Anyone heard of the movie "Everybody Loves Whales"?

[cheap320i]

I just knew I should have swung by Great America to get your autograph while you were here. Will you still talk to us little people when you're rich and famous?
Fun stuff man.

[tomscat1]

"They're gonna put me in the movies... they're gonna make a big star outta me....
make a scene about a man who's car is lovely...
...and all I gotta do is act naturally!"

---Buck Owens and the Buckaroos, 1963
---Ringo Starr and The Beatles, 1965

Ok, so it's not an exact quote, but....
Congrats on your Debut, anyway, Jeff! ...but, you know, don't quit your day job just yet.

[Baur]

Wow, really cool Jeff!

Gr Jeroen

[2.8L(e21)]

Jeff congrats on getting the baur on the big screen thats awesome. You wouldn't by chance be going to the Alaska AFN this year in Fairbanks would you?

[AlaskaBimmer]

lol no Fairbanks is far away....and even more north and more cold than Anchorage. I work for the city and even if I could justify a trip to the AFN it would have to go to 5 different commitees and the mayor would have to sign it, it would cost more than the trip to get the trip approved....

It was a fun expierence I already am paying attention to tv and wondering how many hours did it take to film that 2 minute scene......

Even though I'm not really a big greenie person (even though I have a degree in environmental scienc) it will be cool watching the movie and hopefully (if they don't cut the scenes I was in) seeing the car and maybe even me on the big screen for a good 20-30 seconds. ANd for the 4 or 5 scenes I saw filmed thinking man I was like 5 feet to the left of there when that was filmed will be cool too.
I would have gone to one of the casting calls for extras (there are some extra rolls with lines) but I do have a day job and the movie stuff requires 12 hour plus days with very little notice of when you need to show up and $8.00 an hour sucks for pay if your taking the day off of a better paying job... If they like you you may even get in more scenes on other days. a change of clothes, a different hairstyle, add some glasses and your a whole new extra...

I almost was a fake tv crew boom mike man, they decked me out with a boom mike headphones, all the wires and cables going to the tv news camera, and then they cut us out right after we spent 20 mins getting all the gear set up and getting instructions on being realistic looking fake camera guys....I was bummed a little I would have been close up on camera for that instead of a background sidewalk guy.

If the the 2 scenes where the baur should be readily visible make the final cut I believe it would be the first time a e-21 baur (or any baur most likely) would be in an American movie (even if it is for 30 seconds of a 1.5 - 2 hour movie)

Today they were running fog machines down at the port it was wierd downtown would get fogged out for 5 mins and then clear out then get fogged in for 5 mins....They built the Barrow set down at the port they most likely were using fog machines to block out the non barrow buildings that would look alot like huge downtown anchorage buildings instead of a cobbled together Alaskan village in 1988. THe used the fog machines last week on Jewel lake to hide the shore lined with houses since they dropped in some fake icebergs and a boat. It'll be interesting to see how a lake turns into the arctic ocean....The arctic ocean is actually a pretty cool (frozen alot of the time actually)ocean, I got to hiking on it a few times to get to the fisihng holes back when I worked for the state). It was a bit wierd to go walking on an ocean.

well anyway I put the baur away for the winter yesterday, the car is happily snoozing under a few car covers at a friends house. I miss driving it already

the movie comes out in 2012 sometime, and you guys will be forced to watch a greenpeace movies to find that 30 seconds of baur background footage, I'll appologize in advance. I hope the movie doesn't suck or try to spout a huge environmental message about saving the whales. (I hear in real life they very nearly shot the whales to eat them).

I promise I'll remember the little people when Hollywood seeks me out to walk on a sidewalk in the background of other movies, I'll even demand $8.50 an hour since I'm now a pro....I hear there is already another movie is lined up to film here once this one is done, they haven't released the details of the next film though.

Some people are thinking Anchorage may be the next Hollywood of the north with all the new tax breaks in place....I guess Alaska is kind of a far off mysterious place still.

[2.8L(e21)]

"I hear there is already another movie is lined up to film here once this one is done, they haven't released the details of the next film though."

FREE WILLY #4???

Your not a greenie person but you have a degree in environmental science? What were doing when you were earning your degree

Looking forward to seeing your car in the film. Is your car in the movie or in a greenpeace preview? E21s at the forefront of the green movement.... I dig that

[AlaskaBimmer]

"I hear there is already another movie is lined up to film here once this one is done, they haven't released the details of the next film though."

FREE WILLY #4???

