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| Introduction: Opening the Doors Cast and Crew Prelude Journal 2: ACT 1: Blacklisted! March 6 (Day 2) March 9 (Day 3) March 10-11 (Days 4-5) March 12-13 (Days 6-7) Journal 3: ACT 2: Welcome to Ferndale! March 20 (Day 9) March 21 (Day 10) March 22 (Day 11) March 23 (Day 12) Journal 4: March 26 (Day 13) March 27 (Day 14) March 28 (Day 15) March 29 (Day 16) March 30 (Day 17) Journal 5: April 2 (Day 18) April 3 (Day 19) April 4 (Day 20) April 5 (Day 21) April 6 (Day 22) Journal 6: April 8 (Day 23) April 9 (Day 24) April 10 (Day 25) April 11 (Day 26) April 12 (Day 27) Journal 7: April 16 (Day 28) April 17 (Day 29) April 18 (Day 30) April 19 (Day 31) April 20 (Day 32) April 23 (Day 33) April 24 (Day 34) April 25 (Day 35) April 26 (Day 36) Journal 8: April 30 (Day 37) May 1 (Day 38) May 2 (Day 39) May 3 (Day 40) May 4 (Day 41) May 7 (Day 42) May 8 (Day 43) Journal 9: May 10-11 (Days 44-45) May 14 (Day 46) May 15 (Day 47) May 16 (Day 48) May17 (Day 49) May 18 (Day 50) Journal 10: May 21 (Day 51) May 22 (Day 52) May 23 (Day 53) May 24 (Day 54) May 25 (Day 55) Journal 11: May 29 (Day 56) May 30 (Day 57) May 31 (Day 58) June 1 (Day 59) |
Journal 2 March 12-13 (Days 6-7) Mann’s Chinese Theater on Hollywood Boulevard is the ultimate showbiz attraction in Los Angeles. Two million fans flock annually to its famous forecourt outside the front entrance to see Hollywood at their feet -- the handprints and footprints of some of moviedom’s acting royalty. Dubbed the most famous movie palace in the world, it attracts thousands daily to see its architecture and unique cement squares that sport signatures from Gary Cooper to Tom Hanks, Mary Pickford to Elizabeth Taylor. On these two days, Sid Grauman’s majestic movie theater would serve as a movie set for the first time in over 25 years, as megastar Jim Carrey (whose prints and autograph are part of this palace’s lore) would step inside this regal, 1400-seat auditorium to film scenes for “The Majestic.”  (N.B. For more information on the history of Grauman’s Chinese Theater, go to www.seeing-stars.com/Immortalized/ChineseTheatreForecourt.shtml). The production scheduled two full days at the Chinese (now owned by one of the nation’s biggest exhibition chains, Mann Theaters) for Sc. 3-7, encompassing most of the shoot inside the auditorium with an expansive setup outside on Tuesday night. The film’s story here follows Carrey (as Peter Appleton) as he is about to sit through a showing of his first produced script, “Sand Pirates of the Sahara.” Typical of the second-billed movie titles of the era (back then, your admission price of 44 cents bought you two full feature films, plus a Newsreel), “Sand Pirates...” is a low-budget black-and-white swashbuckling “B” movie that co-stars Appleton’s girlfriend, actress Sandra Sinclair (played by Amanda Detmer of “Saving Silverman”). In this scene the pair enjoys watching the fruits of their labors by reciting the lines along with the film as it plays on the big screen. Appleton relishes his big break, as witnessed when he visits the lobby for some popcorn (“propmaster” Maureen Farley’s antique popcorn containers and candy boxes are on display) and sees the film’s poster adorning the wall next to the theater’s main attraction -- John Huston’s classic, “The African Queen,” which starred Oscar-winners Humphrey Bogart and Katharine Hepburn. Designer Greg Melton manufactured a facsimile of the actual Huston film poster for “set decorator” Natali Kendrick Pope (who supervises set decoration or “dressing” of all sets) while Frank worked with illustrator, John Alvin, to create an original piece of art for “Sand Pirates...” The scene called for Carrey to look at the poster, only to find a smudge on the glass case obscuring his name. He wipes it clean and, smiling, sees his appellation, in small letters, below that of the cast. In designing the “Sand Pirates...” poster, Darabont had some fun choosing credits for the film, like “stars” Brett Armstrong, a.k.a. actor Bruce Campbell (“Army of Darkness”) and Ramon Jamon, a.k.a. Kiwi actor Cliff Curtis (“Three Kings”); producer Charles Russell (in deference to one of Darabont’s closest friends in town, director Chuck Russell of “The Mask”; and director Ferenc Arpad (as mentioned earlier, the Hungarian translation of Darabont’s first and middle names). The Chinese Theater is one of the busiest venues in town, so location manager John Grant (no relation to Hollywood’s unofficial Mayor, Johnny Grant) had a tall order to secure the site for his director after scouting several other old-time palaces in Los Angeles, Pasadena and San Pedro, the latter town south of the city. Ironically, the filmmakers did not visit the Egyptian (down the street from the Chinese on Hollywood Boulevard) where Frank once worked as an usher. As it turned out, Grant had no trouble convincing the theater’s management to turn the keys over to their cinema kingdom. He relates, “They read Sloane’s nostalgic script and liked the fact that it was a poignant homage to Hollywood and its unique history, of which the Chinese is certainly a big part.” It also didn’t hurt that a friend of Sloane’s plays softball with one of Mann’s corporate executives, who helped secure the deal to rent the movie palace. Grant also related a humorous anecdote from atop