Movie with Hollywood stars is filmed in Clacton and Ardleigh

However, the popular seaside town has become the main filming location for this interesting mix of people for a few weeks thanks to Colchester-based producer DB Morgan, who conceptualised the feature film idea in his dream.

“As with all great ideas they often kind of appear by magic.

“In my dream, I had a vision of a line of dark dressed morris dancers standing on a beach, staring out to sea.

“I’d never seen or heard of Border Morris Dancers, but after some research, I found myself deep inside the fascinating universe of the darker side of all things morris dancing wise.

“Once the vision was etched into my mind and I began researching the origins of Border Morris Dancing, I noticed many similarities between the dance and several martial arts styles involving stick fighting as part of their weaponry.

“It was then the story began brewing in my mind; a world where secret assassins are hidden within morris dancing sides, ready to take care of situations, good and bad, that others can’t.” 

Cast - the actors filming scenes at Point Clear

In the film, Mr Morgan combines the talent of morris dancers with experts in a wide variety of martial arts fields, including Eskrima from the Phillipines, to work with the actors.

As a result, they have created a number of visually stunning scenes, complemented with the backing soundtrack produced by musicians who have performed at big festivals, such as Glastonbury.

He delighted in watching it all come to life as they filmed in a number of popular locations, such as the pier in Walton, the Royal Hotel in Clacton, Martello Tower and a few other places in Jaywick.

“It’s always exciting seeing my words on the page begin to leap into the real world,” added Mr Morgan.

“The way I put my films together is by auditioning acting talent as I work on finishing the script, so at the earliest opportunity, I get to see the talent performing the lines.

Drums - members of the cast and crew in Ardleigh

“This works so well because once I know who will be playing the role I can adjust things to fit their personalities and speech rhythms.

“Then, as we move on to table reads and rehearsals, the excitement grows and continues to build until we move onto the set. It’s a wonderful process.”

The film, directed by Gregg Masuak, who has created music videos for the likes of Kylie Minogue and Belinda Carlisle, also stars a stellar cast of performers from some Hollywood movies.

These include Jamie B Chambers, who performed in Fury with Brad Pitt, Ross O’Hennessy, who starred as Lord of Bones in Game Of Thrones, Jon Campling, who performed as a Death Eater in Harry Potter, Ray Whelan, who was worked on EastEnders and Star Wars, plus Eloise Lovell-Anderson, who starred in The Royals and Villain.

Some of the scenes being filmed for The Morris Men

“It’s wonderful seeing the amazing talent perform in Morris Men such as watching Jon Campling becoming Bagman Blythe and giving himself to the role.

“He’s a dark and mysterious character with a tragic backstory and Jon absolutely owned it.

“Seeing Ross O’Hennessy crawl into the skin of our main villain, Landlord Frank, was a delight.

“He exudes pure darkness and evil as head of a criminal empire that’s suffocating a peaceful coastal town.

“In fact, every member of cast brought their A game to Morris Men and helped add a deep authenticity to the MM universe.”

Mr Chambers, who stars as Tommy Martin in the film, and has performed in Kingsman: The Secret Service, said he enjoyed filming in Colchester and Tendring.

“I’m involved with a lot of dynamic fight scenes, which I’m happy about.

Performing - Jamie and Ross O’Hennessy on set

“For example, I enjoyed being part of a seven minute fight scene on Walton pier with Ed Gamester, who was in Commando 3.

“We also fought through a fully functioning arcade, with rides amusements and a big Ferris wheel all in operation.”

Mr Morgan said he thoroughly enjoying watching this talent run amok on sets in north Essex.

He said: “As an anxiety sufferer it’s always nice being close to home.

“Approaching Tendring Council with my idea to turn Clacton into Hollywood-on-Sea was a positive process.

“They embraced our ideas and did all in their power to open up the town to us and provide access to some incredible locations, including our amazing three storey office block, an ex NHS office (Carnarvon House), used as our production base.

“This huge building also became home to several micro film sets – our two hospital rooms, Sally and Bagman’s Lair and the Guild’s secret base.

“It was also great meeting local people. We ended up making friends and allies with several Clacton residents who became actors in the film, alongside their initial roles in the hair and make-up department.”

Although making the film was exciting, the team faced a few challenges along the way, when locations had to be dropped at the last minute.

However, their strong relationships with the council and other business people helped with sourcing new locations quickly and painlessly.

Mr Morgan said he made some memories for life on set.

“Undoubtedly, two of our most memorable scenes were the Valhalla (filmed on Point Clear sea wall) and Solstice (filmed on my family’s farm in Ardleigh) sequences.

“Bystanders were amazed to witness a 24-piece drumming band, together with a bagpiper and a procession of 30 black clad morris dancers descending onto the waterfront.”

Morgan is now raising funds to complete the film in post-production and has set up a fundraising appeal page at www.crowdfunder.co.uk/morrismenmovie.