The streets of Loulé were chosen as the setting for several shoots of the film ‘Miss Willoughby and Bentley’.
The 17th century Convento de Santo António, described by the local council as “one of the Algarve’s most important convents” and boasting the status of a property of public interest, was one of the main spots where filming took place.
The British producers decided to film in Loulé despite the fact that the story of the film takes place in Cyprus, the council explains in a communiqué to the press.
‘Miss Willoughby’ stars Nathalie Cox, a British actress known for her role in Ridley Scott’s 2005 epic historical drama film ‘Kingdom of Heaven’, and John Rhys-Davies, an English-born Welsh actor famous for his performances as Gimli in the ‘Lord of the Rings’ trilogy and Sallah in the ‘Indiana Jones’ films.
Although little has been revealed about the film thus far, film website The Film Catalogue says the movie follows “Miss Willoughby, an educator, keen adventurer and an heiress to a family fortune who, along with her ex-forces butler, Robert, and cheeky but reliable Jack Russell, Bentley, gets pulled into mystery and adventure”.
“Miss Willoughby is called to action when Professor Schmidt, an authority on the Ottoman empire, and Arif, a Dervish, go missing. The latter was even kidnapped from Willoughby’s mansion outside of York where he was the guest of honour at an event designed to promote Dervish culture,” the website says, adding that the heroes must “race against time to discover the reason for the kidnappings and rescue the victims”.
Loulé council says that this is the 23rd production registered by the Loulé Film Office, a municipal entity that was created to promote the borough as a top destination for film, television and advertising producers as well as photographers.
