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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60 • LMGI COMPASS Winter 2024 "We went in, stripped everything out and the art department turned the clock back on it to the 1920s," says Fantasia. "Then we shot a day or two inside, had the remediation company come in, encapsulate it all and then we brought a contractor in and he dismantled the house with the art department literally telling him 'OK,' move this chunk of wall over here, 'or rip up that chunk of the floor and put it over there.'" When they were done filming, the contractor came back and took everything above ground away. "Then we collapsed the basement, filled it with dirt, graded the land, seeded it and it's now just a big, empty grass lot between two houses," he says. OF RANCHES AND RAIN (OR LACK THEREOF!) The location department did similar work at the Hughes Ranch, where the Hale house was erected, and at the Ford Drummond Ranch where Mollie's country house, the Osage village and cemetery were built. When filming wrapped, the structures and roads were completely removed, the land was re-seeded and you'd never know they were there. But that wasn't the end of it. Fantasia was still dealing with one of the properties only several weeks ago as of press time. "We finally got a release in June of this year from the Ford Drummond property because, after we pulled the gravel and seeded, they didn't get rain so the grass didn't grow. You have to understand, the grass is like gold to these guys. It's what their cattle eat. Native tall grass has higher nutrition than any other type of grass in the country. You learn all kinds of shit when you do a movie," laughs Fantasia. No rain meant they needed to seed the ground again. And again, they got no rain. Finally, in the spring of 2023, they tried a different type of the native grass, decided to hydro- seed and then they paid the rancher to water once a week until it took. Fantasia talked to the rancher in September and was told the grass is finally growing and will be back to normal in a year. "That was a huge relief because if I had had to fly back to Oklahoma and re-seed the ground myself, I would have because I gave them my word," he says. "But I have to say that Apple has been amazing. They went beyond the agreement. The agreement terminated in 2022 because everyone assumed the rain would come and the grass would grow … but they just spent a nice six-figure number on the third go-round." Gatlin confirms the skill and integrity that Fantasia and team brought to the project. "It requires an enormous team effort, a lot of communication and just kind of supporting each other to figure it all out. Mike and his team were able to tackle pretty much everything we threw at them." "Mike is one of those location managers that loves being a location manager," says Lupi. "And most people don't understand just how difficult the job is and how a SLM has to carefully ride the line between working for the producers, the shooting company and the people whose properties we're filming on. And I think riding that line must become very ... frustrating. I think Mike was incredibly good at balancing that. "I've known Mike going back to Catch Me if You Can and, what can you say? He's just a legend in the business and he's definitely going out on a high note." THE LAST HURRAH Mike Fantasia has some 39 credits going back to Spielberg's Always in 1989, and what connects them all is that they are all well-regarded movies that have stood the test of time. It's an incredibly impressive collection of films and filmmakers. In thinking about Killers of the Flower Moon, Fantasia is proud to have had it serve as his last cinematic hurrah. "You always want to go out on top and I felt like I had with Top Gun: Maverick, but reading this script, knowing that Martin Scorsese was going to be at the helm… Well, it's bigger than I could have ever imagined. I feel so lucky to have been a part of it. "I mean, look, I've had the opportunity to work for a lot of great filmmakers and a lot of great studios on a variety of stories, from sci-fi to action to comedies to Westerns and now this. This project and this team are, for me, just … unrivaled. We drew together as a cohesive unit and they all busted their asses, from the PAs to the office coordinators to the assistants on the ground. They made me look really good." Killers of the Flower Moon shot for 100 days on 99 different sets in 57 locations and 12 distinct areas of Osage and Tulsa Counties. The film is in theaters now and will be made available to stream on AppleTV+ and other platforms. L-R: Mike Walton, Jason Wolf/LMGI, Mike Fantasia/LMGI, Andrea Keener/LMGI