The Location Managers Guild International (LMGI) is the largest organization of Location Managers and Location Scouts in the motion picture, television, commercial and print production industries. Their membership plays a vital role in the creativ
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blazing through the narrow, hilly streets and burning "donuts"— visible on Google satellite view—into the scorched pavement "That area really does read well for the Northeast," says Becker, who had never shot there before, but was quick to see that the neighborhood had the perfect look for the film. "We actually avoided Angelino Heights at first because it's well known to be tricky. The rules are hard," says De La Rosa. Adds Foulkes, "There's a lot to keep track of, people to keep happy and you have to know where you can and can't be." De La Rosa admits, "I honestly looked to Robert like, 'How do we do it?"' Familiar with her prior experience working in field services at the film office and, for a time, gathering signature surveys with Pacific Production Services (PPS), Foulkes knew she would be perfectly suited for the task. She also had a secret weapon that would prove just as valuable: From 2003 to 2007, De La Rosa had actually lived in the neighborhood. She says, "It gave me an instant respect for everybody. Anytime I spoke to anyone, I said, 'Hey, so this is what's happening, and actually, I used to live here.'" Foulkes' faith in her abilities would pay off. The production was able to close down the intersection of Kensington Road at Douglas Street, a main thoroughfare connecting Sunset Boulevard to the north with Bellevue Avenue to the south. "No one's ever been able to do that before or since," says Valdez. An apartment interior was set inside an 1888 Victorian on Kensington Road, a particularly sensitive street. The home of the general played by Robert De Niro, a highly decorated Marine who is unknowingly at the center of a Nazi coup attempt, was split into two homes. The exterior was a corner-situated Victorian that Foulkes had used as Annette Bening's house in Running with Scissors. It had the terrain where it would be easy to film a character rolling down a hill—a detail important to the director's vision for a scene that barely made the final cut. It would also provide a wide shot of the neighborhood in a rare daytime exterior. Wei says the Running with Scissors house lacked an interior staircase for the natural progression of the characters walking in and up a flight of stairs. So, production moved over to the neighborhood's noted centerpiece, Carroll Avenue, and the interior of the famous red house from the fan-favorite WB series, Charmed. "I was like, 'Wow, is this the first time that the Charmed house is being used and you don't even know it's the Charmed house?'" says De La Rosa. Between contract negotiations, prep, shoot and strike, De La Rosa spent almost every day for about a month in Angelino Heights. During that time, she became friendly with an out-of- work single mother whose driveway she had rented for truck parking. One day, the woman and her 8-year-old son were watching the filming from across the street. De La Rosa happily pointed out the actors on set—Bale amongst them. The woman told her son, 'That's Batman.' Just then, a producer approached De La Rosa and requested that she ask the woman and the boy to move along. De La Rosa informed the producer that it was a public street and because they weren't interfering, they could stay. De La Rosa diplomatically suggested that they simply relocate to the other side of the street, and then move again when the crew moved. "Just keep playing that game," De La Rosa told her. "But don't go home. It's your neighborhood. COVID's the only thing we have to worry about." De La Rosa then excused herself to check on one of the other houses that production was using. Later, the woman told De La Rosa that after she had left them, her son had insisted on going home to change into his Batman pajamas. They returned to set, taking up their spot to watch the filming when Bale started walking toward them. "She figures he's walking to a hair and makeup person or something. The next think you know, Christian Bale is standing in front of them, introducing himself and asking their names. Then, he kneels down and has a 10-minute conversation with her son!" says De La Rosa. "That's one of the best memories about doing this neighborhood on this movie. They were told to go away, and Christian Bale noticed, and Christian Bale made it right." Valdez enthusiastically concurs, "It's these moments where people are like, 'That was priceless. Come shoot in my neighborhood anytime!'" MANSIONS AND TROUBLESOME TOPIARY Two historic homes were merged to create an old money mansion for a tycoon businessman and his conniving wife—both Nazi sympathizers. The magnificent wood-paneled interior of the Voze residence was that of the Guasti Villa at the Peace Awareness Labyrinth and Gardens in the Jefferson Park neighborhood. The mansion was built between 1910- Voze Residence, Exterior Pasadena Mansion