Greek god Apollo. He played Musketeer Aramis in Paul W. S. Anderson's version of The Three Musketeers released in 2011 and in 2013 he played the antagonist Owen Shaw in the action film franchise Fast & Furious 6.
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In 2014 he played Dracula in the film Dracula Untold and he was cast as Eric Draven in the reboot of The Crow and starred in High-Rise with Tom Hiddleston and Jeremy Irons. Luke starred alongside Emily Blunt in the 2016 thriller film The Girl on the Train and the following year he took on the villainous role of Gaston in Disney's live-action adaptation of Beauty and the Beast, co-starring Emma Watson.
Last year he played Lars Lee in the Hulu miniseries Nine Perfect Strangers, based on the novel of the same name by Liane Moriarty, with Nicole Kidman in the lead role and also starring Melissa McCarthy and Bobby Cannavale. He also played The Coachman in Robert Zemeckis' live-action film adaptation of Disney's Pinocchio, with Tom Hanks.
In 2020 the hit Netflix series The Crown shot scenes in and around the Northern Quarter's Stevenson Square, Dale Street and Back Piccadilly for series four of the biographical royal drama, starring Emma Corrin as Lady Diana Spencer. The series filmed in the neighbourhood as they recreated New York in the 80s.
Scenes showed the late Princess Diana's solo trip to New York in 1989, visiting the Henry Street Settlement that was a halfway house for homeless families in the lower east side of Manhattan. Emma turned heads as she strolled through the Northern Quarter in a colourful checked suit with white heels looking eerily similar to Diana.
In 2019 the Northern Quarter was transformed into 1940s New York by the the Sky series Das Boot. A vintage American yellow cab was seen on location in the Dale Street area as scenes were filmed for the second series of the wartime drama.
And they aren't the first dramas to have used the Northern Quarter to double as the Big Apple. Doctor Who star Matt Smith joined Oscar-winning Hollywood star Jared Leto to film the Spider-Man spin-off Morbius, which was filmed in 2019 and released earlier this year.
Matt was pictured strolling through the Northern Quarter as the area doubled for downtown New York and a stunt double was seen swooping on a wire from a building to land on top of a crash mat in Port Street, where a Manhattan subway station frontage had been installed.
Dallas Buyers Club star Leto, who played the title role of Dr Michael Morbius, a scientist who turns himself into a vampire when he attempts to cure himself of a rare blood disease, was seen outside Leo's Fish Bar on Oldham Street.
A Mustang and yellow taxis were also seen parked up in the area and the streets were filled with props including traffic lights, a blue and white New York City bus, news stands and blue US Mail postboxes. Manchester has formed the backdrop to a number of big budget films and TV series in recent years, including Peaky Blinders, a remake of Snatch starring Harry Potter actor Rupert Grint, BBC war drama World on Fire and Sky series Curfew. Marvel's Captain America was also partly filmed on Dale Street in 2011.
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