News
July 2nd, 2007 | Digg This
Well, the Indiana Jones 4 movie news just doesn’t stop flowing at the moment does it? Guess what, we’ve got more. We’ll split this post into two, the first half will be spoiler free and the second shall come after the break and be packed to the brim with spoilerific action scene delights.
To begin with, Shia LaBeouf dons the cover of Vanity Fair, what with one popular Transformers movie being released. As to be expected, there are some choice quotes about the Indiana Jones film.
“People say, ‘What are you doing for your 21st birthday, Shia?,’ and I’m like, ‘I’m making an Indiana Jones movie.’ What’s better than that?”
[...] “When he mentioned Indiana Jones, I was about to have a heart attack. I couldn’t breathe. And then he told me not to tell anyone. It’s like winning the Super Bowl but you can’t tell anyone you won the Super Bowl for three months!”
[...] Of his time on the set with Spielberg, LaBeouf says, “I remember saying, ‘I’m the least likely person to be here,’ and Steven said, ‘You and me both. I never wanted to make another one of these. We ended the series perfectly.’ That scares me, as a fan and as the actor who’s doing it. But Steven said he wouldn’t have made this movie if the script wasn’t right.”
[...] “It’s a lot of pressure,but that’s the way I want it, man. I prayed for this pressure. This is willed.”
And this is why we love Steven Spielberg (no spoilers in this video I promise):
Read the rest of this entry »
June 28th, 2007 | Digg This
“You and I are simply passing through history. This…, this is history” – Rene Belloq, Raiders of the Lost
Ark
June 28th – Well, maybe not up there with World War II or the moon landing, but for us locals, this is historic…the first “Official” day of Indy IV filming in New Haven is here! I say official as there have been many dress rehearsals and filming here and there, but today it was the real deal. The boys, Spence, 9, and Owen, 7, headed out early and got to New Haven (or maybe the town of Bedford, located in Michigan – as one wild rumor was said by a local) around 7:30. The boys and I woke up early and headed out to grab a great scrambled egg breakfast at the Bedford Grill (again, the modern day Copper Kitchen), which like many of the retail shops has been transformed to 1957. Now added to the scenery were stamp machines, scale/fortune telling machines, a Bozo the Clown – “fun-phone”, shoe shine station, and a few new shops. All the shops are still open behind their Indy IV, (or The Untitled Genre Project, as it is called on all the flyers around town – a PG Rated action-adventure set in the Golden Age of 1957 – see no “City of the Gods” or “Raiders of the Lost Dentures”) window dressing – so it is like stepping into “The Twilight Zone” as you travel back 50 years in time at every corner.
A glance down College Street shows vintage cars and trucks from the late 1940s and early 1950s, and then small groups of authentically dressed extras, being led across the green start to appear. One really has to take a moment and soak in the amount of exquisite craftsmanship and detail that has been poured into the sets. The professionalism of the crew, not to mention the local Yale and New Haven Police, who are keeping a watchful eye and making sure that the normal business life in New Haven, goes on amidst the action of Indiana Jones. And yes, oddly enough, a lot of would-be Indiana Jones walking around in costume – kind of like the guys at football games who paint themselves in the color of the team as my son, Owen, pointed out.
Lights, Camera,… Wait….and….Wait………Wait, We look down the street to see a familiar baseball capped, bearded gentleman walking down College Street framing the scene with his thumbs and forefingers – no, it couldn’t be… but it is, the one and only Steven Spielberg! There he was walking down the road, seeing how the forthcoming chase scene will look in his mind.
Now after they cleared the real local traffic, and washed down the streets, and waited for local traffic, again. The scene started. After a few practice runs, and now that the street was “locked down”.. here it was…ready…., lights, …camera, ….ACTION! If you didn’t think Hollywood hadn’t arrived to the Elm City, the black sedans, being pursued by a motorcycle being driven by a 50’s hipster, with an older, scholarly looking professor hanging on for dear life was the clincher! Yes, Indiana Jones was here! Well, his stunts double anyway.
Now, amongst the spectators were cheering fans from around the area, locals who were just trying to get to work around the closed streets, and being the mini-New York it is, a lot of ticked off, New Haveners who could care less! NOTE TO GENRE PRODUCTIONS – When hiring Production Assistants and Day Laborers, get ones who know the area – I helped give directions over three dozen times to lost pedestrians and confused production personnel, and in one somewhat scary situation, calmed a very irate bicyclist who was a little “angrier than normal” when told he couldn’t cross College, due to the filming.
