“Lovely Bones” Film Adaptation to Feature Atlas Products

Lights, Camera, Action! When Hollywood’s premiere filmmakers need model trains on their sets, who ya gonna call? The casting directors at Atlas Model Railroad and Atlas O, of course!

The latest major motion picture to feature Atlas products is “The Lovely Bones”, now in production and slated for October 2009 release. Based on the wildly popular Alice Sebold novel, the film is directed by Peter Jackson of “Lord of the Rings” fame, and stars Mark Wahlberg, Susan Sarandon, Stanley Tucci and Michael Imperioli, among other notables. The story focuses on a murdered teenage girl who watches the effects of her death on her family from her version of heaven. While the subject matter seems grim, it is billed as a tale of hope and healing. Of particular interest to Atlas fans will be scenes inside a hobby shop circa the 1970s.

Peter Jackson is a model railroader. Whether or not he personally passed the Atlas website on to the production company is unverified, but in 2007, a representative from Dreamworks contacted Atlas Marketing Coordinator Jarrett Haedrich, grandson of Atlas founder Stephen J. Schaffan, Jr. After several conversations and mailings of catalogs, the production company asked for samples of a wide variety of products, then requested Atlas to design a 4’ x 8’ layout. Atlas O Master Model Builder Steve Horvath took on the challenge.

“I pulled out a layout I originally designed for someone in Lewiston, Idaho,” Steve related. “It’s an industrial layout, an oval with three sidings, based on a double track mainline which allows two trains to run at the same time. The three industrial sidings provide added train movement. It’s built with all Atlas O 21st Century track and includes 11 switches.” In total, 106 Atlas layout components were used.

To fit into the period, most items to stock the “store” were retrieved from Atlas historic archives. After ferreting them out, Jarrett sent vintage signs, boxes and items including all the Atlas original “Hillside structures.”

“The production crew is amazing,” said Jarrett. “They can build anything as long as you provide a sample. The film company rented a floor of an industrial complex and created store fronts to look like a mall from the 1970s. I scanned some of the old packaging here and sent it, and their production team created exact replicas. For those who remember, they even used our “Atlas Motoring” slot cars which were very popular during the slot car heyday of that time.” Included were the “Checker Flag Series H-O Scale Motoring” product line, a series of 1:24 scale vehicles, most notably the Ford GT LeMans, Lola T-70, Lotus 30 and the McLaren Elva Mk.1, Jarrett said.

These vintage Atlas products from the 1970s are among numerous Atlas items that will be featured in the upcoming feature film, “The Lovely Bones” based on the bestselling novel by Alice Sebold and directed by Peter Jackson.

More information on “The Lovely Bones”, updated periodically, can be found at www.imdb.com, an internet movie site.

But that’s not all, folks! This forthcoming celebrity cameo by Atlas follows our appearance in the smaller 2007 Warner Brothers film, “Rails and Ties” starring Kevin Bacon and Marcia Gay Harden. “Rails and Ties” marked the directorial debut of Alison Eastwood, daughter of Clint, who got better reviews than the film. People Magazine called it, “a quality tearjerker.”

That drama involved the fatal wreck of real train and the effect on its engineer, (Kevin Bacon’s character), and a young boy. Now available on dvd, the film features Atlas trains in the basement layout of Bacon’s character’s home. Atlas packaging hangs on the wall as Bacon and the young boy bond over the HO layout.

A multitude of celebrities are or were model railroaders: Frank Sinatra Sr. and Jr., Robin Williams, Phil Collins, Winston Churchill, Joe DiMaggio, Walt Disney, James Doohan, Michael Jordan, Bruce Springsteen, Donald Sutherland, Tom Brokaw, Eric Clapton, Roger Daltrey, Gene Hackman, Tom Hanks, Andre’ Agassi, George Lucas, Richard Crenna and Michael Gross, who won a Model of the Month Award from Model Railroader magazine in 1992! While some hire specialists to create all or parts of their layouts, they specifically ask for quality, versatile Atlas track, locomotives, freight cars and accessories. Our confidential sources for that information are as reliable as our track!