Bailey’s filming Debut

Our Brit in the USA, Kat Sleeman, has her 64' Deluxe filmed in Atlanta, July 2005

My club here in Atlanta recently received an e-mail from a small independent film production company that were looking for an early 60s blue or green beetle for use in a short film which they are currently shooting. So I replied to the e-mail and sent some photos in of my 64 bahama blue and white bug, but was initially told that a green bug had already been found. A few weeks later I got a call to say that the other bug had had to pull out due to mechanical problems and that Bailey was now in!!! How exciting my car was going to be a filmstar!

On the day of filming fellow ex-pat Mindy came along to keep me company in her split bus Hattie and we had a great time. The day started off with a soundman sat in Bailey whilst I was driving around. He had to record “in-car” sounds whilst Bailey was on the move and through gear changes and when she was started and then switched off. Once this was done I then had to drive past him on the side of the road so he could record the sound she makes as she drives by, luckily the road was closed and all traffic was being controlled by a local policeman.

The actual filming finally began after several hours when the film director came along and introduced herself and told me about the film and what role my car would be playing in it. The Bread Squeezer is a short romantic comedy and Bailey was to play a major part in the film, being owned by an old lady that unfortunately chokes to death whilst eating sausage meat in Bailey, a bit bizarre to say the least! All in all we were “on location” for around 6 hours and for this we were paid $150 and promised a copy of the film on DVD once it has premiered at the Sundance Film Festival next year…..I can't wait.

There were however one or two hairy moments throughout the filming. Initially I was supposed to don an old lady’s grey wig and wear a coat etc. and drive my bug for long distance shots... I soon however got out of this …it was way too hot to be wearing a coat, hat and gloves in a non-airconditioned Car... so the poor actress had to suffer the heat a bit longer and drive Bailey.

She had had a bug in the 70s, so I wasn't too worried about her driving my car and the film production company was fully covered by insurance. However, it soon became clear that the actress was now used to driving automatics only and had completely forgotten how to drive a stick shift (manual) car. Poor Bailey kangarooed along for the first few miles, but then the actress got it together and the only other problem was when she overshot a line marked out in the road and just missed the lowering cameraman during a close-up shot……I think I aged about 30 years in those few seconds!

All in all this was a fun day out and I'd definitely do it again, it was fascinating to see how a film is made and just how long the process takes and how many people are involved. I am looking forward to seeing the finished result… although I know this is going to be a long way off.

Kat Sleeman (64Deluxe)