Anyway, watching the chase scene, again, and again, and again, and again… you realize movie making is done by folks with the patience of Saints! A lot of standing by to stand by. Oh well, there is only so much the boys could take. We walked around, had a bite at the Yankee Doodle Diner - great cheeseburgers — and looked around the familiar streets where I grew up, to see what else was going on. Going by Naples Pizza on High Street, we bumped into a few extras and readers of these “Raiders Ramblings” who recognized me and the kids. Another thing about movie-making, especially for extras, is they need to supply air-conditioned pants and skirts – it was about 88 degrees today, but the costumes looked a little warm for summer. I wish I could have got some shots of the gang with the kids, but we didn’t want to get any of these fine folks in trouble. It was nice to talk with actors and fellow fans, lucky enough to get picked – and yes, I agree with you guys – the “Entertainment Weekly – Obsessed Fan of the Week” – may have put me in the reject/fanatic bin –maybe I should have said it was the Obese Fan of the week and I could have got something like Chubby Guy at Bus Station extra. However, the kids were excited, because to them everyone was a famous movie star and it was a treat to say hi to these 1950s looking Indy extras. After we walked away they told me they forgot to ask for autographs! Fedoras off to you guys and gals – keep cool and don’t upstage the leading men and women!
Dr. Jones, The famous archaeologist? Speaking of the lead, the man himself, Harrison Ford, was around the corner in a university building rehearsing a classroom scene with Spielberg. There were lights and reflectors outside the windows and a lot of folks hurrying around. My son, Spencer, who has had Bill Murray wish him “Happy Birthday” when he was 5, and met and received Bruce Springsteen’s guitar pick, waited to see if Harrison Ford was going to come out and shake his hand and sign his Indy action figure he picked up a Disney World last year. I had to gently tell him, that Mr. Ford was a little busy at the moment.
As we walked around the chase scene was going on and on. There was a weird sight in the Yale Commons is a new statue of 10th Yale President Theodore Dwight Woolsey that was being put together near the real one – except this one was missing a head. In fact, he had about 7 heads that were being put together by the craftsman from Paramount. No doubt to be blown up or some devastating event that awaits, similar to the fake Iron Gate on Chapel Street and new wooden doors on Calhoun College. It is now raining out and they have done the chase scene a zillion times, no doubt it will be jam-packed full of celluloid scene magic next May. That’s all folks! As we sit at the table in 1957 McCurry’s Seafood Restaurant on Chapel Street (known as Starbuck’s Coffee Shop in 2007) to write this and take a much need break from the heat, all we can say is “Wow”! Owen wants to go home and make a movie in our backyard with the video camera. He is telling Spencer that he can ride his wagon with our dog, Indiana, in the back and pretend to be chased by the bad guys. That being me – the baddest bad guy Dad in Connecticut!
That is all for today. There are some new pics of the Chapel Street scenery – and construction the fake statue on myspace.com/mitchellhallock – but none of the chase scene – that you’ll have to see at the movies next year! The local WTNH.com and NewHavenRegister.com will have all new video clips and articles everyday – visit them and search for “Indiana Jones”
June 27th, 2007 | Digg This
Well, my sons and I might not have been picked to be some of the 500 extras for the New Haven shoot - but everyone was part of Indy IV on Tuesday night!
The excitement was building, dozens of tractor trailer trucks bearing the name Paramount Pictures, New Haven, CT lined the streets of New Haven, signs and pamphlets from Genre Productions on every lamp post telling about an upcoming chase scene and do not leave bicycles unattended this Thursday, Friday and Saturday as they will be removed, carpenters and painters are working overtime, lamp posts and fire hydrants being repainted, shop windows taking a trip back in time, why? Because Indiana Jones is coming to New Haven!
But before that … it’s Indiana Jones Day in the Elm City and tons of fans, and city residents turned out to take part in the fun all compliments of the New Haven Cultural Events Committee and a little company called, Lucasfilm! For the kids there were face painters, sidewalk drawings, balloon animals, carousel rides, moon bounces, rock climbing walls, and more – all free! And for the adults, food and drink specials, music, entertainment, and contests from the “We Named the Dog, Indiana” (which we won – as that IS my dog’s name – for real) and everywhere you heard John Williams “Raiders” theme echoing all around. We were entertained by the bull-whipping, fire eating and aerial acrobatics of the Aerial Angels!
