Sett-jetting Lincoln’s crowning glory
Lincoln Cathedral is being seen in a completely different light – playing host to the lavish crowning of Napoleon as Emperor of France.
Proving its star-power, the magnificent 950-year-old cathedral is back on the big screen in Ridley Scott’s epic Napoleon, starring Joaquin Phoenix.
No stranger to top movie billing, this time the gothic masterpiece stands in for Notre Dame in Paris and is where one of the movie trailer’s key scenes, featuring the coronation, was filmed in March 2022.
Hundreds of cast and crew arrived in the city for a week of prep and two days of filming, transforming the cathedral into a Napoleonic set for the stylish biopic.
Shining a spotlight on the man who rose from military general to Emperor of France, the movie also portrays his tumultuous relationship with the woman who became his wife, Joséphine, played by Vanessa Kirby.
Both stars, resplendent in French finery, along with hundreds of soldiers and nobility, depict the historic moment Bonaparte placed the crown on his own head.
In UK cinemas before streaming on Apple TV+ , Napoleon is the latest movie to feature the historic city.
The cathedral, once the tallest building in the world, is set within the cobbled streets in Lincoln’s historic heart and has proved a top draw for producers.
Among its previous roles was doubling as Westminster Abbey for scenes featuring Tom Hanks in The Da Vinci Code, and it provided the backdrop for another coronation, that of Queen Victoria in The Young Victoria, starring Emily Blunt.
Just steps from the cathedral lies Lincoln Castle, which has its own TV claim to fame.
It was a filming location for the third series of Downton Abbey in 2012, when the castle’s Victorian prison stood in for York Prison, where valet John Bates, played by Brendan Coyle, served time for the murder of his former wife.
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