Hey folks, Harry here... Yeesh, forgot to write an intro for these two reports. The first one is by Red here... I'm still awaiting his pics, if I get them tomorrow, I'll just hold this report as Top Story, then add a... "EXTRA PICS" to the main page with it, so you'll know. But so far, we've been getting a pretty nice array of reports from up north... Thanks a ton! Here ya go...
Hey Harry,
So, a scene from the X Men was being filmed in the street right outside my office in Toronto yesterday.
They shut down a large portion of King Street right outside the King Edward hotel, with the intention of blowing out one of the windows. Apparently, they used too much explosive and blew out several others, including those of the regular rooms in which guests were staying. From my desk I can see the damage caused - a scorched wall and four or five missing windows.
I took a picture of the scene as they were setting up - I'll scan it for you tonight. And on a related topic, I've heard that the rushes for the film are "very gothic, like Batman - very Tim Burton."
Red
Hey folks, Harry here again... This time with our second report from SUNFIRE (click here to read his previous report), and ya might wanna watch reading this one, as it does talk about where the final act takes place, and if you don't want to know... don't read, but it is a damn good report! here ya go...
Hi there,
Sunfire here again. (You may remember I was an extra in the concentration camp scene of the X-Men.) Anyway, here is my latest snoop of this weekends shoot of the X-Men. Enjoy. -Sunfire.
X-MEN FINALE FILMED IN BURLINGTON
The climactic finale to the X-Men - a battle scene atop the Statue of Liberty - was filmed this weekend in the most unlikely of places; Spencer Smith Park, Burlington, Ontario. I have never seen a shooting schedule for this film, so at this point, I never dreamed the X-Men would be shot in Burlington; and I only live a 1/2 km from the park! It was kept _very_ quiet!
Suburban Burlington is directly to the east and north-east of industrial Hamilton, where another mutant battle scene was filmed in recent weeks, and approx. 30 km west of Toronto, where the concentration camp scene (in which I was an extra) was filmed on September 27/28. Occasionally, movies are shot in the outskirts of Burlington, mainly to incorporate some of the larger mansion-size homes, but never anything on the scale of the X-Men.
The X-Men crew came to town on Monday, November 8th, and began setting up the shoot, although at that time I had no idea who they were. Lakeshore Road West - directly to the north of the park - was packed with vehicles and trucks of all descriptions. There were cop's intermittently allowing vehicles through on the road (it is, after all, a major thoroughfare).
Security seemed very tight. This is the most public of any of the X-Men shoots that I've heard about. Anybody trying to sneak onto the set would stand out and obviously get busted. (It's basically a lakeside field.) Sorry guys, I wasn't gonna be a martyr for aint-it-cool! :-)
As it turns out, Bryan Singer's crew had hired out the whole park for the week and began assembling a pre-built, 2-storey tall plaster wall, that was a replica of the ground floor of the Statue of Liberty (bricks, stonework, etc.) I actually saw this wall in September in Toronto when getting my "concentration camp haircut". It was erected, full-size at the studio there, but I had no idea what it was supposed to be. (My incorrect guess had been that it was the interior of the banquet hall for the U.N. party -- the only other X-Men scene they were casting for that week in Toronto.
This plaster wall was erected, then the Statue of Liberty torch (green, slightly rusty and mangled) was recreated, slightly smaller than real-life. A large canvas-covered scaffold was also erected, which I assume, must be for some sort of blue-screen effect.
That is because Spencer Smith Park - while facing Lake Ontario to the south - has condominiums and a treelined Lakeshore Road West to the north; the sorts of things that wouldn't make much sense at the top of the Statue of Liberty!
Spencer Smith Park is one of the few large, wide-open grassland parks between Toronto and Hamilton, so there's plenty of room to build a set and bring in a crew and equipment, and that must be the main reason for filming here.
By strategically filming to the south on Friday, November 12 and the morning of the 13th, Lake Ontario doubled for the Atlantic, as seen from the top of the mock Statue.
Friday night the park was lit up with huge crane-mounted spotlights, and later in the evening there was fog-generating boats out on the lake, although I didn't see them.
It didn't see any of the major players down there. Although at night I heard someone saw Anna Paquin, but like I said, security seemed tight. And while there was a lot of action on the set right through the night, I didn't stick around into the wee hours. Temperatures were around freezing.
I've included some local press clippings, for a bit more information. The photo is basically what I saw, minus the large scaffolding and cranes w/lights.
Later.
Sunfire
