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BACKSTAGE.COM
At Virginia Film Tours, Hollywood Meets History
January 12, 2006
By Wendy Mathis Parker
RICHMOND, VA. -- East Coast folks don't have to trek all the way to the West Coast to get a taste of the Hollywood film industry. In the name of "edu-tainment," Virginia Film Tours offers motor coach tours to dozens of historical sites in Virginia used by Hollywood filmmakers who have chosen to shoot on location for the sake of authenticity.
Helene Wagner, founder of the Virginia Screenwriters' Forum, came up with the tours to help preserve the history of filmmaking in the area. She describes them as combining "a nice overview of historical sites with the fun of the movies." More than 100 films have been shot in the state.
Excursions range from three-hour and full-day tours to all-weekend visits to historical sites and film festivals. The full-day Civil War tour takes participants to sites featured in Cold Mountain, The Day Lincoln Was Shot, Sommersby, and Gods and Generals, for example, including Pamplin Historical Park and the National Museum of the Civil War Soldier. On the same tour, there are visits to Petersburg National Battlefield and the site of the infamous Battle of the Crater, portrayed in the opening scenes of Cold Mountain.
While aboard the motor coach at an actual shooting location, participants also view clips on an overhead monitor. A recent tour, for instance, stopped at Tredegar Iron Works in Richmond and showed a segment of Lincoln, a TV movie with Sam Waterston based on Gore Vidal's historical novel, in which the actor rode on horseback through the smoky ironworks yard. Visitors could compare the historical site before them with the site in the film, seeing how -- through the magic of Hollywood props and special effects and actors in period costumes -- the site was transformed into a Civil War scene.
The motor coach also stopped on a bridge overlooking the James River and Belle Isle, the site of a Confederate prison where as many as 10,000 Union soldiers were held during the Civil War. The monitor played clips of river scenes at Belle Isle from Cold Mountain and Hearts in Atlantis, a film set in more contemporary times. Another clip featured Julianne Moore jogging across the Belle Isle footbridge in Hannibal.
Other Richmond-area historical sites included on the tour: the Tudor-style manor house Agecroft Hall, seen in The Contender; the Old City Hall, used for The Murder of Mary Phagan, a 1988 TV movie; the state Capitol, seen in G.I. Jane, with Demi Moore; and St. John's Church -- where Patrick Henry delivered his famous "Give me liberty or give me death" speech -- seen in The Love Letter, a 1998 TV movie.
While traveling from one location to another, Wagner shares inside information about a long list of visiting actors -- names like Anthony Hopkins, Bruce Willis, Hilary Swank, Sam Elliott, and Jeff Bridges among them. She keeps everyone entertained with movie trivia games and a round or two of "Name That Hollywood Tune."
In addition to the Richmond-area tours, Virginia Film Tours offers excursions to two state film festivals, one in Charlottesville in the fall, one in Williamsburg in the spring. This year the Williamsburg Film Festival, set for March 8-11, may be particularly popular because its theme is "Honoring the Golden Age of Hollywood." Actors including James Best, Ben Cooper, Beverly Garland, Will Hutchins, and Dick Jones will be on hand to discuss their work. There will also be a memorabilia room offering a large selection of posters, comics, 16mm films, videos, autographs, toys, and books.
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