SITES in Saltaire, Shipley, and Ilkley have become the backdrop to filming for a Hollywood movie and popular TV series.

'The Hunter's Prayer', a thriller starring Sam Worthington, has been shot on locations including the landmark Salts Mill.

The movie, part funded by Screen Yorkshire through its Yorkshire Content Fund, has been filmed across Yorkshire since last month.

The Saltaire leg of the filming is scheduled to wrap up tomorrow and then it will move on to Hungary in the new year.

Worthington, who has previously appeared in Terminator Salvation and Avatar, plays a solitary assassin hired to kill a teenage girl.

But he quickly forms a bond with his target and they are stalked across Europe.

Screen Yorkshire’s Yorkshire Content Fund, the biggest regional investment fund for production in the UK, is backed by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF).

The £15 million fund is open to content producers working in film,TV, games and digital based in Yorkshire.

Richard Knight, head of production at Screen Yorkshire, said: "It's great that we have managed to do this filming in Saltaire and Yorkshire.

Bradford Telegraph and Argus: AVATAR STAR: Sam Worthington.
Hollywood star Sam Worthington

"Salts Mill was chosen as a location due to the sheer epic scale and quality of the building."

Meanwhile, filming also took place in Ilkley earlier this week for the new series of a popular TV crime drama.

DCI Banks, starring Stephen Tompkinson, filmed scenes at the Cow and Calf Rocks formation on Ilkley Moor on Monday and Tuesday as part of series four of the hit ITV show.

The programme has been filming across Yorkshire with the support of not-for-profit funding organisation Creative England since September.

The production are based in Leeds and have been working closely with us to secure a range of locations and filming permissions across the region including Otley and Bradford.

Creative England has also ensured support from members of the Yorkshire Film Friendly Partnership including Bradford City of Film.

Chris Hordley, Creative England's production liaison manager for Yorkshire and East Midlands, said: “We have been working closely with the team at DCI Banks and Ilkley Moor is just one of the fantastic filming locations we are actively promoting as part of Creative England’s film location service in Yorkshire.

"We’ve seen a rise in demand for our location service in Yorkshire over the last three years and 2015 looks set to be another busy year.”

Other film productions which Creative England has supported across Ilkley and Bradford include Miss You Already, starring Drew Barrymore and Toni Collette and Get Santa, which were filmed on Ilkley Moor and East Riddlesden Hall respectively.

Next March, Bradford will host an international film summit to celebrate its coveted title of the world’s first UNESCO City of Film which will bring leaders in international and UK film to the city to discuss and share ideas during three days of film and TV-related events.

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