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Post by 1hearseman on Feb 19, 2008 20:28:31 GMT -5
Hello to all Phantasm Phans out there in cyberspace! This is Guy Thorpe finally posting after all this time. I worked on P3 & P4 as Hearse Coordinator. I've been a Phan since I first laid eyes on P1 in March of 79' at what was then my local drive-in in Oceanside, CA. I first met Don, Angus, Michael, Reggie and Bill at a con that took place in Los Angeles in that same year. I'm proud to call these people my friends, for we have been over the many years that the Phantasm films span. I also made a very special friend who appears in the Phantasm documentary from the UK ball DVD set. Kristen Deem. It was such a dream come true as a fan to have worked so closely on the last 2 sequels and to observe the filming of P2 back in 87'. Ghoulish Greetings to you all!
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Post by gopher in heat on Feb 19, 2008 20:38:02 GMT -5
Hey man! Welcome to Community! Awesome story there man, it's cool to have an "insider" around!
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Post by DustinM on Feb 19, 2008 20:48:03 GMT -5
A warm welcome to you, Guy.
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Post by 1hearseman on Feb 19, 2008 21:34:52 GMT -5
Thanks for the welcome man! Hey Gopher in Heat, I love your t-shirt! It cracked me up!
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Post by 4barrelhemi on Feb 19, 2008 22:13:47 GMT -5
Hey welcome to the boards!
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Post by gopher in heat on Feb 19, 2008 22:51:49 GMT -5
Thanks for the welcome man! Hey Gopher in Heat, I love your t-shirt! It cracked me up! Haha, you should see how people who don't know Phantasm react. It's pretty priceless.
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Post by The Never Dead on Feb 19, 2008 23:25:48 GMT -5
Hello to all Phantasm Phans out there in cyberspace! This is Guy Thorpe finally posting after all this time. I worked on P3 & P4 as Hearse Coordinator. I've been a Phan since I first laid eyes on P1 in March of 79' at what was then my local drive-in in Oceanside, CA. I first met Don, Angus, Michael, Reggie and Bill at a con that took place in Los Angeles in that same year. I'm proud to call these people my friends, for we have been over the many years that the Phantasm films span. I also made a very special friend who appears in the Phantasm documentary from the UK ball DVD set. Kristen Deem. It was such a dream come true as a fan to have worked so closely on the last 2 sequels and to observe the filming of P2 back in 87'. Ghoulish Greetings to you all! Welcome to the Community. Good to have you here, Guy.
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Post by bcg1969 on Feb 20, 2008 3:08:54 GMT -5
welcome aboard. you were cool on the bonus disc in the region 2 box set.
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Post by scubasteve on Feb 20, 2008 6:49:13 GMT -5
Awesome. Welcome to the boards!
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vitaman2007
Sentinel Sphere
"Be de be de be de...f#@ you Buck!"
Posts: 698
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Post by vitaman2007 on Feb 20, 2008 8:17:10 GMT -5
Yes, hello.
How difficult was it to coordinate hearses? I know there was alot of em' in P3.
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Post by mirai on Feb 20, 2008 15:38:05 GMT -5
welcome Guy
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Post by 1hearseman on Feb 20, 2008 15:58:01 GMT -5
It was a blast helping put together all the different hearses Don needed for P3 & P4, especially the scene in P3 when Reggie, Rocky and Tim confront the gravers with all the hearses lined up. As I mentioned in the Phandom doc I was in, I just called up some members of a hearse club I was in at that time and they all volunteered to drive out for an all night shoot in Valencia, CA. Also a bit of hearse info: Don bought 2 identical hearses for P3 so he could crash one and still have a driver car for future scenes. Also, the pink 68' hearse was repainted black for use in P4. And once again, Don bought a junker hearse to explode at the end of P4 so he would yet still have a good driver hearse for future sequels. In fact to this day, it still sitting in Don's backyard, ready for the Tall Man! I remember during the making of P4, I had to go out to the storage lot where the hearse was parked before being needed at the warehouse for filming, and quickly paint the doorjams which One Day Paint shop had left pink! Unfortunately doorjams weren't included in the price! I just bought about 3 cans of black enamel spray paint to do the job. The hard part was having to climb over the fence of the storage lot to get in as it was a sunday and the owner wasn't there! Oh, the memories! But they were all good! I actually owned the 69' black hearse for about 8 yrs that Don bought for P2. My license plate read FANTASM of course! In fact Don got to use my 69' at the beginning of P3 when it drives down the road and crashes. Although the hearse that was shown crashed and on fire was actually the pink hearse "stunt double" repainted black just for that scene. Also, the black 68 was re-used yet again for several shots in Bubba Ho Tep with the morgue attendants! I was also Hearse Coordinator on Bubba as well.
