When big-time film producers wanted to shoot a Caribbean island scene featuring a sunburnt Jack Palance with a parrot on his shoulder and a wooden leg on Treasure Island, they naturally went to the rainy, windswept Isle of Man.
Filmmakers seeking to recreate Boston, Sydney, or even Brighton are increasingly turning left at Sellafield and shooting in Douglas, the capital of the "rock", where it is becoming common to see Helena Bonham Carter, David Bowie or Christina Ricci tucking into a giant plate of sea bass between takes.
The Isle of Man, best known for kipper-smoking and cats without tails, is this year set to become one of the most important players in the British film industry, boosting its tourist trade by millions and transforming the Manx economy.
Traffic wardens have reinvented themselves as location scouts, sailors are becoming production runners, kennel-owners are launching careers as snake handlers. Pensioners are swapping the gardening for regular work as film extras, playing corpses and clergy, or passengers aboard Thomas the Tank Engine.
The Isle of Man, which has played host to 39 film productions worth around £220m since 1995, has already poached business from Ireland: the Celtic village in the box-office hit Waking Ned was recreated in Cregneash, after its makers said they could not find anywhere sufficiently Irish in the Emerald isle.
But this month, the Isle of Man - with landscapes to match every county of England, Scotland and Wales - could begin to trump mainland Britain in the race to attract big budget productions.
The Isle of Man treasury has just announced a £25m development fund for television and film production, on top of the island film commission's £15m investment pot for the next five years. Not only is the island offering unique tax breaks and a 25% investment in films shot there, it now plans to invest in script development and distribution rights as well.
The Isle of Man has already attracted US companies such as Warner Brothers and Fox, and extended its television production with interest from the BBC and Channel 4 - an adaptation of DH Lawrence's Sons and Lovers is currently in production. But most important is the fact that the island is attracting bigger and bigger budget productions. Steve Christian, fund manager for the Isle of Man film commission, said: "In 1997, we were looking at £4m productions. This year, we have productions of an average £10m. We hope to generate £500m worth of film productions in the next 10 years."
In two weeks, the Isle of Man's first fully soundproofed studio will open - Lezayre studios in Ramsey on the north of the island, with 12,000sq foot of stages worth £1.7m.
The social mores of the Isle of Man - waving at the fairies under bridges, calling residents of more than 10 years "stopovers" and residents of fewer than 10 years "comeovers" - may appear somewhat out of sync with the fast-and-loose ways of Hollywood. But this seems to be the attraction to big producers.
Stories abound of no-nonsense treatment of stars. Mel Gibson was told he could not book a table at a local restaurant but must turn up and "chance it" like everyone else. One English taxi driver, who does the Isle of Man airport run, said: "I genuinely don't think islanders have a clue who these stars are. The only person who attracts a glance is Norman Wisdom because he lives here. We're very like the people on Jersey, totally nonplussed."
Nonetheless, producers report a more open welcome from locals in the Isle of Man than those in mainland Britain, praising the infastructure, and the understanding of transport, production and location needs.
The film industry has transformed islanders' lives, creating bizarre, if sporadic, employment opportunities. There is now a hardcore of pensioners who get regular "extras" work as clergy, Edwardian gentlefolk or Irish villagers, for around £65 a day plus as much food as they can eat from catering vans.
"You can tell the hardened pensioners as they bring a pillow and a paperback and prepare for a nice meal," said one seasoned member of crowd scenes.
Islanders are also reinventing themselves. "The films are my life, they keep me sane," said Alan Rogers, a former publican from Gloucestershire, who said he had done "eight years on the rock", recently turning from cabbie to film extra to film chauffeur to a guide for tourist visits to locations. He is now a partner in a firm that provides everything from location scouting, taxi accounts and mobile phone hire - a cunning initiative, since most filmmakers' phones have no recep tion on the island. "We have a regular influx of Americans from the Midwest," he said. "We serve them traditional Manx picnics out of film spool tins."
From a restaurant-turned-production office on the top of a cliff, Robin Crane, 35, told how he left his job as a crew manager on oil tankers after 12 years to become a production assistant, following film-extra work as the half-eaten corpse of an astronaut. "I've been to Hollywood to make contacts, I've worked on Bafta-nominated films here. For anyone creative on the island, the film industry is a godsend. Before, we had the choice of shipping or finance, or we had to leave."
The film industry has so far provided 100,000 bed nights for the Isle of Man tourist trade. "That translates into millions," said Geoff Le Page, director of tourism. It is a welcome boost after the cancellation of the TT races because of foot and mouth last year.
Productions on the Isle of Man often lead to spin-off work in England, such as railway scenes in Sons and Lovers, which will be shot in Yorkshire. But the local British film commissions will have to work hard to attract US investment in the light of the Isle of Man's financial incentives.
Marc Samuelson, producer of the forthcoming film The Gathering, starring Christina Ricci, set in rural England but shot in the Manx countryside, said: "With the fantastic locations, brilliant crews and financial opportunities, producers have to have a very good reason not to shoot in the Isle of Man these days."
Manx movies by Angelique Chrisafis
The Gathering
Forthcoming supernatural thriller starring Christina Ricci and Kerry Fox. Set in Glastonbury.
The Heart of Me
Forthcoming period piece starring Helena Bonham Carter and Olivia Williams. Set in 1930s London and rural England.
Me Without You(2001)
Bafta-nominated tale of best friends growing up, starring Anna Friel, Kyle MacLachlan and Trudie Styler. Set in Brighton and north London.
Gabriel and Me (2001)
Comic fantasy starring Billy Connolly as the Angel Gabriel. Set in the north of England.
The Martins (2001)
British comedy starring Lee Evans, Kathy Burke and Linda Bassett. Set in a Hatfield housing estate and an Isle of Man holiday cottage.
Thomas and the Magic Railroad (2000)
Film adaptation of Thomas the Tank Engine children's books, starring Peter Fonda and Alec Baldwin. Filmed using Manx vintage railway stock.
Waking Ned (1998)
Comedy of a lottery swindle, starring Ian Bannen and James Nesbitt. Set in a sleepy village on the Irish coast.
The Tichborne Claimant (1998) Period piece starring Sir John Gielgud and Stephen Fry. Set in19th-century Hampshire and the Australian outback.
