<Li> Jamie Lee - Hill as Laban Tall </Li> <P> David Nicholls became attached to the film in 2008 . In April 2013, it was reported that Matthias Schoenaerts had been offered the role of Gabriel Oak alongside Carey Mulligan as Bathsheba Everdene . Their casting was official in May 2013 with the participation of director Thomas Vinterberg . </P> <P> Principal photography started on 16 September 2013 . The film was shot in Dorset (Sherborne, Mapperton, and Beaminster), Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire and London . </P> <P> Mulligan claimed, in an appearance on The Graham Norton Show, that she hand - picked Schoenaerts to play Gabriel Oak after she saw him in the French film Rust and Bone . </P>

Where was the movie far from the madding crowd filmed