Articles · Arts & culture
Cádiz arts and culture: the films shot on its seafront
On screen Cádiz has played Havana, most famously in 2002's Die Another Day, shot around La Caleta beach and its two castles. Sean Connery's Cuba was shot in Spain in 1978, and Alatriste and Knight and Day also filmed in the city.
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Arts & culture: the big picture
Written by
Lucía Barbera Quintero Historian specialising in Cádiz's ancient, colonial and constitutional heritage.
One article carries this hub. Movies filmed in Cádiz explains that the US blockade of Cuba kept the producers of Die Another Day (2002) out of the real Havana, so the Cuban scenes, including the fictional island of Isla de Los Organos, were shot around La Caleta. Halle Berry's coral bikini scene was filmed there in cold, windy weather, and the film grossed $432 million.
The look has a cause: the eighteenth-century sea walls of Cádiz served as a model for Spanish colonial military architecture across the Americas. The article adds Cuba (1979) with Sean Connery, Alatriste (2006) with Viggo Mortensen and Knight and Day (2010) with Tom Cruise, and closes with a walk from Castillo de Santa Catalina along the beach and the Campo del Sur.
Frequently asked questions
Why was Die Another Day filmed in Cádiz?
The US blockade of Cuba ruled out filming in the real Havana, so Cádiz stood in for the Cuban capital. Every outdoor Cuban sequence, including Havana and the fictional Isla de Los Organos, was shot around La Caleta. The interior of the Havana cigar factory was filmed at a house in north London.
What was the weather like when Halle Berry filmed on La Caleta?
It rained constantly during the shoot, and the coral bikini scene was filmed in cold, windy weather. Footage exists of Berry wrapped in thick towels between takes. Debris from a smoke grenade also flew into her eye during the Cádiz filming and was removed in a 30-minute operation.
Why does Cádiz look like Havana?
After the eighteenth-century boom in colonial commerce, Cádiz enclosed its peninsula in bastions and sea walls. Historians of the fortifications note that this defensive system served as a model for Spanish colonial military architecture across the Americas. The ramparts of La Caleta and the seawall of the Campo del Sur are the stretches the cameras frame.