Last September – a few days after Bayonne resident Henry Sanchez signed a contract with Paramount Studios allowing them to use his home for the filming of War of the Worlds – a large blue bus pulled up in front of his door – depositing nearly 40 studio staff who had flown in from Los Angeles for a conference with the director, Steven Spielberg. Coming from Los Angeles where it hardly rains until the dead of winter, none of the people had thought to bring an umbrella – so Spielberg, who intended to take them on a tour of the out door set, sent someone to Broadway to purchase 40 umbrellas. A short time later, those 40 people with 40 open umbrellas stood in Sanchez’s small back yard as Spielberg – in the pouring rain – went over the details of the movie.
The umbrella incident would not be the last time Spielberg had to rely on local resources. A few months later, just as he was preparing to begin filming, Spielberg – apparently dissatisfied with one of his set designs – sent his staff out to find a local expert on Ford Mustangs in order to design two of the sets critical to the film.
In early November, Tony Malgapo, president of the Central Jersey Mustangs and Fords Club gets a call from someone who said they were an associate producer for Paramount Pictures.
“She said they needed help in a film they were making,” he recalled. “She stated that they were doing a set build. The premise was the person was building a Mustang inside his home and they needed to hire a person who was familiar with various aspects of Mustang history, parts and restoration, to provide a sense of authenticity for their set designers and prop masters with ideas for the set build.”
The associate producers had received Malgapo’s name from a local dealer because the club has members throughout the tri-state area, including people in Hoboken, Weehawken, and Kearny.
She wanted Malgapo to start right away as a consultant to the set designers. He said he would get back to her in a few hours.
“At first I thought it was a joke some CJMF members were playing on me, but the person’s phone numbers checked at as Paramount offices in New York,” Malgapo said. The woman called back later and asked him to start the following Monday. Luckily for Malgapo, a branch manger for First Jersey Mortgages based out of Union City, he was on vacation and could give the time to the project. As it turned out, Spielberg needed someone with Mustang expertise to decorate Sanchez garage set as well as the kitchen set which was constructed in the movie studios in Bayonne’s Military Ocean Terminal.
“The terminal studio was ideal if you wanted to shoot in secrecy,” he said. “There was only one way in and one way out, a peninsula surrounded by water. I was impressed by the reproduction of `Ray’s’ home inside the studio. I spent most of my time on the kitchen and porch location at the set, as that was what I was dressing to make look authentic.”
Sanchez’s garage was a challenge. As time ticked away and the shoot date closed in, he had to somehow make it look like a mechanic worked there.
“I had to start from scratch, selling the studio parts I had at home and in my garage,” he said. “They didn’t have a toolbox for this character. I supplied everything from motor parts, new and old, to tools, toolboxes, trophies, mustang pictures, fridge magnets, mustang magazines, mustang club pictures and flyers as well as mustang die cast models.”
Making the garage authentic, too
Cruise’s character in the film was supposed to be rebuilding a classic 1965 Ford Mustang convertible – at least that’s what the movie staff thought they had.
“The Mustang in the garage I was told was a 65, but when I saw it, it was clearly a later model 68′.”
While Malgapo did not directly advise Tom Cruise on mechanics, he did give pointers to Paramount’s set decorator Anne Kuljian as to what Cruise could do while shooting in the kitchen.
“I said he could be adjusting the carburetor, or perhaps tightening bolts on the heads of the motor; if he wants an electric project, he could be installing wires on the distributor,” Malgapo said.
He also placed all the props so that Cruise could easily shoot the scene, talk, and walk around the motor with ease.
What made Spielberg pick the Mustang as his car of choice for the film?
“I was told that the Mustang was chosen because it was a working man’s car,” Malgapo said. “Since Cruise’s character was a blue-collar worker (longshoreman), it was a typical car for that type of person to work on and restore. We do have a longshoreman in our Mustang Club … so this premise was authentic as it can get.”
The biggest technical problem for Malgapo was the time frame. Spielberg called him within a week of the start of filming in Bayonne.
“When I arrived there, all the parts were laid out for me to view,” he said. “The main problem was that everything was too new and looked like it was all mail ordered. I said, ‘Unless the character is wealthy, this is not typical of someone, blue collar restoring a car in his kitchen and garage.’ So I had to find older parts, maintain authenticity, and even ‘age’ the parts they already had. They wanted someone like me, who knows Mustangs, to say ‘now that is what my garage motor rebuild looks like’ without any reservations.”
Product placement for the club
When the film comes out on June 29, Malgapo won’t be looking for aliens or Tom Cruise, but for the pictures of his own car, his clubs logo and trophies, his tool box and other personal items he loaded into the set. This is a rare tip of the hat to the car club since Spielberg is very meticulous about controlling the product placement in his movies.
“The windowsill in the kitchen was littered with trophies I had won at car show and racing my own Mustang and I hope to see it all in the movie,” Malgapo said. “I am hoping that if anything, people will realize that Mustangs are great cars and a great part of American Heritage. I am all about promoting our club, which is full of great people with the same interest. I had a club t-shirt and a membership card for Tom Cruise, but was unable to give it to him. I figured it was the least I could do to make him an honorary member, since his character was supposed to be a member of our club.”
