Day 23: Enter – 12 Foot Alligator
Yeah, she’s real.
Day: 23
Location: The hills of Jensen Beach, FL
Phrase of the day: “Whoa! Is he, like, a trained alligator?”
Today we abandoned working with children and chose a different, equally challenging path – working with animals. Tim Williams, Gatorland handler extraordinaire, came down with the lovely lady you see above and two trainers to get us (in my opinion) one of the best shots of the film.
See, about eight months ago, Brian and I were sitting in a restaurant, talking about how Natalie and Nicholas would meet. And, for whatever reason, Brian thought it would be hilarious if they bonded over escaping from an alligator. A twelve foot alligator.
Well, eight months later, after about 80 pages of paperwork with SAG and Gatorland and American Humane, Brian got his alligator – he even got to pose with it at the end of the shoot.
His producer concedes that yes, it was pretty fantastic.
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- Yeah, she’s real.
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- Our alligator’s body double.
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- Alligators are serious business.
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- Assorted crew members help carry our actress to her stage.
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- The crew of NQoS with the Gatorland folk.
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- Gator was not happy about being carried.
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- The crew had a blast.
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- Apparently, you sit on a gator to get them to cooperate.
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- She wasn’t too happy about the towel, though.
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- Big teeth!
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- Scaaaaaaaaary.
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- Pretty sprightly guy for being ten feet long.
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- Chomp!
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- Tim advises the crew on how to act around the gator.
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- “No, he won’t think your boom is a rabbit on a stick.”
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- Brian (the director) walks to the set.
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- Laid out and ready.
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- She was HUGE.
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- More shots of the gator.
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- The gator in the foreground of this pic is actually just our stand-in gator – looks pretty real though, right?
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- Close-up!
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- Super-long tail.
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- Scary-gator.
Photographs by Misti Guertin.
