Foundry cast in movie?

Comedy stars Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant are lining up county attractions as locations for their new movie.

The pair, known for their work on BBC series The Office and Extras, are working on a feature called Cemetery Junction.

Merchant visited Loughborough on Wednesday to see if the Taylor's Bellfoundry and Great Central Railway could provide backdrops for the film he and Gervais are directing.

Gervais has described Cemetery Junction as a coming-of-age story about two 20-something building society clerks in 1970s Reading.

Gervais will star as the father of one of the pair. Ralph Fiennes is also set to appear.

Merchant spent about 45 minutes at the foundry in Freehold Street.

Foundry operations director Jill Clarke said: "About 20 of them turned up and had a good look around the machine shops.

"It's not the area where we cast the bells. I think they wanted some normal factory scenes.

"Stephen Merchant didn't say much but the producers were very interested in logistics such as where they could park a load of vans.

"They had us standing by machines so they could visualise potential shots. It was all quite exciting.

"We don't know if they are going to do some filming but we would like them too.

"We'd probably have to stop production for a day but that would not be a problem. We'd love to have them here."

Mrs Clarke said the producers had got in touch with the foundry through EM Media, of Nottingham, which carries a database of potential filming locations in the East Midlands.

The team then went to Loughborough Great Central Railway station for further checks.

The heritage railway has a long movie pedigree, used in Hollywood blockbusters such as The Hours, starring Nicole Kidman, and Kate Winslet's wartime thriller Enigma, but has not secured a lucrative cinema contract for a number of years.

Commercial manager Alan Brassey told Charnwood borough councillors on Wednesday night the Loughborough station would be closing for five days next month for filming "when stars will appear".

Mr Brassey said it was also possible a big Bollywood film could be shot at Great Central.

Emma Hewitt, of EM Media, said she could not comment on Cemetery Junction, but said: "Our role is to try to get East Midlands locations into productions because they can provide a huge boost to the region's economy."