By Kamile Sirvinskyte

The producer of a new movie starring a Mission Impossible actor has revealed why it was solely filmed in Kent.

Filming for It’s Okay to Go Back To Sleep has been taken place in Maidstone, Rochester and Sandwich over the last few weeks.

Featuring Jonathan Rhys Meyers, the story follows a neuroscientist tortured by sleep paralysis who goes to extreme lengths to test his controversial device that could either reverse paralysis or kill the patient.

Sasha Yelaun is an American producer who is working on the movie and has previously collaborated with Paramount and ABC.

The 39-year-old said: “The film was shot entirely in Kent.

"These locations included Pudding Lane in Maidstone, which was shut down to film the opening and closing scenes in the film, the Pfizer Factory in Sandwich, the Powerhub business centre in Maidstone on St Peters Street and Rochester High Street."

Mission Impossible III and Bend It Like Beckham star, Jonathan Rhys Meyers, was spotted filming in Rochester High Street earlier this month.

Sasha, who lives in Austin, Texas, has now confirmed the Irish actor was filming for Its Okay Go Back To Sleep.

He said: "Johnathan is the lead of the film, his character is the scientist who is curing the paralysis whilst dealing with his own demons. The whole film revolves around him.

“He was absolutely amazing, just very emotional. You could feel him in every scene.

"He really is a movie star. There couldn't have been a better choice of casting than him for the role, so he was absolutely amazing. He is our star."

Johnathan, who also played Henry VIII in the television historical drama The Tudors, filmed a scene for the new film at the newly-opened Ole tapas bar and restaurant in Rochester High Street where owner Juan Carlos Bejarano played host for the day.

As well as laying on tapas for the 60-strong entourage of camera crews, production teams and extras, Juan Carlos and wife Maribel Ramirez also landed a cameo part in the film.

Moldovan-born Sasha explained that the movie was originally intended to be shot in Chicago.

Speaking on the location change he said: “When they cast Jonathan, who lived in Dublin, he had decided to shoot the film in the UK.

“We were looking for an urban industrial area in England, and our location manager showed us the Pfizer factory, and that really appealed to us because the film is about a science experiment.

“We saw a lot of production value in the space, it kind of fit the look that we were going for with the film.

“So it was perfect to be able to take over that area and get the production value that we needed.

“We filmed a lot around the Powerhub business centre as well, it gave us the space and the freedom to do what we wanted and what creatively fit the director's vision.”

This is the third film Sasha has produced in the UK in his career.

He said: “I was the main producer, so I was involved in casting, selling the filmmakers on moving the project to the UK, doing the rewrite, picking which crew and which production service company we used and the financing.

“I was involved in all areas of production, everything from development, production and post-production.”

Filming has now finished but there is currently no confirmed release date.

Sasha, who has been working in the film industry for 20 years, hopes it will be available on Prime Video.

One of the films he recently produced was the 2023 comedy, Nandor Fodor and the Talking Mongoose, which starred Star Trek actor Simon Pegg.