From Avengers to The Favourite: how a film student is recreating famous movie scenes

Thomas Duke’s passion enables us to jump straight into a film set with just a photograph

When the real world gets a little too much to handle for film student Thomas Duke, he loves nothing better than to get lost in a world of fantasy and magic.

However, not in the traditional sense; he does not find himself snacking on popcorn at the movies. Thomas travels far and wide in order to step into his favourite films; across cities, trekking amongst nature, exploring hundred-year old buildings and even taking to the skies to fulfil his cinematic escapism.

The Brunel student’s passion began in childhood and has never stopped growing: “Film is a huge part of my life. I’m inspired by many actors and stories which have stayed with me right from my early years,” says Duke.

He explains how he came up with the idea for his “Stepping Through Film” project which has seen him gain over 50,000 followers on Instagram: “I’ve always enjoyed exploring the hideaways of nature to find the most interesting aspects around me.

“I knew some films were shot in London and so with a lot of my time being spent in the city, it just felt so perfect to join my love for film and travel into one.

“First and foremost, everything I like doing is inspired by film! It’s a medium that I have so much history with and something I think about on a daily basis.”

His ever-growing collection includes the Harry Potter films, Ironman and the Marvel collection, Love Actually, animations like Up and even classics like Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.

Thomas only visits locations that mean something to him and worries if he began visiting hundreds of places that didn’t he would lose all meaning. “Without this deep-rooted passion for the medium I probably would have never started this – it makes it all mean something far more than just an image.”

Find more of Thomas Duke’s work here