Rosamund Pike admitted that she was in love with Budapest, Hungary’s capital

It is certainly true that Budapest is a magical city, and many people who have visited it said that they had fallen in love with its atmosphere. There are many things to see in Budapest, and it is the perfect mixture of modern and traditional. You could go and visit a modern exhibition or go into a modern office building on one corner, yet if you wanted to, you could almost travel back in time to the 19th century and have a delicious coffee in a salon.

As more and more companies pick Hungary for their movie set, and many blockbusters used either the cityscape of Budapest or the renowned studios it offers, the number of movie stars that think Budapest is a lovely city is also growing. As it is evident from CNTraveler’s interview with British actor Rosamund Pike, she is now among those who think back to their stay in Hungary as a joyful and extraordinary experience.

She stayed in Budapest a few years back because she was the lead actor in the Amazon Studio’s new movie, Radioactive. Most people would think that she did not have any time to explore the city as she was also caring for her children, but quite the contrary, in the interview she mentioned that she was able to see quite a bit of Budapest and some other parts of Hungary as well. Radioactive, the premier of which was delayed until 15 June in the UK and 24 July in the US, is a biographical drama about the life of Marie Curie, one of the most well-known women in science. Budapest comes into the picture as it was the set for the streets of late-19th-century Paris where Curie made her remarkable discovery.

Where did she stay?

As Rosamund Pike said to her interviewer, she mostly stayed in Budapest’s city centre near the Parliament – which she thought of as “an amazing and beautiful building right near the Danube”. She also mentioned that she particularly found the nights there magical. As she recalls, the square near the Parliament was “deserted except for maybe one guard.

[…] There was something so powerful and magical about it.”

What were her favourite sets?

Well, Budapest, while close in the era of some of its buildings’ style, is not exactly Paris, so the movie team had to transform the cityscape to better suit their needs. In one of Rosamund’s favourite sets on Zoltán Street, they added cafés, flower shops, horses, and carriages to make it seem like a scene from 19th-century Paris. In the movie, this is the scene where the viewers first see the protagonist. Although the new Ethnographic Museum is currently under construction – which you can read and watch videos about – and the old building cannot be visited by the public since December 2017, the production team was able to use the location as the Sorbonne University, where Marie Curie announces her discovery, as Rosamund Pike said enthusiastically. Also, parts of Bródy House were used as the apartment of Marie and Pierre Curie.

What other sights did she visit?

As it is the go-to place to visit for many tourists, both Hungarian and international, Rosamund Pike also visited Lake Balaton. It sounds like she was particularly fond of this part of Hungary as well. “[T]here are no motorized vehicles apart from these little electric boats. So,

you can take a little boat out into the middle of the lake where it’s the most beautiful place to swim”.