Universal Hollywood Back Lot on fire!

[smart1hermione]

I love how the commercials for Universal Studios Hollywood include, at the very end of the commercial "we're still running all rides after the fire!"

[Yfoog]

The day of the fire I actually was working at Gibson Amphitheatre on the Universal lot. The blaze was just down the hill from us. Luckily the wind was blowing the smoke and fumes in the opposite direction. I didn't mind that the park never opened. What killed me was the fact that City Walk stayed closed all day. I was working out of the satellite truck that was transmitting the MTV Movie Awards that afternoon. Unfortunately I couldn't make the crew meal due to it being scheduled when I was needed most at transmission. With City Walk and all the many restaurants closed, I was forced to sustain myself on pita bread and cucumber flavored bottled water from craft services during my 12 hour shift. :(

[ktulu]

The day of the fire I actually was working at Gibson Amphitheatre on the Universal lot. The blaze was just down the hill from us. Luckily the wind was blowing the smoke and fumes in the opposite direction. I didn't mind that the park never opened. What killed me was the fact that City Walk stayed closed all day. I was working out of the satellite truck that was transmitting the MTV Movie Awards that afternoon. Unfortunately I couldn't make the crew meal due to it being scheduled when I was needed most at transmission. With City Walk and all the many restaurants closed, I was forced to sustain myself on pita bread and cucumber flavored bottled water from craft services during my 12 hour shift. :(

Just curious, but was the pita bread and cucumber water supplied by Doofenshmirtz Evil, Inc. Craft Services?

[BRWombat]

Just curious, but was the pita bread and cucumber water supplied by Doofenshmirtz Evil, Inc. Craft Services?

Great, now I've got the Doofenshmirtz Evil jingle in my head, with those words. :mad:

[hobie16]

Just curious, but was the pita bread and cucumber water supplied by Doofenshmirtz Evil, Inc. Craft Services?

Perry the Platypus would never let that happen.

[ktulu]

Great, now I've got the Doofenshmirtz Evil jingle in my head, with those words. :mad:

Then my job here is done.

Perry the Platypus would never let that happen.

I know, CURSE YOU PERRY THE PLATYPUS!

[hobie16]

It's time for a vertical assault on Doofenshmirtz Evil Inc.

[Cranbiz]

I could be wrong (it HAS happened before), but I think they called the mechanical shark Bruce while filming the movies.

Bruce was MECHANICAL?????????????

[GRUMPY PIRATE]

Bruce was MECHANICAL?????????????

Yep, I remember reading a book about the making of the movie, and they talk a lot about bruce malfunctioning at odd times during filming. A lot of the internal workings were affected by salt water and caused the special effects crew a lot of headaches.

[Theme Park Where]

He actually sank like a stone the first time they put him in the water. They then had to pull him out and rebuild him. Then he had a stabilizer fin go out so he'd only swim in circles. The delay while waiting for him to be rebuilt forced Spielberg to use other cinematic devices to keep from going way over time allotted for filming, so he shot most of the film without the shark. Turns out that was a good decision, as the movie was actually scarier when you didn't see it, and then when you did see the shark you didn't care that it looked like a giant rubber wind-up beach toy.

Another Spielberg story - apparently when Universal had the fire on the New York street scene several years ago (this was actually the second fire in the same area) Spielberg was filming nearby. He rushed his crew out with cameras so they'd have stock footage of a city on fire. Now THAT'S Hollywood!