PART FIVE - CHICKAMAUGA
As the month of July came to a close, the first glimpses of the film would be released to the public as the Teaser Trailer for Johnny was released. "We really had less than 50% of the film in the can, but with the remarkable footage shot in Virginia and the majority of the set pieces recorded, we had enough to put together a preview of the film, "states David. The teaser trailer would be a success, with over 2,500 hits as of September 2007.
Production in August 2006 would begin with a trip down to Georgia for filming at the Chickamauga National Battlefield near the Fairview - Fort Oglethorpe area. During their stay, both the crew and their young star Cody Piper was able to visit the real Lookout Mountain. "What an incredible sight! But there would have been no way we could have filmed there and got the shots we wanted. Pineville Mountain was a great substitute, and really not much different than the real thing."
Recording at Chickamauga Battlefield commenced on Thursday, August 10th with panoramic shots of the area filmed from the top of the famous Wilder Tower in the park. From there, production moved to Snodgrass Hill, where the 22nd Michigan would see their bloodiest fighting. Filming of the 22nd Michigan Monument, which sits on the crest of the Hill, as well as shots of the Snodgrass House and surrounding fields, and of the cannons around the area.
Returning for a final day of filming on August 11th before returning north, they began early in the morning with shots of Chickamauga Creek. Filming this day would be hindered by intermittent rainfall, however all shots on the schedule would be recorded including shots of the Kelly House and the area along the Lafayette Road as well as the Dyer House and fields. Finally, the crew returned to Snodgrass HIll in search of the 22nd's original position in the gully. "We searched everywhere for signs and we think we found it, but aren't really certain," says Wayne. "I must have walked over a mile around the entire base of Snodgrass Hill, filming it at all different angles. Somewhere on there I had to have gotten it!"
With filming complete at Chickamauga Battlefield, the crew returned home to Ohio to prepare for the largest and most complex of all the filming weekends for the film - the Chickamauga Battle Scenes. Scheduled for the weekend of August 18th-20th, 2006, a call went out for as many re enactors as possible to attend in order to get the feel of a "large scale battle" in the shots. "Once again we didn't know how many re enactors we would get, but by this time we had the cooperation of the 4th Ohio Infantry on our side as our 'core' group, " says David. "We knew with their help we could manage to get what we needed no matter how many showed up." As filming in the original park would have been impossible, a replacement site needed to be found. As it happened, a member of David's family stepped up to solve this problem and filming was set to take place near the small town of Felicity in southwestern Ohio.
Friday, August 18th began with filming on the ridge substituting for Snodgrass Hill. Shots completed this day would include the building and fighting at the breastworks, searching for ammunition among the dead, and Johnny's attempts to elude and escape from the Confederates near the end. Production ended early this day, in order to give the re enactors time to set up and camp, and allow others to arrive and settle in. Everything was set for the weekend.
"Saturday would be the hardest during the weekend to complete. We had so much material to shoot and so little time to do it." August 19th would begin with a on-set call of 8am, and the cast and crew would return to the ridge to record the bulk of the fighting on Snodgrass HIll. The first on the list were shots of the 22nd Michigan coming up the hill, bayonets fixed and ready. Next included close-ups on Cody, as well as the three color-bearers of the regiment being shot. Upon completion of these shots, and a quick break for lunch, it was back on the ridge for the recording of one of the most famous events in Johnny Clem's life - shooting the Confederate Colonel. Returning to the production would be Herb Pfaff to play the part of the doomed Colonel. "Herb agreed to fall off his horse when he was shot, " remembers Wayne. "But the first time he did down he went right into a tree. He hit his head hard. Both myself and David looked at each other in horror, but Herb just got back up, smiled and then climbed back onto the horse asking us if we got the shot. And we didn't! He had to do it over again about six more times until we finally got it. Fortunately he didn't repeat the tree incident again."
Snodgrass Hill filming, Felicity, Ohio - August 19th, 2006
Herb Pfaff as the Confederate Colonel - July 19th, 2006
Filming moved to the same breastworks that had been used the previous day, where filming of the Confederate charge up the hill would take place as well as hand-to-hand combat between the opposing sides. "These shots are some of my favorite in the film. We had just enough people to make it look good, but not too many that we couldn't control the set, "says Wayne. "All the re enactors were very dedicated to making the shots look as realistic as possible, and worked very hard to choreograph the hand-to-hand just right. There were a couple of times where we were worried that they would hurt themselves, but we shouldn't have feared. They knew exactly what they were doing."
This afternoon the crew was visited by Linda Leffel of the Licking County Historical Society, a life-long admirer of Johnny's who had helped director David Burns prepare and research for the project. "It was a thrill and privilege to have her on the set during this important filming session. She's a wonderful person who's helped us greatly during the making of the film. I've never seen anyone with as much passion this side of David himself for Johnny and his story. I'm so glad that she could make it." As afternoon came to a close, the crew called a wrap for the day's filming to allow itself and the re enactors to recover and refuel. Although exhausted, there still was one final day of shooting ahead of them.
David with Linda Leffel - August 19th, 2006
Another on-set call of 8am brought everyone back to the location, this time taking a break from the battle at Chickamauga to focus on Johnny's capture by General Wheeler's Cavalry, an important part of the fifth act of the film. However, the day would not start without problems, as it seemed for a while that production would come to a halt and the crew would be forced to cancel the remaining scenes. "Cody got stung. The poor boy! As we were setting up our first shot in the field adjacent to the ridge where we filmed the day before, Cody stumbled right into a hornet's nest and was stung on the hand. He had a horrible reaction to the sting, too. We were about to have him rushed to the hospital when a few medically-trained members of our cast came to his rescue." Pumped full of Benadryl and packed with ice, the star returned to the set ready and willing to finish the day's shoot.
The remaining shots included all scenes with Cody on his horse. Returning to join us was Gary Chambers as General Thomas, appearing alongside Cody on horseback. "Cody became something of an expert rider over the weekend. He did a fantastic job. It was more than we had thought we'd be able to do but he took to riding like a natural and off he went." Afterwards, the crew returned to the ridge to finish off the remaining battle scenes in the woods, centering mainly on the regiment's movement down the hill. And then, finishing off the day was a final scene where Johnny is shot in the ear while on horseback. "Cody spent some time learning to fall off that horse." says David. "We had recorded the scene of Johnny being shot back in June, but we didn't have access to horses at the time and didn't think we would at anytime so we started the shot with Johnny already lying on the ground. But now we had the chance to film the beginning of the scene and then edit the two parts together. It was flawless." Although the scene required nearly a half-dozen retakes, it was finished and production ended for the weekend.
With their most difficult shoot now finished and in the can, concentration was turned to completing what they were unable to film in Virginia - the remaining camp scenes. With the film over half finished, things began to look a little easier. But a fast-approaching deadline would see the production crew make changes in their schedule as they press to finish the film on time...