The local symphonies had a salute to John Williams and played music from the Indy trilogy – and it was capped by what else – a free outdoor showing of “Raiders of the Lost Ark”. The crowd gathered applauded, after Mayor of New Haven, John DeStefano thanked everyone for coming to New Haven and then the movie started - as the credits appeared, (it was on the screen backwards – but fixed in seconds) and REALLY wild as Indiana Jones entered the screen, after whipping the gun from his turncoat guide. Indiana Jones was back in action once again and the crowd loved it! Across the streets at the offices at Genre Productions, the lights were on and the door open as staff members busily prepared for the upcoming shoot.
I met tons of fans including the fellow who was first in line at the casting call, who was also not picked, but we had a great time and promised to meet up on Thursday and watch the chase scene down College and Chapel Street!
The new “old” buildings and what really happened to Marcus Brody! I added new photos of the store fronts on MySpace (shots can also be seen here and local news reports here)
Adding to the Woolworths, news-stand, and men’s clothing store was now a pawn shop (that had a tenor sax in the window – maybe Indy sold his old music instrument to buy a new fedora – fans of the Young Indy Chronicles, may remember last time Harrison Ford played Indy in 1993 – he played one), a bridal/groom shop, a bakery, and more – but the best is Brody’s Barber Shop – is that a nod to the dearly missed friend, Marcus Brody (played by the late, great Denholm Elliot or Sheriff Brody from Jaws). It was nice to see it – maybe Marcus gave up the museum and started cutting hair!
I spoke with a fellow painting the lamp posts with grey wall paper paste – (it looks clean on film and washes away with plain water). He pointed out all the parking meters were down, and hydrants painted grey and black – the Yale doors were being finished before they are wrecked by a truck, too. More construction is going on all night with doors open to old buildings filled with carpenters and craftsman.
Filming on York Street tonight
We were excited to see a sign on a Yale building and a production assistants asking folks to be quiet – it was a film – but we were told it was a Leonardo DeCaprio film shooting and not Indy IV – but they did a chase scene last night according to my “inside” friends.
More to come. Check out the sites and scenes for the great night in New Haven on myspace.com/mitchellhallock and look for more reports this week as me and my kids go down and watch the action!
That’s all for now –
June 25th, 2007 | Digg This
The New Haven register have revealed that shooting will begin on Thursday 28th in New Haven:
While Chapel Street will be closed to motorized vehicles, except for 1950s sedans and a motorcycle, for much of Thursday through Saturday, you’ll still be able to walk up the street and into Woolworth’s.
[...]
Because of the probability of changes in the filming schedule, the production crew will post the next day’s schedule each night on the city’s Web site, www.cityofnewhaven.com.
Shooting is expected to begin as early as 6am this Thursday until July 7th, omitting July 4th and Sunday 1st. The article goes on to highlight some changed minds regarding the Derby Avenue chase scene and a new scene altogether:
As of late last week, plans for Thursday were to shoot inside William L. Harkness Hall and the Yale Law School, and on the following streets, at least part of the time: College Street between Grove and Crown streets; Chapel, Elm and Grove between Temple and York streets; High between Crown and Elm; and Prospect Street between Trumbull and Grove streets.
[...]
One change the Paramount decision-makers have made is that they will not use a Yale practice field in the scene. “Their creative team decided that they’re not going to use Derby Avenue for the chase scene,” said West Haven Police Chief Ronald M. Quagliani.
Lamb said that part of the schedule will be filled with something new. “They’re creating a new scene, which hasn’t even been confirmed yet, so that’s going to go in there,” she said.
Wtnh.com are detailing a number of aesthetic changes you may come across,
All the shops along Chapel will be getting face lifts, the gallery’s, dress shops and restaurants. Each could be in the background when filming begins next week. Already Indiana Jones fever has begun and customers say you never know when you may see one of the movie stars.
Whilst New Haven are putting on the Indiana Jones and The Temple Street Festival. Check out all the details in the link, but proceedings include a free showing of Raiders of the Lost Ark and themed contests. All free of charge. It kicks off tomorrow, June 26th.
June 24th, 2007 | Digg This
The Hawaii Tribune-Herald reports that production teams have set up show in Deming and along the Hamakua coast:
Location shooting will take place along the Hamakua Coast and Lucasfilm has opened a production office in Hilo. There is no word yet on any casting call or other local production hires.
Filming on the project, to be released May 22, 2008, started Monday in Deming, N.M., where part of the town has been decked out to resemble Morocco during World War II.
Security surrounding the yet-to-be-titled film, which has been dubbed “Project X” by those close to the production, has been even tighter than around past film projects on the island.
The full article, which also goes into some depth about the secrecy involved in the film’s production, especially when it comes to plot leaks, the worldwide media and the internet. Read the full article by John Burnett here.
