Greece’s Central Archaeological Council CAS approved on Tuesday permission to production company of “The Little Drummer Girl” to film at the archaeological site of Cape Sounion. It was the second request for filming permission submitted by the company “Faliro House Productions”.
The first request was rejected by CAS last week and triggered strong reactions also by government officials as the country wants to attract film productions as film friendly Greece. In its reasoning the CAS argued among others that the filming on April 12th would disturb visitors of the archaeological site.
In its second request, the production company applied for half a day filming , from 7 a.m. until 1 p.m. and not until 7 p.m. as originally thought. Film set preparations will be conducted a day earlier. The production company also accepted to decrease the number of filming crew to 100 people from 120, state broadcaster ERT TV reported.
On Tuesday, the CAS took the decision in majority of votes, however , two members voted in favor of the proposal to grant permission, yet, they insisted that the filming takes place outside the site visiting hours.
Adapted from a spy novel by John le Carre, the BBC mini-series “the Little Drummer Girl” is directed by South Korean film maker Park Chan-wook (Old Boy, The Handmaiden, Stoker), starring Alexander Skarsgard, Michael Shannon and Florence Pug.
According to a representative of the production company, Park Chan-wook personally wanted to film in Sounio, which he considers as the most iconic scenery in Greece.
Last week, the CAS granted permission to the the production company to film in the Acropolis but at night, when the site is closed to visitors.
Last week KTG conducted a poll among its readers whether filming in archaeological sites should be allowed. For the results see here. The poll is still ongoing.
PS Ok, it is a political decision, but sometimes bureaucrats need a little push…
As a married couple and Greek citizens we were denied access to this site by the government, when we tried to enter the site, because they saw us with our photographer. The government employees in duty at that date (23 July 2017), were so happy and smiling when they prevented the access to this site of yet another couple! Shame on the government. Shame on them.