SHUTTER ISLAND The Movie

[smoke1]

Hi All!

My WC51 was used in the movie SHUTTER ISLAND that comes out on Feb 19th. A still with the 'talent' in it on Peddocks Island off Hull, MA can be seen here Photos of Chuck Aule and the trailers can be seen here < Leonardo DiCaprio | Shutter Island | Trailer & Official Movie Site> and another one YouTube - Shutter Island Trailer 1 - Martin Scorsese .
Other photos that I took during the filming can be found in albums here m35a2ww's photos and albums on webshots along with photos of my other 'rides' and club events.
Paramount had the truck for 43 days in 08. Also involved was an GPW owned by Dr. Deuce ( of CCKW Whelelie fame) , a WC52 owned by Fred Mercier for close ups of the actors while driving around (also seen in the background of some shots, his had stars and USA markings, mine didin't) , a Command Car owned by Norm Demaris and 3 badly mistreated M38A1s from a rental outfit down south. I did get the Map Board autographed by DeCaprio, Ruffalo and the other actors in the truck as a keepsake, along with a bunch of cigarette butts they stuffed in various holes in the wooden body during the shooting of the cemetary drive by scenes
This past summer I got a call from a post production unit in CA that wanted the truck shipped out there for some additional filming but was unablee to cover the shipping out and back, let alone airfare and lodging for me. I gave them the Gillespie paint code for my truck and they were going to hire a truck out there for the needed shots. Anyone on the list get the call?
Overall it was an interesting experience. I'm thinking (DANGER WILL ROBINSON!!!! DANGER!!!!) of trying to write a story for MV Magazine that covers the escapade......

Ciao for now,
Ronzo

 

[croftonaviation]

It can be pretty interesting working with Hollywood types. I rented my Douglas DC-3 out for the movie big fish. Very cool what they can do with a plane sitting in a hanger. Best part (aside from a really healthy payment for our time) was they repainted and remarked our cargo interior when they were done with it. Nice looking Wc 51 by the way.

 

[No.2Diesel]

Hi,

Very cool man! Those islands make for a great sailing excursion.

 

[roscoe]

Looks good. I'll have to remember to watch that.

 

[TacticalTruck]

They made the abuse of my M38A1s worth it.....
Jeff

 

[smoke1]

They made the abuse of my M38A1s worth it.....
Jeff

Hi Jeff!
Derek was never very forthcoming on exactly where down south they were from or who the rental company was . Did they ask you to provide any WWII vehicles for the Death Camp scenes or for the rest of the filming? He said that unlike the left coast there aren't any movie vehicle companies on the east coast. So they were forced to contact collecters for them instead. He said it was the most he had ever heard of a company paying for daily rentals, especially the two tier rate schedule for shooting days and non shooting days. He found the vehicles for the "Kite Runner" were rather cheap Photos of Derek Raser though tanks may be more plentiful and there fore cheaper to rent in China (aka Afghanistan).
We thought it was odd that they weren't interested in buying the vehicles outright from us instead of paying a per day rate as the filming dragged on, but maybe it has to do with them being able to just write everything off and going out of business without ever having any real property to dispose of. Though they did buy some elaborate ceramic heaters to keep the talent warm and keep the craft sevices easy ups comfortable.
Marty originally wanted to follow the book and use Jeeps, but the seating was too tightfor the shots he wanted, Then they tried Norm's Command Car but it didn't work either. When I brought it up to Medfield to let them try rigging the aluminum 'girders' on it to mount the cameras on, they determined that they would be better off with 2 WCs, one rigged and one not so they could film the same scenes rapidly on the same day without the the trees leafing out and the sky changing.
The 'post' hurricane shots were going to be filmed in March and April before the trees leafed out and the 'pre' hurricane scenes shot after the leaves appeared on the trees. Though they had 6 or so man lifts specifically for the greensmen to remove or replace leaves from the trees as needed.
All in all, it was an interesting experience, and as you said, they did make it woth while for all involved.

Regards, Ronzo