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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36 • LMGI COMPASS | Summer 2024 staff and Chris after we had taken our crew for a walk up and over the bridge," adds Scope, "and in that meeting, Chris started talking about how cool it would be if Colt could parachute off the top of the bridge. "I distinctly remember seeing all of these sponsors in their 15 little Zoom windows just shaking their heads and I was thinking, 'Oh my God, we're losing them! We've got to get them back on board.' So we immediately were like, 'OK, if that won't work, what if we do this? Or how about that?'" Watts was also in that meeting. "Hard to forget that one, but as I recall, Chris wanted to have Colt's double jump from a helicopter onto the bridge," he laughs. "It was a big ask and they definitely weren't going for it." That idea of parachuting either onto or off the bridge was quickly shut down because, apparently, the city leaders were concerned the film might inspire teenagers to attempt it. "In terms of the safety concerns, of course, I get it," says Watts. "The Harbour Bridge carries an enormous volume of traffic every day and has enough distractions for motorists as it is." Despite not approving the parachute jump, the committee did seem somewhat amenable to shutting down the bridge … with some stipulations. Roope and Scope would attend monthly meetings and roundtables from then on to work out the details. "I have to say that we had some great people inside the government championing us, like Sarah Young in the Premier's Department and Peter Stankovich and his team in Transport," says Scope. Through the months leading up to filming, more and more officials began attending the meetings—especially from Transport as they were the people who would be responsible for shutting down the bridge, streets, tunnels and freeways. "There was one meeting when we were pretty close to starting, and this bigwig attended. He didn't say much as I was taking the group through the final plan," says Roope. Roope knew that the Sydney Harbour Bridge had been shut down before by the city on Sunday mornings for marathons and other events. As this was a kind of make-or-break meeting, Roope tossed out a time frame. "I told them we'd need four hours between 6 and 10 in the morning, so at least we'd have a starting point of negotiation," he says, "and by the end of that meeting, the bigwig gave a nod and we all knew it was going to work.'" Everyone was thrilled but, of course, production always wants more. "Once Phillip told us it looked like we were going to get approved," says Barry, "the first question our line producer and I asked was if we could get a second day, because that's what you want in case the weather's bad or something." After eight solid months of negotiation, the production was granted a single Sunday morning between 5 and 10, with a hard out at 10. GETTING ON AND OFF THE BRIDGE "It was a massive operation," says Watts. "We have a tunnel that runs pretty much beneath the harbour bridge, but trucks over Ryan Gosling as Colt Seavers surfs the Sydney Harbour Bridge