IN A paddock on “Umagarlee” near Breeza an American style barn is all that remains from the 2005 filming of Hollywood blockbuster, Superman Returns, which aired in 2006.
Surrounded by canola stubble from last season’s crop the structure is already somewhat dilapidated, having been built only to last for the filming of Superman Returns.
Directed by Bryan Singer, the movie was a homage sequel to the 1978 Superman, based on DC Comics character Superman, and the 1980 movie Superman II, and starred Brandon Routh as Superman and Kate Bosworth as Lois Lane.
The scenes on “Umagarlee” only got about three minutes of screen time at the start of the movie, say brothers Julian and Sam Craig who run “Umagarlee” with their father Tim.
The barn was just one of several buildings constructed for the film, which also included a two storey house and some outbuildings, with the setting chosen for its outlook across the Breeza Plain.
“The producers were looking for exactly the same landscape aspect as the original movie, which was a bit of a slope looking across a plain,” Sam said.
The producers made it look just like the original, including paying the Craigs to plant and grow four hectares of corn to match the farm in the 1978 Superman.
“It was the most expensive crop of corn we’ve ever grown – about $30,000 a hectare,” he said.
To grow the corn, the brothers used four 5000 gallon (23,000 litre) water tanks and a 10,000 gallon (46,000l) water tank that were connected to a travelling irrigator to water the crop 24 hours a day.
It was sown in November-December and the grasses around the house and the barn were sown at the same time.
Sam said they’d do it again, but there weren’t many movies about with the budget to make it worthwhile.
“The problem is you don’t get many big budget movies like that,” he said.
Just below the site a neighbour had an old hayshed the producers didn’t want in the shot, so they knocked it down and then when filming had finished they built him a new $20,000 shed.
The Craigs said there where plenty of people about during the peak of filming, with as many as 100 crew, producers and actors, most of whom commuted from Tamworth each day.
No effort was spared to get the set looking just right with the corn having to be planted in a particular direction to suit the filming, and a mature tree was dug up and moved into the correct position for filming.
When the tree died and its leaves fell off, the production crew made fake leaves and put them on the tree in the place of the dead leaves.
Meanwhile, Superman’s space shuttle which was delivered to the set on two semi trailers, now resides at the Gunnedah tip, the barn now being all that remains of the set.
The barn is already showing the effects of the weather, having been built to serve its purpose for the movie only, however, it can be seen from the road and has become a regular pull-over spot for drivers-by to stop and take a photo.
The movie, meanwhile, is said to have used Tamworth for scenes in Smallville and Fox studios in Sydney was used for most of the movie’s production.
All up it is estimated the movie contributed about $100 million to the NSW economy.
