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Hurlburt gunship crew takes on more than meets the eye during filming of 'Transformers'
HURLBURT FIELD, Jun 17, 2006 (Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News delivered by Newstex) --
A gunship crew and its AC-130H encountered a deadly, shapeshifting enemy from outer space last month.
It happened at Holloman Air Force Base, N.M., on a DreamWorks Pictures movie set.
The 16th Special Operations Squadron crew contributed its skill and the big warplane to a shoot for the movie "Transformers." It's scheduled to be released in July 2007.
Aircraft commander Capt. Shawn Sharitt said the set was a life-size, lifelike Bedouin village of houses and tents.
The gunship and other aircraft arrive to fight an electro-mechanical being threatening the village with annihilation.
"We were told it was a spider-like creature," Sharitt said.
His description suggested the otherworldly machine was Scorponok.
In Transformers lore, Scorponok is a vicious and highly intelligent menace armed with missiles, claws, blades and a potent stinger. It and all the other Transformers -- which have been around as toys for more than two decades -- can change from a robot to a vehicle and back.
The gunship crew never saw its opponent or fired its cannons. Footage of the airplane and village will be combined with computer-generated animation to create the battle.
The shoot on May 25 took about an hour, the air commandos said.
The way they would fly a gunship in combat was altered to make for more dramatic, Hollywood-style footage.
The gunship crew flew the "mission" lower to the ground than it would against the Taliban in Afghanistan. When the pilots banked the warplane, it was steeper than usual. And they were in "combat" during the day, although gunships generally fight at night.
One of the crewmembers played with Transformers as a youngster.
"I was kind of a novice Transformer guy. I had the semi (truck)," said Staff Sgt. Mike Passmore, a gunner.
He then paused to recall the robot's name. It was Optimus Prime, a good machine.
Passmore had a chance to talk with the movie's director, Michael Bay. He described the director as a nice man with shaggy hair.
"He said that he got some good footage of us," Passmore said.
Bay had a plane with cameras flying with the gunship and cameras placed on the ground.
The gunship crew heard that its warplane plays a pivotal role in the Bedouin village attack, but that's about it.
They also got peeks at a couple of the sci-fi film's stars, Josh Duhamel and Tyrese Gibson, and were served the best hamburgers they had ever eaten.
Hurlburt commanders let the Spectre gunship appear in the movie because it was already heading west for a training exercise. The daylong detour to Holloman posed little inconvenience.
DreamWorks was grateful.
"They were extremely excited that they got a real gunship," said Capt. Chad Bubanas, a pilot.
Crewmembers don't expect their names to be in the credits and aren't in the film as extras. But they're hoping to be famous, anyway.
Bubanas has been telling "anybody that would listen" about the crew's role in the movie.
Has he signed any autographs yet?
"They're for sale," said the captain. "I haven't had any takers, but I'm hopeful."
The absence of autograph requests didn't bother Staff Sgt. Aidan Allenbaugh too much, either. The sensor operator figured it's a matter of timing.
"We're waiting for the movie," he said.
Daily News Staff Writer Mladen Rudman can be reached at 863-1111, Ext. 443.
