On The Road

As I mentioned in my last blog entry, having a movie with notable actors being filmed in Ottawa is a rare thing. To have two filmed so close together is incredible.

On The Road is an adaptation of the 1951 Jack Kerouac novel about a young man who sets out to travel the roads and railways of America. The movie is filmed in Argentina, New Orleans, Montreal, and for three days, Gatineau, QC.

The cast includes Kristen Stewart, Viggo Mortensen, Kirsten Dunst, Terrence Howard, Amy Adams, and Elisabeth Moss. Unfortunately none of them were here. What we did get, however, was a bit of a blessing. Tom Sturridge, Sam Riley, and Garrett Hedlund were here to film.

All three are very young actors that have breakthrough potential.

On the first day of filming, I headed to old Hull early in the morning as the filming was to start around 1pm. I took the bus down and immediately saw signs for the filming.

What surprised me even more was that the signs indicated where the hotel was. Normally that information isn't easily found.

I decided to take a walk around to see if I could find a base camp or a set that would be used. I came across the Taverne Montcalm where filming was to occur the following day.

Staff had begun changing the outside sign on the building.

After I walked back, I met up with Steve who had found the base camp. After traveling back and forth, we saw Garrett Hedlund. We ran up as he was about to get into a car. He signed two photos for each of us and said that he would sign the rest later. I asked him if I could grab a photo with him, but he wasn't able to as he was in costume. He told me that once he changed back into street clothes that it wouldn't be a problem. We followed him to set.

It was incredible to see old Hull turned into 1940s Denver, Colorado.

There were old cars everywhere. Street shops had been changed so that they had english writing on the outside.

Set #2 had an entire street filled with old cars. The entire street was blocked off. Curious fans were everywhere. They all had hopes of seeing Kristen Stewart who was rumored to be coming to town. To everyone's disappointment, she had left Montreal with Robert Pattinson to fly to Los Angeles and would not be coming.

I had to leave for the day as there was a birthday dinner to attend. Steve, however, got another four photos signed that evening.

I returned the next day after work and spent the majority of time between the base camp, hotel, and set without any luck. The set outside turned the Taverne Montcalm into the Red Shade Tavern.

As cast and crew began to arrive, night began to fall. They were filming a night scene. I wish I knew about that prior to heading down there.

Due to the nature of filming that day, we weren't allowed to stand in a place that allowed is to see what was happening. The only time we were allowed to walk by was in between takes, and we weren't allowed to stop or slow down. I walked back and forth quite a bit to see who was on set. I finally spotted Garrett Hedlund.

Jeff and Steve showed up around 11pm, just as the crew was breaking. All the people watching the filming had now left. When the actors returned to set, Garrett signed three more photos for me. He still wasn't able to take a photo with me. Great. More waiting.

Finally, in the wee hours of the night, filming for the day finally finished. Tom Sturridge was the first to head back to the cars.

Tom Sturridge is a british actor that was originally cast as the lead in the sci-fi trilogy Jumper. However, two months into production New Regency and 20th Century Fox, fearing the gamble of spending over $100 million on a movie starring an unknown actor, replaced him with the "more prominent" Hayden Christensen.

In 2009, he appeared as Carl, one of the lead roles in the Richard Curtis comedy, The Boat That Rocked, alongside Bill Nighy, Rhys Ifans and Philip Seymour Hoffman. The film was later retitled Pirate Radio for American and Canadian release. (wikipedia)

Next to follow was Sam Riley, an English actor who is best known for playing the lead role of Ian Curtis in the movie Control, a biopic about the lead singer of the 1970s post-punk band Joy Division. His performance in the role won him the British Independent Film Award for "Most Promising Newcomer". (wikipedia)

I asked him how filming was going as he is playing one of the lead roles. He told me that its always fun when you don't have to work.

Finally Garrett walked by again. Garrett made his acting debit in 2004 as Patroclus, Brad Pitt's younger cousin in the movie Troy. He also starred as Don Billingsley, the son of the drunk, abusive father played by Tim McGraw in the film Friday Night Lights.

He starred as Jack Mercer alongside Mark Wahlberg in the film Four Brothers. The film, which received, was a box office success. He next appeared in the film Eragon in the supporting role as Murtagh. The film was a box office success but received mostly negative reviews.

It was announced in 2009 that he would play the leading role in the highly anticipated film Tron Legacy, a sequel to the 1982 film Tron. (wikipedia)

I asked him if I could grab that picture now. He smiled and told me sure thing.

He signed my last photo and we called it a night.

I am actually really excited that these films have been coming to Ottawa. There has been a lot more interest in the city for future projects. I can't wait for more big names to come.