The next day they were shooting the water column scene, and during the morning break while waiting for #2 to come up the hill. I wondered back to the train to get a “rouges gallery” pic of the big shots. I had been talking off and on to Spielberg for a couple of days. It turns out he lived in Phoenix when he was a teenager and went to the high school that was the big rival to mine (he went there years before I was around). We got to chatting about old Scottsdale and Phoenix a bit. I went down the train, pulled out my camera and this kid tells me, I can’t take pictures on the set, and we was going to confiscate my camera. “…excuse me? Your going to what?”…… “no pictures. Give me your camera……”
Then I pulled my “card”………”Listen kid. This is my train and MY railroad. Piss me off and I’ll take my train and go home…You can explain all that to the guys sitting up on that car…..” At which point he left in a huff. Spielberg saw me talking to the kid and climbed down, asking if there was a problem.
“no, not anymore…..”
“OK if there is another problem, just lt me know.. By the way why are we stopped here”
“To clear for our regular passenger train”
“Oh, you mean like Amtrak or something?”
“No, our passenger train has a steam locomotive just like this one, pulling passenger cars with people – it’s how we make our living…”
“Wow really!” He then called up to the sound man on the roof and said “I want to record this!...” and up he went. I then got my pic. Greatly enlarged, and a bit grainy. Left to right: Steven Speilberg, River Phoenix, Harrison Ford, George Lucas standing.
489 came stomping up the hill into Lobato in Grand(e) style. Without a doubt she had everyone’s attention.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/23/2017 08:57PM by Earl.