Five behind-the-scene videos exploring the making of 'Changeling' to the recreation of old Los Angeles for the Clint Eastwood-directed drama have been released.
- Nov 15, 2008
AceShowbiz - Closing in to its U.K. release on November 26, "Changeling" has just got an exclusive 22 minutes long video footage, consisting of five new featurettes from the Clint Eastwood-directed drama thriller. Starting it all with a featurette entitled "Finishing the Fight: The Making of Changeling", the compilation continues with other featurettes called "Ripped From the Headlines", "The 'Eastwood' Method", "Dressing The Part" and "Recreating Old Los Angeles".
Having varied viewing time, each of the featurettes discusses different subjects of the based-on-real-event movie. They also present a look behind the film's production from the story of one woman's struggle to find her missing son amidst insurmountable odds to the directing part of Eastwood, and from the challenges to make the costume believable to the recreation of late 1920 Los Angeles amidst the modern city.
The idea of developing this Angelina Jolie-starring movie first came to screenwriter J. Michael Straczynski several years ago when he came across City Hall's old records about a City Council welfare hearing in the case of Christine Collins, a working-class woman who brought down a political machine. Wishing to honor what Collins did, Straczynski penned down a screenplay and searched for the right filmmaker and Collins' depicter, which he found in Eastwood and Jolie respectively.
Then came the challenge of location shooting. As the original area where the story took place is now unrecognizable compared to the photos taken about 80 years ago, the team took the '20s-era L.A. shooting to untapped suburban locales in San Dimas, San Bernadino and Pasadena, among other sites, as well as built Los Angeles City Hall and sets on the Universal Studios backlot for supplemented key scenes.
Another challenge also came from the Depression-era clothing design. For the movie, costume designer Deborah Hopper has to clothe nearly 1,000 men, women and children with vintage clothing, undergarments and shoes. "It's always a challenge to try to find vintage clothes," she claimed. "Especially with the earlier periods, because these fabrics simply don't last; they fall apart. So we went everywhere around this country and then some. We did come up with enough clothes, but barely."
Putting the production matters aside, "Changeling" may bring up one question in mind, why a little boy claims to be Christine Collins' missing son, Walter. For the answer, People has got their hands on a 25-page narrative wrote in 1933 by the then-15-year-old Arthur J. Hutchins, Walter's impostor. In a document given by Hutchins' family, he wrote in details how and why in 1928 he tricked the police, Walter's closest friends, and even the Walter's dog and cat into believing that he is Walter.
There, Hutchins explained that he only wanted to get as far away as possible from his stepmother, Violet, and thus when he saw the chance to go to California, he grabbed on it. He further expressed his remorse noting, "I know I owe an apology to Mrs. Collins and to the state of California." Spending more than two years in the Iowa State Training School for Boys in Eldora, Iowa, as a result of his actions, he died of a blood clot in 1954. In the meantime, the real Walter Collins was never found and is suspected to be one of serial killer Gordon Stewart Northcott's victims. More on Hutchins' narrative can be read at People.
"Changeling" has got its wide release in the U.S. on October 31. Supported by John Malkovich, Jeffrey Donovan, Colm Feore, Amy Ryan, Michael Kelly, Devon Gearhart and Kelly Lynn Warren, the Universal Pictures movie has collected as much as $23.4 million from its North American screening.
"Changeling" 22 Minutes Featurettes:
