The director of an upcoming war film starring Brad Pitt has apologised after filming Nazi war scenes in an English village on Remembrance
Sunday.

David Ayer offered his ‘heartfelt apologies’ after extras acted out battle scenes dressed as Nazis as the UK prepared to honour its war dead at the weekend.

The US film-maker expressed his sorrow online after the team behind Fury refused to halt filming near Shirburn, Oxfordshire.

‘My heartfelt apologies for any disrespect on Remembrance Day. I am a veteran myself. It is an honour to film here in the UK,’ he wrote on Twitter.

He also posted a picture of servicemen at a wreath-laying ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia.

The decision to film the scenes as Britain paused in silence to remember the nation’s dead was widely criticised.

‘I’m astonished producers would not consider it to be inappropriate to film such scenes on Remembrance Sunday,’ said shadow defence minister Kevan Jones.

‘And it is outrageous appeals from locals to reconsider plans to film on such an occasion were ignored.’
Council chairman Ian Hill said ‘Whoever is responsible is insensitive.

‘A letter has been sent to express our feelings of how inappropriate it was for Sherman tanks to be rolling across the countryside while explosions were being let off.

‘Local people are very angry.’

Meanwhile, hundreds of people attended the funeral of a war veteran yesterday, after an appeal for mourners caught the public’s imagination.

Remembrance Day, also known as Poppy Day or Armistice Day, is a memorial day observed in Commonwealth countries since the end of World War I to remember the members of their armed forces who died serving their country.

The movie's decision to press ahead with its shoot -- in the very early hours of Sunday morning -- caused a stir with locals.

According to the Daily Mirror, Oxfordshire village parish council chairman Ian Hill said that local people were "very angry" with the decision to film on Remembrance Sunday.

Producers at Sony also issued an apology, stating that they "deeply regret any misunderstandings caused."

Fury, which also stars Jason Isaacs and Shia LaBeouf, is due to be released in October 2014 and details the story of a World War II tank crew.
One extra who was filming on Sunday described the shoot to the as being "grotesquely disrespectful and offensive. I can't believe I wore an SS uniform on Remembrance Sunday."

The furor was picked up across the media, including the BBC. The U.K. public broadcaster devotes a good deal of its schedule to the annual memorial day, which this year saw the Queen, Prince William and Prince Harry lay commemorative wreaths at the Cenotaph, Whitehall in central London.