Spielberg filming Cold War thriller in Wroclaw

A fragment of the Berlin Wall constructed on the set of Steven Spielberg's St. James Place, Wroclaw Photo: PAP/Maciej Kulczynski

Photographers from the Polish Press Agency managed to get a peek at the action, with the Lower Silesian capital doubling as 1960s Berlin in the picture.

Set designers have constructed a fragment of the Berlin Wall (pictured), while period vehicles have been shipped in by the dozen.

Photo: PAP/Maciej Kulczynski

St James Place explores the dramatic historical legacy of the 1960 U-2 Incident, during which a US spy plane was shot down over the Soviet Union.

In Spielberg's film, Tom Hanks is playing New York lawyer James Donovan, whose task is to negotiate the release of US pilot Francis Gary Powers.

Mark Rylance, Amy Ryan and Alan Alda are starring alongside Hanks in the film.

St James Place marks the second time that Spielberg has filmed in Poland, following on from his Oscar-winning Holocaust drama Schindler's List, which was shot in Krakow in 1993.

In 1999, the director wrote a letter of recommendation to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, calling for Polish film-maker Andrzej Wajda to be awarded an honorary Oscar, and Wajda duly won the award in 2000.

The world premiere of St James Place is scheduled for October 2015. (nh)