PTAdventures

[wilberfan]

Had an outing today to a somewhat special place, where I received a personal tour by the owner.  Thought I'd share.
   


This very famous paint job was already there when "Punch Drunk Knuckle Love" scouted this location.  The paint has remained untouched since 2001.  Barry's desk belonged to the owner, and PTA asked if he could use it.   They took it with them when they wrapped.




The photo was in the owners office. (Still is, obviously.)  Paul asked if they could use it in the Barry's Office set.





This is a "shrine" to the film that the owner keeps in his office to this day.  If you look closely you can see a couple of original "Fun-gers" from the shoot.






An interesting shot of the owner reflected in the poster.  He's as big a fan of the film as most of us here.

[WorldForgot]

Dude!! Really cool. Thanks for sharing those photos.

[Drenk]

Thanks for this! 

[DGG]

So cool, thanks for posting. The owner seemed like a really cool guy. I remember when the film came out, he sent a t-shirt of his company to whoever asked for one. I wish I still had it.

[kingfan011]

Wow thank you for posting this. I just love that only PTA would look at what it is fairly nondescript location and see in his mind how weirdly beautiful it would play in his camera

[wilberfan]

The owner told me that Paul found this location himself. 

Paul wanted a shop--an industrial space--that had a long driveway, with a pretty background and plenty of blue sky behind it.  The Asst Location Manager told the owner, "The director HAS to have this site...".

It was a perfect choice: The owner couldn't have been more supportive, interested, enthusiastic and cooperative.  (He'd seen Boogie & Magnolia and was a big fan.)   It turned into quite the love affair.  For example, he told them they didn't need hot, ugly Porta-potties--they could use his restrooms--and he would keep them stocked.  The company was welcome to use his fax machine any time, etc.  "Just tell me what you need, guys, and I'll try and get it done for you."  He was even able to keep the business running during shooting--just moving and consolidating his work to the street-end of the complex.  (In fact, to this day, his business is still using the front-half of the property--and is able to lease out the spaces in the back (used in the film) to other businesses.)

He described the two mornings used to film the jeep flip at the beginning of the movie:  There were about 80 people there, and they had 3 cars rigged to flip.  The owner got up early to be on hand for the big stunt--and even invited his parents along to "watch".  Paul was ensconced in the bay closest to the street with his monitors and such--and was ecstatic with the first take on morning number one. They came back the next morning to shoot it again with Jeep #2.  They didn't bother doing it again on Day 3, and it's take #1 in the film.  (He also told me if you look closely, you can see the pneumatic plunger (like a very short section of telephone pole) shoot across the street to the curb after it fires.) 

I thought it was interesting that they had a truck parked out on the street that they used to look at dailies.

The company even had to come back for reshoots several weeks later--during post-production.  They were out of money at that point, and the owner told them they could have 24 hour access to the space they had been using for a fraction of their usual day rates for an entire month.  A real mensch.

The owner admitted he cried when they had finished and packed-up and left. 

They invited him to the cast & crew premiere (At the Egyptian, I think), and some of the crew kept in touch for years afterwards.

[Fuzzy Dunlop]

That rocks! So glad to hear the owner is the same dude and a fan. I had one of those shirts back in the day too.

Next time I need some work done on my car I'm going there.

[Tdog]

Thanks so much for sharing. Also great to hear how positive the location owner speaks of the experience.

[jviness02]

Awesome pics and story! Thanks for sharing!