Finally, back in theatres, Hollywood’s dominant film franchise posted the biggest opening of the pandemic era as Marvel spinoff “Black Widow” ruled last weekend’s box office. 

The long-awaited film sees Scarlett Johansson play the ‘Black Widow’ in a solo spy adventure long before she becomes an avenger.

The film embraces both on screen and off-screen female empowerment, with a majority female cast of directors who helped bring a more relatable MCU film for the female audience. As one of the most female focused Marvel films created, remembering the impact of the Ford Dagenham women sewing machinists who protested for the right to equal pay; it was very apt for Marvel’s “Black Widow” crew to base themselves for six weeks in Dagenham at Londoneast-UK, hosted by the boroughs film office, Film LBBD over the summer in 2019.

The lighting and equipment were supplied by the borough’s future residents, MBS Lighting and studio owners Hackman Capital Partners (HCP).

The Location Manager for the film, Aurelia Thomas, expressed how, “It was an absolute pleasure filming at in Dagenham back in 2019 and Lisa, Jayne and the LBBD team were extremely helpful!”

Head of Film (Film LBBD) at Barking and Dagenham, Lisa Dee said: “This is the third time Marvel have filmed with Film LBBD in Dagenham, ahead of the new studios being built. This is a great example of global production ‘choosing’ to film in Barking and Dagenham.

“Black Widow was particularly special for us to work on, the director Cate Shortland and production team, had a clear vision of what they wanted to achieve, and we were so pleased to be able to assist them in delivering that.”

She continued: “Personally, having a female cast and an amazing director at the helm – I was only sad not to be casted as a stand-in widow (next time maybe!)”

One of the buildings used for the “Black Widow” set, building D37 at Londoneast-UK, has since been converted into the new ‘world leading research facility’, that is UCL’s Pearl. Bringing high scale films to Barking and Dagenham will allow more job opportunities for local people to gain experience on set, whether that is through marshalling or as runners.

Leader of Barking and Dagenham Council, Councillor Darren Rodwell, said: “Barking and Dagenham used to be famous for making cars, now we are the Hollywood of the capital.

“We are proud of our partnership with MBS/Hackman to build film studios in our borough and hope that this collaboration will bring more films and more job opportunities for local people.”

Darren Smith, Managing Director MBS Group UK & Europe, says, “We’re extremely proud of all the productions we support, including the recent filming of Black Widow. It’s exciting to be working with Barking and Dagenham, to share our industry understanding and to help create opportunity, which stands to benefit the entire community”.

The production, during their occupation, also recruited a former student of Dagenham Park School, Inam Choudhury, via Film LBBD to work on the filming shoot as a trainee marshal. By day three Inam was promoted to production assistant and continued to work on Black Widow for the rest of the shoot.