The location of a film is often dismissed as merely a backdrop to the important stuff. But choosing the location of a movie can be as critical as casting the stars. It can be as much an expressive character as anyone in the cast.

The use of Sleddale Hall as Uncle Monty's cottage in Withnail & I is a classic example.

Hunkered malevolently against a windswept hillside, the hostile building tells you what to expect of the holiday that the two hapless, out-of-work actors embarked on “by mistake”. The extraordinary cult popularity of Bruce Robinson's comedy has ensured a steady stream of fans to Sleddale Hall, near Shap, Cumbria.

Equally popular with movie-obsessed tourists is Powis Square in Notting Hill which featured in Performance as the home of Mick Jagger's Turner and his coterie of beautiful freaks. The air of dissolute elegance has long since been gentrified into submission, but that doesn't stop fans searching in vain for number 81, before recognising number 25 as the house where homoerotic rock and roll decadence and magic mushrooms were the order of the day.

The same area was captured in Roger Michell's Notting Hill, and film fans flooded into the area. Unfortunately, the film's most famous landmark, the blue door which led to Hugh Grant's shambolic flat, was auctioned for charity and replaced by something rather less distinctive.

Tourist authorities are wise to the lure of movie locations and many promote their cinematic heritage. A study commissioned by the Film Council found that the Harry Potter films led to a 120 per cent rise in visitors to Alnwick Castle in Northumberland.

But film location visits don't always work out as planned. In 2001 a young Japanese woman perished in the snow of North Dakota. She was allegedly hoping to find the briefcase of money buried at the end of the film Fargo.

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