Tourists check out movie filming

| Sunday, April 22, 2007

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Filming at Mount Rushmore creates quite a scene for tourists

By Ryan Woodard, Journal staff

MOUNT RUSHMORE -- Filming for “National Treasure: Book of Secrets” began Friday at Mount Rushmore National Memorial, and a number of tourists jumped at the chance to add a behind-the-scenes look at a major motion picture to their vacations.

“We just kind of stumbled into this,” said Doug Robinson of Denver as he watched film crew members prepare for a scene at the memorial’s Sculptor’s Studio on Friday afternoon. “We thought it looked interesting.”

Robinson and a number of spectators gathered on the steps above the studio to watch the crews prepare the scene, with some hoping to catch a glimpse of one of the movie’s stars.

Although not a huge movie fan, Robinson became interested in the set after he happened upon it.

“I think it’s kind of neat to see a little bit of how they make a movie,” he said.

Robinson marveled at all of the steps crews took to adjust the lighting, and how much time is spent setting up and filming what ends up being a short movie scene.

“Look at the money involved in this for what, a five-minute, two-minute shot?” he said.

Peter Parker, a Scottsdale, Ariz., native who came to the Black Hills to go sightseeing after going on a fly-fishing trip in Montana, was also amazed at how much time was involved in the filming process.

“Pretty fascinating,” he said. “This process, three minutes of film takes all day.”

Parker said he wants to check out the movie when it comes out, both because of the cast and the fact that he was there for the filming.

“I think I’ll be interested in seeing this to catch a glimpse of the set I’m seeing now and the monument,” he said.

Laura Braun, a vacationer from Menomonee Falls, Wis., said she was mostly interested in the behind-the-scenes action.

“I’m more interested in them setting up everything than the actors and stuff,” she said. “I think the backstage kind of stuff is more interesting to me.”

“National Treasure: Book of Secrets” stars Nicolas Cage, Jon Voight and Ed Harris and is the sequel to “National Treasure.” Cage reprises his role as treasure hunter Ben Gates. Armed with 18 missing pages of John Wilkes Booth’s diary, Gates tries to uncover the truth behind the 1865 assassination of President Abraham Lincoln.

Cage and Voight made brief public appearances Friday afternoon as they made their way from their scene inside the studio to lunch. Neither actor was available for an interview.

Crews began setting up the set this week, with some of the actors arriving in town as late as Thursday. Scenes were shot Friday morning outside the memorial’s visitor’s center.

More scenes were shot inside the Sculptor’s Studio Friday afternoon.

Barry Waldman, one of the movie’s executive producers, was pleased with how the filming had gone as of Friday afternoon.

“So far so good,” he said. “With the rain yesterday we went to a cover set, which is a set we built in town.” He said Friday was a nice day.

Waldman said he and the rest of the crew had been very well accommodated by the National Park Service.

And a few of the actors have found fun things to do in the Black Hills when not shooting the film, he said.

“We have a couple of actors who just fell in love with the hiking trails and have been kind of planning hikes on their days off,” he said.

Mount Rushmore public information officer Judy Olson also said that the day of filming at Mount Rushmore went smoothly.

“Everything went really well. They’re very good to work with,” she said. “Lots of visitors came up to observe. They were not delayed very long.”

Olson said crews would finish filming at the studio this morning. Filming will continue Sunday and next Friday.

Laura Braun said she can’t wait to see the movie so she can relive the scene she and her husband Joe observed.

“I wonder when it’s going to come out because then we can rewind and watch that scene again and say, ‘oh, we were there,’” she said.

Contact Ryan Woodard at 394-8412 or ryan.woodard@rapidcityjournal.com