Your not a greenie person but you have a degree in environmental science? What were doing when you were earning your degree

Looking forward to seeing your car in the film. Is your car in the movie or in a greenpeace preview? E21s at the forefront of the green movement.... I dig that

lol my degree is in Environmental science with a Geology concentration....I started out as a lab analyst testing waste water and operating sewer plants, then I became a Health Inspector for a couple years in Dallas, then I moved over to air qualiy monitoring for Dallas for a year, then did the same job for the state of Alaska for 4 more years, then back to health inspector for the last six, so more on the government compliance/regulation end than the save the trees and whales end of the field. I'm going to pursue a masters in Public Health I don't want to be a peon for another 15 years.

My baur is a really green car, I have to get a waiver from emissions since it won't pass without detuning the engine and getting some cats put in, it does get 22 mpg on the hwy though.....I scare away litle creatures away from the side of the road with the noise coming out the back end, some of these guys have heard it it's pretty loud, loud anough I couldn't be a driving car on the movie set since it would drown out Drew as I drove by....

[Northcar]

Here is the lake referenced along with my BMW parked there which is followed by scenes of the boat and fogging described for the filming. Also some shots of the above referenced port location and the outdoor "sound stage" and fogging there along with a night shot of a filming of one of the whales popping out of the "ice."



And a few more.... Here is one of the "reporters" gathered around up on the Arctic ice field trying to get a glimpse of the trapped whales. Another appears to be Drew in the distance being filmed out in the "Arctic Ocean" where the camera is pointed just beyond the boat with the white parka wearing Eskimos.

[Northcar]

Here are some more recent shots of filiming taking place on the "port set." Note Drew Barrymore wearing the blue coat and knit cap surrounded by the Eskimos and the shot of the animatronic whales as they were being removed from the set.

[AlaskaBimmer]

nice photos, I only got one photo from the second day I was there they were much more strict about the no camera's when Drew Barrymore was around.

My "job" was to walk from about where that small group of people are standing behind the group of people hovering around Drew and up the stairs and into the building to the right. they finally got the scene finished after about 30 takes and they were starting to pull all the stuff down.






I live about a mile from Jewel Lake and in January will be moving a little closer to it.

Have you signed up on the local forum www.akeuro.com?


The next movie that might be filmed here is called "The Grey" with Liam Nieson, they haven't committed to coming to Alaska yet, but the state is working on getting it here.

[Northcar]

That is an interesting shot. If you look up to the top of the roof on the building to the left you will see what looks like a small bird house. Inside is a webcam that broadcasts from that site. I'll bet the "Everybody Loves Whales" Production crew had no idea that their filming was being broadcast over the internet and in particular your scene walking from one spot to the other. (by the way, are the "steps" you reference the steps to the old federal courthouse on the southeast corner of 4th and G?)

Sadly, the filming is all but wrapped up now. Here is a recent shot of the Russians cheering the freeing of the Whales.

[AlaskaBimmer]

yup those are the steps. the scene before that was on the other side of G facing the street. those scenes took alot longer to reset since they were filming towards the street all the cars had to back and restage the shot. Sadly the baur was too noisy to be a driving car so it was parked on the street so far back it may not even make it in the shot.

yea I've stood in front of that web cam and waved at my parents who had the web cam up back in Texas back in the days before skype lol. That camera has been there at least 10 years.

[Northcar]

.

yea I've stood in front of that web cam and waved at my parents who had the web cam up back in Texas back in the days before skype lol. That camera has been there at least 10 years.

For anyone still following this thread, Everybody Loves Whales is now a wrap and the scheduled release date is for the first week of January 2012. It will be interesting to learn whether we get a special preview here in Alaska and certainly the movie trailers will start showing later this year.

Here is an added shot of the filming of Drew Barrymore (wearing blue parka) on the ice field "port set." Note the shadow in the extreme upper right partially catching the camera man perched on a raised rig pointing down to the action. The building against which the shadow is seen is a replica of Barrow's Top of the World Hotel which has since been dismantled.

[AlaskaBimmer]

I keep looking for something updated on the web, but so far nothing new, I guess we just sit and wait.

Universal studios sent me another $100.00 a couple a weeks ago I wasn't expecting to get for the Baur rental lol.

So when you guys pay $15.00 to go see this remember $380.00 of those tickets paid me lol. Damn that means when I pay $15.00 to see this I'll lose money on this deal....

[davidgoerndt]

Post production could take anywhere from 6 months to a year. Depends on when they want to release it, summer or Christmas.

[Tom D]

just because they made it doesn't mean it will ever be released.

[AlaskaBimmer]

with the number of bigger stars in it it'll be released lol.

Ted Danson, Drew Barrymore, Vinessa Shaw, Dermont Mulrooney (Dirty Steve from Young Guns, John Kransanki (Jim from the office), John Root(swing line stapler guy from office space) and lots more....

