Film crew on A6 in Carlisle working despite Cillian Murphy fan visits

While Danny Boyle and his crew are shooting 28 Years Later with the Oscar-winning Irish actor in Cumbria, a second film crew is working on something totally different – a short hip-hop inspired drama film called And Then It Was Thursday.

Deciding to shoot on the A6 between Carlisle and Low Hesket, the crew of University of Westminster students, consisting of, among others, director Dan Baugé, producers Lily Welton and Shadman Khabir, and DOP Matt Wong, were appreciative of the weather.

But working conditions were made more tricky by the loud, fast-moving traffic and interruptions from residents honking their horns or approaching them to ask 'where Cillian Murphy was'... after rumours spread that it was him and Boyle’s crew working there.

“It's funny because we haven't pushed anything about it in this way," Ms Welton said.

“I went on Facebook this morning and it basically came up saying, ‘traffic on the A6, there's slow-moving vehicles’.

Today's film crew on the set of And Then It Was Thursday (Image: Ollie Rawlinson)

“I looked in the comments and people are like, “They're shooting 28 Years, I’m going to find Cillian!”, and we were all p***ing ourselves this morning."

Mr Baugé added: “It’s been strange because I’ve not been too involved with the public in the past, but this has been happening all day.

“The camera crew went to the toilet at the service station and were stopped by people... in the last couple of days we’ve had truckers come past, and today a load of cars have been pulling up – there’s a woman at the bottom that’s just been sat there watching us for ages.

“It's definitely tickled us.”

“I've had to ask a lot of people to move, and a lot of people have beeped today driving past, which obviously with sound takes is very disruptive every 10 minutes,” Ms Welton added.

Director Dan Baugé (Image: Supplied)

Perhaps they’re worthy of equal attention due to the film’s intriguing premise, as Mr Baugé explained: “It’s a coming of age story of two siblings, Tony and Rob.

“They've not seen each other for a while, and then they're forced to have a road trip across the country together and face the issues that they had left in the past.

“It’s based on me and my sister and the journey that we've gone on.

“We didn't used to be as close as we are now, and that's a relationship that I really value.

“I wrote this story and it's been about 11 months, and now we're here, so it's been a long journey with a lot of blood, sweat, and tears.”

It’s being made on a shoestring budget of £4,500; this more humble production couldn’t be further from Boyle’s in the Lakes.

Everyone pitched in and worked tirelessly during production and the near-year-long pre-production stage.

Filmmaking equipment (Image: Ollie Rawlinson)

Mr Kabir, an award-winning director/producer based in London with a background in short films said of his experience so far on the set of And Then It Was Thursday: “The authorities and highways team have been helpful, and been really accommodating for us as we’ve been on this road and making sure we haven’t encountered any big issues since we’ve been here, it’s all been more or less smooth sailing.”

It's expected the film will finish shooting at the end of the year, and then enter the editing stage for a prospective festival run soon.

To find out more about the film, visit https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/and-then-it-was-thursday, or the Instagram page @andthenitwasthursday.