BY JACK QUIRK
A few years ago was part of a large NETFLIX documentary crew for about 2 weeks working in western Oklahoma. The Documentary series was called The Naked Truth, Wasteland.
It was the last day before we wrapped when the producer said I have set up an interview with Erin Brockovich, the real life person that the famous movie was based on.
We needed an interview location for this interview. The producer, from Florida, found a really cool photo of the Historic Pottawatomie County Museum in Shawnee in a travel brochure. She showed the photo and asked if I had ever been there, I said no but it really looks cool. So we headed up to Shawnee to check it out.
This was an epic fail! The museum did not look at all like the photo. There was stuff everywhere. We were now on deadline and had no choice but to make the best of it.
I was nicknamed “The Magic Man” because of all the production equipment I had crammed in my SUV. The producer said, “Jack is there anything in that magic car of yours that we can use to make this set look better”? I dug around and found a black tarp that we used to cover up some junk in the background.
Now, everyone on the crew was a top professional, but even they were a little nervous. I was the “1st AC”, First Assistant Camera operator. My job was to run the camera that filmed Ms. Brockovich, and help the other camera operators get ready.
We spent the afternoon rigging up the set for the interview, in a very small room. The sound guy actually had to sit in another room because there was no room for him.
Everyone was a little on edge, until she hit the door. This woman is exactly how Julia Roberts played her in the movie. She was funny, blunt, and just a lot of fun to work with. The problem was we had to bleep out a bunch of her interview! When done, she took the time to be sure everyone got to visit and take photos.
Btw if you watch the movie Erin Brockovich, at about the 3 minute mark Julia Roberts is in a restaurant and the real Erin Brockovich is the waitress.