It's being billed as a family movie so it'll do OK for a week or two, but I bet the environmental message will somehow creep into this more than it should. The prop guy told me this is a low budget movie, 30 million is a low budget film lol, That is why I couldn't keep the fake plates, they had to reuse them since they didn't have the budget to give all the movie cars their own fake plates...I'm almost thinking about going to the fake plate license plate company and getting a set of fake plates made, although the movie one had the license plate tabs on them expiring in 1988

As far as I know it's a Jan. 2012 release.

[MrGumby]

John Root(swing line stapler guy from office space) and lots more....

Stephen Root

John Root is a french porn director

http://boingboing.net/2003/11/16/fre...-director.html

[Northcar]

with the number of bigger stars in it it'll be released lol.

Ted Danson, Drew Barrymore, Vinessa Shaw, Dermont Mulrooney (Dirty Steve from Young Guns, John Kransanki (Jim from the office), John Root(swing line stapler guy from office space) and lots more....

It's being billed as a family movie so it'll do OK for a week or two, but I bet the environmental message will somehow creep into this more than it should. The prop guy told me this is a low budget movie, 30 million is a low budget film lol, That is why I couldn't keep the fake plates, they had to reuse them since they didn't have the budget to give all the movie cars their own fake plates...I'm almost thinking about going to the fake plate license plate company and getting a set of fake plates made, although the movie one had the license plate tabs on them expiring in 1988

As far as I know it's a Jan. 2012 release.

I find great irony in the site selected for the entrance to "Northern Oil Corporation" as seen in the photo with your Bimmer. That building actually was a major oil company location in its day (Union Oil) but now sits vacated since Union Oil pulled its stakes out of Alaska a few years ago. (It also used to house the offices of the Japanese Consulate here in Anchorage when the Japanese government had an official presence in Alaska.)

Here are some more recent shots of filiming taking place on the "port set." Note Drew Barrymore wearing the blue coat and knit cap surrounded by the Eskimos and the shot of the animatronic whales as they were being removed from the set.

By the way, here is an interesting link which includes a first hand account describing a visit to the above set by the photographer who actually captured photos of the whole Whale incident originally.

http://wasillaalaskaby300.squarespac...whales-an.html

[AlaskaBimmer]

It was occupied by Chevron, after Unical left and now it sits vacant waiting for a remodel and reoccupancy. The caretaker of the building said they have to gut it and add the earthquake bracing since it was built before that sort of thing was required. I work about a block from there, I could see all the trailers and stuff in the parking lot from my office when they were filming downtown they set up the base camp there for about 3 days. The extent of the use of that building is limited to the parking lot in the front. Dermont just walked inside and that was that. hey did set up the junk food table inside the building and the bathrooms were in working order as well. The actual meeting scene where he meets with the evil oil guy Ted Dansen actually took place at the Walley Hickel office in the Captain cook hotel. Unfortunatly they didn't let anyone not involved with that scene watch them film since the office was rather small for crowds of people to stand around off camera and watch.


That was a great article, thanks for posting that.

I got familiar with some movie language such as reset (reset the scene, everyone back where they started), background (meant all the extras start moving around and cars start going etc), rolling (the scene actually starts at this point and the important people spring to life and belch out their lines) and of course cut which was followed by reset, then background then....We all prayed for the bellowing of new deal since that mean the shot was over and they were setting up for the next shot.

[Northcar]

Looks like the "official" announcements of the film's release are already appearing. Here is a reporting in conjunction with a March Fashion Magazine featuring Drew Barrymore as its Cover Girl. Therein is stated, "Her new film 'Everybody Loves Whales' co-starring John Krasinski, Kristen Bell, and releases January 13, 2012."

http://celebritychatta.com/2011/02/0...rew-barrymore/

[Northcar]

Our local paper here in Alaska had an interview with the film's producer this week updating on its progress. Apparently it is now in the hands of the film editors who are splicing in (ok "digitizing" in) the barren landscapes of the mountainless arctic as background for the ice field shots that were taken on the port set. (See photos above of the port set during which the ice field scenes were filmed with a huge blank white screen dangling from cranes.) Looks like all is a go for the January 2012 release.

Here is a link to the story. Also some interesting comments at the end from Alaskans who worked as extras on the set.

http://community.adn.com/?q=adn/node/155841

[AlaskaBimmer]

Awesome, I can't wait to see if me or my car made it in the movie for my 30 seconds of fame....Hopefully none of those scenes end up on the cutting room floor.

[Northcar]

Awesome, I can't wait to see if me or my car made it in the movie for my 30 seconds of fame....Hopefully none of those scenes end up on the cutting room floor.

Yeah, I know the feeling. One of my sons was an extra on LOST and when the episode aired all you could see was his foot as he pushed a wheelchair in a hospital scene. Another son had better luck though and he ended up getting positioned right behind Sawyer on the Oceanic Flight as well as standing next to Jack in an airport scene when the plane landed at LAX.

[Northcar]

News has been sparse of late though I see Drew Barrymore is on to another new challenging project.