Santa Anita's starting gate crew waiting on set.Now in its fifth week of filming on location at Santa Anita for the pilot series "Luck," the HBO film crew is utilizing Santa Anita's stellar starting gate crew quite a bit these days. I caught the guys relaxing between takes and apparently enjoying the action. Although it's a lot of "hurry up and wait" on the set and the days are incredibly long, the gate crew appeared to be holding up quite well.
This week, director Michael Mann has been out on the racetrack overseeing racing shots from a camera truck that speeds around the track in front of the field of horses and jockeys.
Director Michael Mann (third from right) gives instructions to jockey actors.
Mann on the camera truck preparing for a live race shot.
The gate crew (left) - an integral part of the movie's race scene. When they're not filming an actual starting gate scene, the gate crew is there as part of the natural "background" in the racing shots. On race days, most of the crew wraps up work on the movie location by late morning then heads across town to Hollywood Park for their "real" jobs on the starting gate. All I can say is, don't let it go to your head, guys!
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4 comments:
Thanks for this
What's the pilot about?
Hi Anon,
Check out my post about "Luck" from March 28 for the full scoop! Thanks, Mary.
Mary,
As excited as I am to see our business profiled by the likes of Mann and Milch, I wonder how our industry will counteract the misunderstanding certain to be created with storylines that have no basis in reality. If some recent television productions provide any clue as to the ground "Luck" will be covering, this show could be the biggest setback for horse racing since Eight Belles.
Sure hope the folks at the NTRA, TOBA and the TBA are preparing for the onslaught.
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