By Mike Gervais
Register Staff

5-1-2008

Inyo County is preparing to roll out the red carpet for one of this summer’s most hotly anticipated action films.
Not only is the Lone Pine Film History Museum debuting a new “Iron Man” exhibit this weekend, but it’s also setting the stage for tours later this summer of local sites where the film was shot on location.
With buzz reaching a fever pitch in the hours before the movie opens in theaters across the nation today, organizers are anticipating the exclusive exhibit and tours will be hits in their own right – especially with those who made the “Iron Man” Eastern Sierra filming locations a top vacation destination in a recent online poll.

Several thousand moviegoers on Fandango.com were asked in April to rank the upcoming summer film locations that they are most interested in visiting, said Harry Medved, head of the Web site’s public relations.
The local “Iron Man” locations were ranked second only to the Hawaii locales used in the new Indiana Jones film to be released this summer. Moviegoers ranked “The Dark Knight’s” set in Chicago third.
According to Medved, the economies of the areas associated with the movie locations can expect a cash infusion from traveling movie buffs this summer.
“The travel trend of visiting movie locations, which has been big business overseas for many years, is starting to take off in the U.S.,” Fandango.com states.
A separate survey by the Web site found that 79 percent of American moviegoers said they expect to visit a movie location as part of their vacation plans.
According to Inyo County Film Commissioner and Lone Pine Museum of Film History Director Chris Langley, plans are in the works this summer to capture some of that interest, and the museum exhibit, in the meantime, is well worth a visit on its own.
The display – opening Saturday – is so exclusive, Langley explained, that some of the pieces cannot be shown in public until after the premier of the movie.

Tony Stark, played by Robert Downey, Jr., showcases his new invention in the Alabama Hills in the film “Iron Man,” which will hit theaters this week. Photo courtesy Chris Langley

“Rob Barron did a great job on this,” Langley said of the museum’s general manager who designed the “Iron Man” exhibit. “When you walk into the science fiction exhibit, you walk into the cave” where Robert Downey, Jr.’s character, Tony Stark, creates the Iron Man suit.
“I got some material from the assistant art director” on the set, Langley said, including bombs and advertisements for the film. “We’re hoping to have some costumes and we have lots of photos of the location,” he added.
Langley urged residents and visitors to stop by the museum as soon as possible, as the exhibit will be a limited feature in Lone Pine. He estimated that the display will be up for about a year.
Though the museum won’t be screening “Iron Man” at its debut, Langley said he is hoping to be able to show the movie during the Lone Pine Film Festival this fall.
Also on tap for the film festival will be an in-depth tour of “Iron Man” set locations in the Eastern Sierra.
“Harry (Medved) called me and pushed me to do a tour, he said there would be such high interest,” said Langley. “And we have a large exhibit (at the Lone Pine Film History Museum) so we can start there.”
Langley is working with Medved on a tour that will take visitors to filming locations in Lone Pine, Dolomite and Keeler, where films such as “Tremors and “An Eye for an Eye” were also shot.
Langley is also working on designing a continuing tour throughout the summer that would be offered to residents and visitors by appointment.
With this tour, Langley hopes to take moviegoers, or site location fans, to at least two of the major filming locations for “Iron Man”: Movie Road in the Alabama Hills where Stark’s convoy is ambushed near the beginning of the film, and the Cerro Gordo canyon where the film crew built the cave in which Stark is imprisoned and eventually builds the Iron Man suit.
Langley hopes to get the tour  going in mid-May. “We haven’t worked out a price yet, but there will be charge for a donation to the museum,” he said.
“From what I’ve learned, they feature the Alabama Hills pretty prominently in the first part of the film,” Langley said. Though it appears the hills are blown up, he said visitors will still be able to recognize the one-of-a-kind Alabamas if they are interested in touring the area.