A Knives Out Mystery filmed in Essex church

Last summer, in a peaceful corner of one of England’s most pristine forests, birdsong was blared over a boom mic.

The congregation of Holy Innocents Church on High Beach in Epping Forest consists of about 60 people, although none of them are as famous as Daniel Craig, Glenn Close or Mila Kunis.

But these were some of the Hollywood stars who visited this remote location to shoot the latest Knives Out film Wake Up Dead Man.

Although the series is known for its star-studded ensemble cast, the filming locations are equally important.

The first film has the classic whodunit setting of a large, old mansion, while its sequel The Glass Onion was set on a billionaire’s private island.

In the latest film, the small Essex church doubles for a neo-Gothic church in upstate New York.

The team chaplain, Reverend Jane Yeadon, was so keen to be on set during filming that she wrote it into the contract.

This was to help protect the church, built in 1873, and to ensure no one visited any graves, but also because she was – and remains – a huge fan of the series.

During filming in the summer of 2024, the area around the church became “busier than Piccadilly Circus”, she says, describing the experience as “surreal”.

She was surprised when Close introduced himself and shook her hand, and laughed when Mila Kunis mistook him for an extra priest rather than an actual priest.

She says, “It makes sense. It’s a church film with a lot of clergy… but she was very embarrassed and kept apologizing.”

Although the church had previously been the location for the occasional student film, it had never before hosted a commercial production of this kind.

Location manager, Rachel Hyde, says that every inch of the cemetery and surrounding streets were used for filming, while the interior of the church became the actors’ green room.

She says, “All of London is so busy with filming these days because there’s so much, so it’s great to use the Home Counties as much as possible.”

The crew did not know until filming began that the forest had a long history of ghost stories.

Rachel says the locals will enjoy telling her stories about how the forest is haunted by the ghosts of famous highwayman Dick Turpin, Queen Boudica and many others.

Did this add a spooky, murder mystery atmosphere to the film?

“I don’t know if the cast and Ryan (Johnson, the film’s writer-director) knew anything, but we were the only ones on the periphery,” she says.

Apparently, however, these stories frightened some of the security team who had to protect the set late at night.

Although no one will reveal how much money the church received for hosting the filmmakers – the information is considered commercially sensitive – it was enough to make some much-needed repairs.

And given that it is a Grade II-listed building, restoring the church’s walling or refurbishing its church organ is not cheap.

But the economic benefits of Hollywood’s coming to town may have been felt far beyond this woodland parish.

The Essex Film Office believes that after considering catering, travel and accommodation, Wake Up Dead Man has contributed more than £1.3m to the local economy.

And now that the film has been released, it is believed that Epping Forest will see an increase in “screen tourism”, especially given the global appeal of the series.

Erica Gilson from the Film Office says: “It’s really exciting what opportunities this can open up to showcasing Essex domestically and internationally.”

Meanwhile, Ms Yeadon is keen to see the film in full, as she has so far only seen a few individual scenes filmed on location. Leavesden Studios in Watford was used for the indoor scenes.

During shooting, Johnson invited her to sit in his director’s booth so he could see what the church would look like on screen.

On the last day of filming, she told him that she had met the film’s killer, and invited him to guess who he was.

“He caught me on the spot and I gave him some answers, and I’d be interested to know whether I was right or not,” she says.

“I want to see it just as much as anyone else!”

Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery is available in select theaters and on Netflix from December 12th.