Holkham is once again going to be featured on the silver screen as filming for a sci-fi movie starring Natalie Portman is scheduled to take place this month.

%image(14463413, type="article-full", alt="Holkham Pines: This beach is the one across which Gwyneth Paltrow walked in the closing scenes of 'Shakespeare in Love'. Picture: Mike Page")

Production crews are set to arrive in Holkham for filming next week, working on scenes for sci-fi drama Annihilation, an adaptation of the 2014 novel of the same name, by author Jeff VanderMeer.

Directed and written by Alex Garland of Ex Machina fame, Annihilation follows a biologist (Natalie Portman) as she signs up for a dangerous expedition into an environmental disaster zone where the laws of nature no longer apply.

Natalie Portman, well-known for her work in films such as V for Vendetta (2005), Black Swan (2010), and Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005), is set to take on the role of the biologist, with Oscar Isaac (Star Wars: The Force Awakens, X-Men: Apocolypse and Ex Machina), Gina Rodriguez (Jane the Virgin), Tessa Thompson (Veronica Mars, Selma, and Creed) and Jennifer Jason Leigh (The Hateful Eight) all listed as fellow cast members on website IMDb.

Supporting artist casting for the shoot took place in Norwich in June, with both the casting platform POP and Catnap Casting advertising on social media for athletic males aged 20-55 to apply.

%image(14824029, type="article-full", alt="Actress Natalie Portman attends the screening of "Thor: The Dark World". Photo by Greg Allen/Invision/AP")

It is believed some of the extras will be playing 'special operations' roles while other background artists will be required to wear 'haz-mat type suits and gas masks'.

The production has also recently been filming on location in Aldershot.

Holkham is Norfolk's most popular filming location with Holkham Hall featuring in several blockbusters over recent years including the 2008 Pathé Pictures film, The Duchess, starring Kiera Knightly and Ralph Fiennes. The film used the hall to recreate the interior of Devonshire House, the London residence of the Duke of Devonshire.

The 1999 First World War drama, All the King's Men, was also partially filmed at Holkham and featured a scene in which Dame Maggie Smith and David Jackson dine in the great saloon.

Additionally, Holkham beach has featured in several productions, including the closing scenes of Miramax's 1998 period drama Shakespeare in Love starring Gwyneth Paltrow and Joseph Fiennes, parts of The Eagle Has Landed (1976) starring Michael Caine, and All Saints' iconic music video for Pure Shores in 2000.