Local Vicarage Featured In 'The Theory Of Everything'

St Paul's Church in Grove Park was location for some of the scenes

A local vicarage is enjoying a moment of stardom as it was revealed as a location for part of the successful movie The Theory of Everything.

Scenes from the film in which actor Eddie Redmayne plays the role of scientist Stephen Hawking, were filmed in and around the gardens of St Paul's Church, Grove Park and in the Vicarage.

Eddie Redmaye recently won the Best Actor award at the Golden Globes Awards for his portrayal of Stephen Hawking and has also received an Oscar nomination for Best Actor as has Felicity Jones, who plays his wife Jane (nomination as Best Actress). The movie is also up for an Oscar for Best Picture.

The film is based on the memoir 'Travelling to Infinity: My Life with Stephen' by Jane Hawking and is directed by Academy Award winner James Marsh ( Man On Wire)

Eddie Redmayne

Vicar Michael Riley said he had very much enjoyed seeing the film at the weekend. Several parishioners have already been to view it and to pick out the familiar locations, though the majority of the film was made in Cambridge and at Ealing Studios.

The Vicarage featured in some scenes as the Hawking family home during his early married life where Stephen is in a wheelchair and playing with his young children. The gardens were also part of the film. The filming took place over a week in the summer of 2013.

The church and its enclosed garden is often used as a location by film companies, and the work raises valuable funds for the parish. St Paul's has featured in New Tricks, the detective series featuring Dennis Waterman. Scenes from the movie Sylvia ( 2003) in which Gwynneth Paltrow plays poet Sylvia Plath, were also filmed at the Grove Park church and Vicarage.

January 15, 2015