According to an article in the Bayside Bulletin, the art director was looking for military vehicles for a Cambridge, England setting, just before World War II – which was filmed in Queensland, on the Gold Coast in Australia. Graham Kircher, the owner of a 1938 Bedford WLG, supplied that vehicle with a fresh coat of paint to match the proper military colors of the era, for the film. According to the article, the scene that it’s in only took about 25 seconds to shoot, and they did this twelve times.
Graham will take his 1938 Bedford WLG along to this year’s Historic Commercial Vehicle Association of Queensland Show this weekend, showing off the temporary makeover for its role as a military vehicle in Cambridge, England, just before World War II in the production of the Chronicles of Narnia: The [Voyage of the] Dawn Treader.
But it’s not Graham’s first foray into the world of film, with various other vehicles from his private fleet of more than 20 featuring in around 10 other productions, including The Great Raid, Swimming Upstream, Fat Cow Motel and Getting Square, all filmed in Australia.
“I know the fellow in charge of props and vehicles for Narnia because I’ve worked with him before, so he gave me a call to see if I’d have something to suit this set,” Graham said.
“I had half a dozen vehicles from the 1930s that might have worked, and the art director went through them, saying ‘too shiny’, ‘wrong colour’, until they settled on the Bedford.
“The only problem was it was red and brown, and they needed military.”
That proved no problem for Graham, whose extensive experience in collecting, restoring and maintaining historic vehicles meant he could put his hands on a temporary paint coat which forms a clear membrane and can then be painted, and peeled or washed off later.
“I took it down to the set they’d erected at Movie World on the Gold Coast, but the set was so big it was in the carpark.” he said.
“They aged the truck with coffee, then put advertisements, numbers and registration stickers on it from the time period and I hung around for the day in case they needed me to drive it anywhere – I was there for hours but the scene they were shooting took 12 takes to get only 25 seconds.
“The set was impressive: there were extras in period costume on bikes and with prams, and a blue screen three storeys high to project a big sandstone building onto later.”
Read the rest at the Bayside Bulletin
Fascinating, ww2 was not mentioned in the novel, but this will give it a nice twist, sail on dawn treader. we are right behind you
Say WHAT?
Yeah, maybe it would’ve been the right time historically–but it seems like a pretty far stretch to bring that into the movie.
I always assumed VDT took place post WWII, because Mr. Pevensie is back from war (the kids stay with their aunt and uncle bc the parents and Susan are going to America, where the dad has gotten a temporary job lecturing). But I guess it would be that long after the war, so the vehicles would still be from that era.
The first two movies both used reminders of the Second World War in the opening moments. I does not seem unreasonable that they would continue this tradition in the opening of Dawn Treader.
I wonder if they’ll somehow incorperate a train too. That would be cool. ^_^
sounds interesting.