Little did I know last October when I received a call from a Los Angeles UPM that I knew from my Sony days that Austin Studios would be in for quite a whirlwind. Paramount Pictures’ TRUE GRIT, directed by Joel and Ethan Coen, was due to move into the Studios before the holidays and would transform our stages into the late 1800s. What a site to walk into the stages and see the experienced craftsman rendering sets from freshly cut wood into what would be the old-time stables, mercantiles, wagon wheel repair and side walk facades of this classic remake. In Stage 3, our cyc wall was painted black to match the weather they were dealt on the New Mexico portion of their shoot, home to “Mattie’s bedroom” and “Greaser Bob’s cabin.” Not to mention Stage 5 completely turned into miles of wardrobe, props and set decoration–hundreds of costumes lined the stage floor–with every outfit from Sunday best to bolo ties and petit coats. Hollywood at its best right here in Austin (click on the photo to check out more photos from the Austin shoot from Austin360.com).When production landed back on Texas soil after completing half of their shoot in Santa Fe, the Studios filled up with production vehicles, dressing room trailers and who could forget the horse trailers. It’s always a good day to pull onto the lot and see 200 cowboys and Indians walking a round. One of the exterior locations was at the rear of our property–early 1900s–Wild West Show. Good ol Rooster Cogburn (Jeff Bridges), La Boeuf (Matt Damon) and sweet Mattie Ross (Hailee Steinfeld) being escorted around–nothing cooler!
My son was lucky enough to be selected as a background extra–they were looking for a young boy, freckles, big ears and a plus if he had wonky teeth. Well, god blessed him with all of the above. In explaining to him that he could easily end up on the cutting room floor, the days that he participated he will remember forever. Who wouldn’t want to play dress up, run around fighting with swords when all the magic is happening by the masterminds of both Joel and Ethan Coen?
Our lucky interns and apprentices got the field trip of a lifetime: going on location to Grainger, Texas, a small town Main Street about 30 minutes outside Austin completely transformed. You really had to try hard to remember what it looked like before because it seemed as though time had stood still for the past 200 plus years.
What a treat for Texas, and Austin in particular, to have had the privilege of working with Paramount Pictures, the Coen Brothers and the extremely talented cast and crew. Kudos to our Texas FIlm Commission and everyone involved for a job well done. I myself am impatiently waiting for the Christmas Premiere – here’s a little sneak peek:
Source:Catherine Parrington www.persistenceofvision.org
No comments:
Post a Comment