The village church that hosted a Hollywood whodunnit

Last summer, in a peaceful corner of one of England's most ancient forests, birdsong met boom mics.

About 60 people make up the congregation of Holy Innocents Church at High Beach in Epping Forest, though none of them are as famous as Daniel Craig, Glenn Close or Mila Kunis.

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

Though the series is known for its star-studded ensemble casts, the filming locations are just as critical.

The first movie has the classic whodunnit setting of a big, old mansion, while its sequel Glass Onion was set on a billionaire's private island.

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

Team vicar, the Reverend Jane Yeadon, was so keen to be on set during filming that she had it written into the contract.

This was to help protect the church, built in 1873, and to make sure no-one trod on any graves, but also because she was - and remains - a massive fan of the series.

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

When Close introduced herself and shook her hand, she was left starstruck, and got the giggles when Mila Kunis mistook her for an extra, rather than an actual vicar.

"It is understandable. It is a film set in a church with lots of priests... but she was so mortified and kept apologising," she says.

While the church has previously been the location for the occasional student film, it had never hosted a commercial production like this before.

Location manager, Rachel Hyde, says every inch of the graveyard and the surrounding roads were used for filming, while the church interior became the actors' green room.

"The whole of London gets so busy with filming nowadays because there is so much of it, so it is great to use the Home Counties more and more," she says.

What the crew did not know until they began filming was the forest's long history of ghost stories.

Rachel says the locals would enjoy telling them stories about how the forest is reputedly haunted by the ghosts of legendary highwayman Dick Turpin, Queen Boudicca and many more.

Did this add to the spooky, murder mystery vibe of the film?

"I don't know if the cast and Rian [Johnson, the film's writer-director] knew anything, it was more just us on the periphery," she says.

Apparently, though, the stories did spook some of the security team, who had to guard the set late at night.

While no-one will say how much money the church received for hosting the film-makers - the information is considered commercially sensitive - it was enough to fund some much-needed repairs.

And given that it is a Grade II-listed building, restoring the church's boundary wall or renovating its church organ does not come cheap.

But the economic benefits of Hollywood rolling into town would have been felt far beyond this woodland parish.

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

And now the film has been released, it is thought Epping Forest will see an increase in "screen tourism", particularly given the global appeal of the series.

Erica Gilson from the film office says: "It is really exciting what opportunities that could open up into showcasing Essex to domestic and international travel."

Meanwhile, Ms Yeadon is looking forward to seeing the film in its entirety, as she has so far only seen some individual scenes shot on location. Leavesden Studios in Watford were used for indoor scenes.

During shooting, Johnson invited her to sit in his director's booth so she could see how the church looked on screen.

On the last day of filming, he told her that she had met the film's murderer, and invited her to guess who it was.

"That caught me on the spot and I gave him some answers, and I will be interested to know if I was correct or not," she says.

"I want to see what happens as much as anyone else!"

Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery is out in selected cinemas and on Netflix from 12 December.