James Corden's comeback to the acting industry has been confirmed as he was spotted filming with two huge stars. Actor James, 46, was photographed filming in London alongside Sir Ian McKellen and Baby Reindeer’s Jessica Gunning, with BAFTA winner Michaela Coel also visible in one shot. The photos taken on Monday show the actors on a rare sunny February day, filming on an up-market residential street. The group was all dressed in casual yet high-end clothes, and seemed to laugh and chat with each other between takes.
James was seen wearing a tartan print long hooded coat with a khaki shirt underneath, which he accessorised with a pair of glasses with thick black frames. He was seen smiling and chatting with Baby Reindeer star Jessica in one shot – while Sir Ian beamed from ear to ear while talking to James in another photo, showing the cast clearly have a good chemistry.
Jessica sported a striking long red cardigan with a rose print, and had brunette hair styled in loose curls. In other snaps she wore a stunning long black coat with shearling trim detail as she walked behind James – who had changed from his brown tartan coat to a navy blue jacket.
Actor Sir Ian was also snapped in two outfits – showing the group are hard at work on set – styled in a blue, yellow, red and green striped jumper underneath a denim jacket in one image while he had later undergone a wardrobe change into an orange and yellow striped jumper in a second snap. Michaela was photographed in a bright, long olive green coat with a satchel worn across her body as she stood on the doorstep of a house. The group was all smiles in the photos, seeming to enjoying working with one another during the busy day.
The talented actors are currently working on Steven Soderbergh’s new movie The Christophers, with Soderbergh also responsible for Hollywood hits such as Traffic, Magic Mike, and Ocean’s Eleven. Not much is known about The Christophers yet, but the dark comedy focuses on “the estranged children of a once-famous artist who hire a forger to complete his unfinished works so they can be discovered and sold after his death,” according to Deadline.
This is James Corden’s first return to filming after the success of the Gavin and Stacey Christmas Special. The BBC’s viewership figures revealed that the finale of the beloved show secured the highest Christmas Day ratings since 2008, drawing an average audience of 12.3 million, according to overnight figures.
It surpassed the show’s 2019 Christmas special – which had an overnight audience of 11.6 million – by more than half a million viewers. James has made it clear that Gavin and Stacey is at an end, with his new film following its major success. For Ian McKellen, The Christophers marks his return to acting after being forced to take a break following a terrifying workplace injury. In June 2024, Ian fell head first into the audience at the Noel Coward Theatre in London after getting caught in a chair and loosing his footing on stage while playing John Falstaff in Player Kings.
Sir Ian revealed that the fat suit he wore helped keep him safe from further injuries to his back and ribs, but he still chipped a vertebrae and fractured his wrist during the fall, and had to take the year off. "What I’ve been left with is not so much a physical injury, but a mental disturbance because I thought it was much more serious at the time that it was," he told Simon Mayo on his Greatest Hits Radio Drivetime.
"I think I thought I was about to die, I thought I’d broken my neck I’d forgotten but apparently, I’d said, ‘I’ve broken my neck, I am dying’ and if I said it, I must have thought that I was. And I’ve just got to deal with that. I’m not dying, not just yet and I hope I’ll get back to acting again on stage.".
Sir Ian has previously spoken of his fears that due to his age, such injuries were harder to recover from - but said that he wanted to keep working as long as he was able. Yorkshire-born Jessica Gunning is also making her return to the screen for The Christophers, after becoming a major star for her starring role as stalker Martha Scott in the hit Netflix series Baby Reindeer.
The 2024 series won a host of awards, with Jessica even taking home a Primetime Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actress for her work as Martha, while the character of Donny - her victim - saw writer Richard Gadd win Outstanding Lead Actor. Like this story? For more of the latest showbiz news and gossip, follow Mirror Celebs on TikTok , Snapchat , Instagram , Twitter , Facebook , YouTube and Threads .
