I remember many years ago when I was small… correction, when I was young, seeing a movie (was it Ben Hur?) when a jet aircraft could clearly be seen crossing the sky and leaving a long vapour trail behind.
Totally anachronistic, it is just one example of the funny, bizarre or even frightening stuff of which movie set legend is made.
For example, Mark Burnett, producer of the History Channel’s five-part miniseries ‘The Bible’ reported an unexplained incident during the 2013 shooting of the dialogue between Jesus and Nicodemus.
It was an absolutely calm desert night but as ‘Jesus’ referred to the Holy Spirit being like the wind, a 20-second gale force gust ‘like a 747 taking off’ came and went in 20 seconds.
There are others, like during the shooting of ‘Rocky IV’, when Sylvester Stallone told Dolph Lundgren to seriously hit him hard.
He did…and ‘Rocky’ spent more than a week in ICU.
Michael Imperioli also ended in hospital after cutting his hand during the making of ‘Goodfellas’.
The ER doctors proceeded to treat his fake make-up gashes and wounds.
Jungle in the Bay
All of which gets me to the news that ‘Greenhills Jungle’ is going to be turned into a Congolese tropical forest for the proposed shooting of a film in February.
The area in question stretches from the now defunct Bundu Nursery via Forel Alley to the old Greenhills police station.
(At one stage it was to be designated a nature reserve; it might still be on the 900-year plan.)
While not quite a ‘jungle’, it could indeed provide a few surprises that could make their way into film folklore.
Many residents will know this was once the location of the popular Croc Farm, which was unfortunately ‘evicted’ to make way for said infinite spatial development plan.
Here’s the thing: when the croc farm staff left, many toothy residents remained, and they slithered into the adjacent swamp forest
Who remembers ‘Steven’? All seven metres of him, with a temper that made Charlie Sheen look like Mother Theresa.
He and his clan members are notoriously territorial.
Oh, and don’t forget the hippo – with calf – who navigate the John Ross Parkway between the canal and the lake almost every night, crossing paths with black mambas.
The making of the film promises to be more exciting than anything the movie itself could offer.
Roll on!
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