the old balcony overlooking the expansive auditorium involving himself, Darabont and several high school classmates circa 1977. It turns out that the Hollywood High “Mafia,” as Darabont endearingly calls his cronies, were (and still are) huge movie fans during their school days. The group was among the first in line at the Chinese when “Stars Wars” officially opened to the public on May 25, 1977. They paid for their tickets, then snuck up into the balcony, where the late owner Grauman (who died in 1950) had a private box just outside his office, where he would entertain some of his actor friends in the business, including the likes of fellow poker player Greta Garbo. Grant and friends took over those famous seats and watched a film that would change many of their lives forever. How touching that the filmmaker would get to take his movie cameras inside the royal picture palace almost 25 years later! In doing so, he was the first since Mel Brooks paraded cowboy Cleavon Little down the aisles in his 1974 classic, “Blazing Saddles.” Because of a late wrap on the prior Sunday night, the company reported to work at 10:00 a.m., loaded their equipment into the auditorium and got their first shot at about 12:30 p.m. Carrey’s character walks down the aisle, popcorn in hand, as the screen unspools a period newsreel about Hollywood’s “Red Scare.” Parts of the b/w short were shot purposely for “The Majestic,” and cut into actual news footage from the era (Warner Pathe News) that reported on the Communist witchhunt. Interior filming consumed the Monday shoot, with a 2:00 p.m. crew call set for Tuesday (the late hour, called a “split” crew call, was designated because we had a “night exterior” shot outside). Darabont completed all his interior scenes before taking his colleagues into the night as the moon (and some Klieg lights) illuminated Hollywood Boulevard. For the exterior setup, VFX (visual effects) supervisor Gibson (son of actor Henry Gibson) was on hand to observe and supervise the Steadicam shot that would transform Darabont’s film magically and majestically back to 1951. That would mean using “computer graphic images” (or CGI) to take out the Chinese Theatre’s marquee (which did not exist back then) while adding some palm trees (which adorned the front of the theater in 1951, and were replaced over the years by ficus trees). Instead of instructing Gibson to “electronically” remove the ficus trees, “executive producer” Jim Behnke managed to convince city government that he would pay to “speed up” the Chinese Theatre’s proposed plan to replace the ficus trees with palms, restoring the original look of the theatre. In addition to creating and removing the entryway trees to the Chinese Theatre, Gibson will later use his magical genius to recreate the “red line,” trolley car that bounded up and down Hollywood Boulevard back in ‘51. While not divulging any of his tricks, Gibson admits that “because we are shooting the shot with the Steadicam camera, it becomes more difficult to add CGI images in a moving camera shot. But, I’m happy Frank chose not to shoot the establishing shot as one of those repetitious crane-down shots you see in so many movies.” While Gibson focused on his task-at-hand, location manager Grant’s department worked with the City of Hollywood, the county’s DOT (department of transportation) and other municipal agencies to shut down Hollywood Boulevard for a three-block stretch (from Sycamore Street, one block east of La Brea, to Highland Avenue just east of the theater) beginning at 9:00 p.m. Tuesday evening. Transportation coordinator Marder dressed the street with 30 period cars to finalize the illusion that we are back in 1951, while local police (a staple on location movie sets, for security and traffic control) would patrol to insure that bystanders (200 or so) did not cross the barricades and ruin the shot. Carrey (who was not to appear in the exterior shot) ventured outside to watch various rehearsals on the video replay monitors. Many of the bystanders across the street had no knowledge that he was sitting with his colleagues -- that is, until he crossed the boulevard to shake hands and sign some autographs for the few hundred (including three tourists from Iowa) who stayed well past midnight observing the action. Filming at the Chinese (which wrapped at sunrise) would conclude production for the week, as everyone enjoyed their midweek weekend once again, then traveled north on Friday, March 16, to begin shooting in Ferndale and Humboldt County, California, on Monday, March 19. Some interesting happenings these two days at the Chinese. Director Darabont has a meticulous attention to detail. He instructed production designer Melton to lay down the signature “red carpet” outside the main entrance to the theater -- not because he was filming the quintessential Hollywood premiere, but to hide a couple of cement panels on its famous forecourt that were dedicated to the theater in 1981 (well before the story’s 1951 setting). The director would also take the posters Melton printed for the lobby sequence and fold them into eighths, a practice done fifty years ago for mailing purposes (posters back then were never rolled, but shipped folded and flat). Coming attractions -- Five weeks in another town. |
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