Hey folks, Harry here... Redneck Tall Tales... Yup, nothing like them. Just this past Thursday Night I was attending a screening of a Redneck Documentary about Rattlesnake Roundup up in Waurika, Oklahoma that was just... wowzers, some creepy ass stuff going on in it. I mean... Did you know a Rattlesnakes disembodied heart can beat for 40 minutes outside its body and not connected to anything else... Dude... How fucked up is it that that information even exists, much less the fact I saw the heart beating on a slab for a few minutes.... EWWWWwwww! I think the documentary is gonna get into SXSW, its called "sSSnakeHunt: A Redneck Thing" and it had some tall tales like crazy in it... But here's a film that Tim Burton is shooting... I know Tim understands the TALL TALE, but I'm not sure if he has the whole redneck tall tale thing down, cuz.. Boy, I'll tell ya, they can tell doozies! Here's one of AICN's spies in Alabama to tell ya about flaming dogs and giant farmers! Here ya go....
Hey Harry. I love your website...by far the best.
I live in Tallassee, Alabama. A small town that sets on the Tallapoosa River. It's about 25 - 30 mins from Montgomery and about 20 mins from Wetumpka (location of another Big Fish Shoot). Anyway, part of the movie was shot here tonight (Friday 17).
The scene involved a burning house and Ewan McGregor coming out of the house and down the front steps carrying a dog in his arms. He is suppose to be rescuing the dog from the burning house while the residents look on from the curb. As he walks down the steps with the dog in his arms the firemen are running up the stairs and stop at the top as Ewan hands the dog over to its owners. Then the residents clap and applaud Ewan while the firemen look on from the top. This was done several times....with a very long pause between shots because part of the house actually started to burn but nothing serious. They had to repatch part of the outside wall beneath a window cause part of the board in the wall came out.
Before they shot these scenes, they shot a few scenes of the house burning and a few frightful people standing outside on the lawn. an old firetruck pulls up in front of the house and the firemen jump out and run up to the building. this was done several times as well. a few practice routines and then the actual taping.
I got there at right before six pm and it didn't actually start till a few mins afterwards but it lasted until about 9:15pm. long periods between each scene (and there were only two scenes being filmed. but they went through them many times). it was very cold, especially for alabama. about 15 degrees outside. i saw tim burton many times. he seemed like he was having fun, laughing along with others on the set. I saw Ewan too but only when he was doing his scenes.
The dog is a six month old st. benard. a very big dog to be so young.
there is also a cave that has been constructed at the bottom of a boat ramp that is located about 3 mins from my house. they will film a scene there on monday where Ewan meets a giant that lives in a cave. he is stealing the town people's pets, food, etc. anyway, Ewan is suppose to teach the giant how to farm. our local newspaper has a very good shot of the cave and the house which is suppose to be burned (but they actually just used special effects flame torches...i guess that's what you call them, to simulate burning). i haven't had a chance to scan them and they are not on the web but soon as i can i will send them along.
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on a side note, there was a guy with the production company who was talking to us fans that gathered to watch the action (there were only like 15 of us watching and that number quickly thinned out). he basically told us when they were going to start and would shout 'rolling' when filming actually began. he said he was going back to miami saturday morning...that's where he is from. he worked on fast and furious 2 not too long ago. but anyway, we were talking about movie sites and this guy told someone to go to www.ainitcool.com for good information. then i mentioned i go there very often during the day to get all the good info on movies. he then said that harry knowles is a very powerful person and a lot and lot of big time hollywood people read your site everyday. i know you already knew this but i still think that is neat.
that is all for now. thanks for taking time to read my email. have a great weekend.
-Eric-
