Pizza takeaway transformed as North Wales town given 'Madfabulous' makeover for big-budget film
A pizza takeaway in the centre of a seaside town has been transformed into a Victorian hardware shop for a major film production. Filming in Pwllheli, Gwynedd, continues today (Tuesday, September 17) – but local residents won’t go without their evening treats.
Nana’s Kebab and Pizza House, in Market Square, looks unrecognisable after becoming part of the set for Madfabulous, a film about one of Britain’s most infamous aristocrats. In Market Square, the clock has been turned back to the late 19th century with traditional brooms, milk carts, wooden barrels, horses and prizefighting.
Once filming stops, Nana’s “hardware” store will reopen at 6pm to serve pizzas and kebabs. Apologising for the inconvenience on social media, the takeaway thanked customers for their “understanding”.
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Set and costume designers have been visiting Pwllheli in recent weeks to prepare for two days of filming, which began yesterday. One local said online that Market Square was like stepping into a “real life Goodnight Sweetheart” location, adding: “I could happily have purchased a few items from the hardware store and spent a while browsing through fabrics at the tailors!”
The production office is at Parc Glynllifon, near Caernarfon, and crews have also been on location on Anglesey. Filming is due to wrap after the coming weekend.
The film tells the “reimagined” story of Henry Cyril Paget, the 5th Marquess of Anglesey. Once one of Britain’s richest men, he squandered a £43m fortune and died penniless and alone in France in 1905, aged just 29.
Dubbed “the Dancing Marquess,” Paget was renowned for his theatrical demeanor, fluid sexuality and lavish social life, often eschewing societal and gender protocols. He spent millions on costumes and his many eccentricities included parading through London with pink poodles and adapting his five luxury cars to spray perfume from their exhausts. Join the North Wales Live Whatsapp community now
Brought up at Plas Newydd on the banks of the Menai Strait, he inherited the title and returned from Paris when his father died in 1898. Known for his love of performing and cross-dressing, the marquis transformed the family chapel at Plas Newydd into an extravagant 150-seat theatre, The Gaiety, and took the lead role in each performance.
Playing him in the film is Callum Scott Howells, best known for his lead role in Channel 4’s It’s A Sin. He’s ideally cast to play a man said by director Celyn Jones as having “fallen from the future” – a man who was ahead of his time.
Celyn said: “We have an embarrassment of riches in front of and behind the camera on this Madfabulous film. It’s wonderful to be telling this story, this way, right here and now. Henry was a true original and deserves this reimagining, revisiting his legend with a disco lens and a punk heart.”
Also in the cast is Bridgerton actress Ruby Stokes, playing Henry’s cousin Lily and later his wife. My Best Friends Wedding actor Rupert Everett has an as-yet undefined role in the film.
The production also stars Derry Girls’ Siobhán McSweeney, Saltburn’s Paul Rhys, Sherlock actress Louise Brealy, Louis Hynes from Netflix’s A Series of Unfortunate Events and White Lines’ Tom Rhys-Harries. There will also be appearances by Ian Puleston-Davies, formerly of Coronation Street, and Star Wars Steve Speirs.
Roger Evans from House of the Dragon and Guillaume Gallienne, who featured in HBO’s The Regime, are also in the line-up. Like Celyn Jones, a BAFTA Cymru-winning director screenwriter Lisa Baker grew up on Anglesey.
The project is supported by Ffilm Cymru Wales through National Lottery funding and by the Welsh Government via Creative Wales. Sign up for the North Wales Live newsletter sent twice daily to your inbox
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