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Post by mirai on Feb 20, 2008 16:13:44 GMT -5
that's cool
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Post by gopher in heat on Feb 20, 2008 16:42:24 GMT -5
Awesome insight! Keep the stories comin' man. I can't get enough!
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Post by 1hearseman on Feb 20, 2008 18:09:31 GMT -5
Ok, a couple more memories come to mind. Do you all know the scene in P3 where Reg, Rocky, & Tim are sitting in the Cuda looking at a map trying to figure out which way to go and 3 hearses driven by Gravers cruise by them in daylight? Well. the Gravedriver of the black 69 Caddy was me. In fact on the new DVD release of P3, you can freeze frame and spot, in my close-up shot, my black rubber spider I had dangling from my rear view mirror!! Don probably thought no one would notice it! Boy and it was hotter than hell that day. Especially doing 3 or 4 takes while wearing a gas mask! That scene was shot up near Sylmar in 90 degree heat! And ironically, the road we were driving on was just mere feet away from the hanging tree used in P1! Another fond and favorite memory from P4 was being able to be the crewmember who got to drive Angus all the way up to Lone Pine for location shooting and back to Los Angeles after spending 2 days up there. On the way up, Angus and I stopped at a Denny's for chocolate milkshakes and the waiter recognized him! The waiter asked Angus for an autograph which Angus happily obliged! I'm sure most or all of you know, Lone Pine is where all the rocky terrain and desolate dry lake bed scenes were shot. They used Owens Lake for Mike trying to hang himself and the multiple spacegate scenes. I remember when I had the hearse parked back at the Dow Villa Motel in Lone Pine for the night after shooting, I enlisted 2 local kids to help me wash it. They were even nice enough to bring me towels for drying! In fact one of them shot video footage of me climbing out the back of the hearse and remove the coffin which I drove up with in the hearse the week before. (You can see a bit of this footage in my segment of the Phandom doc) I had it completely covered in bubble wrap to protect it! And just to let fans know, the black coffin, like the hearse, had been repainted after being used in P3 as Tim's father's blue coffin to be P4's black one that Mike finds in the back.
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vitaman2007
Sentinel Sphere
"Be de be de be de...f#@ you Buck!"
Posts: 698
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Post by vitaman2007 on Feb 20, 2008 19:36:21 GMT -5
Great stories.
Alot of us here don't have the Phantasm doc., so it's news to us.
It's neat to find out that some stuff was recycled. I would imagine, with limited budget and film time, things have to be mapped out quite precisely. One false calculation...
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Post by pinheadsconcubine on Feb 21, 2008 3:21:21 GMT -5
welcome Guy! keep the stories coming! how did you get started in the hearse cordinating buisness? did you work for a morque? I saw in the credits about the hearse society! I bet thats lots of fun! do you do seasonal hearse hosting? like for halloween party's?
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Post by 1hearseman on Feb 21, 2008 13:25:07 GMT -5
I've always been interested in hearses ever since seeing Harold & Maude and of course Phantasm. Over the yrs I've owned about 3 hearses. Don gave me the Hearse Coordinator name in the films. And when I purchased the P2 hearse from Don, he only charged me $250.00!! It needed a little work here & there, but it ran decently for 8 yrs until I sold it when the axle gave out. The fellow that bought it from me ended up totalling it in an accident! The hearse club I was in was called LA Hearse Society which was also given a credit in P3. I never worked in a funeral home or morgue, but I got to assist in a few embalmings! A couple of the hearse club members worked in that business.
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Post by DustinM on Feb 21, 2008 13:44:01 GMT -5
Hey Guy,
What's your favorite Phantasm and why?
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Post by 1hearseman on Feb 21, 2008 13:53:51 GMT -5
The first Phantasm was my favorite because it was so different and original, something I'd never seen before. And actually it didn't click until my 2nd trip to the drive-in, then it worked it's magic on me. My second fave is Oblivion. I think Don came up with a darn good storyline connecting all the older unused footage from the original. I loved the apocalyptic feeling about it! And of course restoring the hanging scene was great!
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