Hollywood crews to prepare 360 area locations for filming

Reprinted from the Argonne News, Jan. 29, 1996.

Lights. Camera. The first action begins Jan. 31, when crew members from 20th Century Fox arrive at Argonne to begin "dressing" location sets for "Dead Drop," an action thriller now being filmed in the Chicago area.

Chicago native Andrew Davis, director of "The Fugitive" and "Under Siege," is directing the new film, which centers on the theft of scientific research. Filming began Jan. 8 at the University of Chicago campus, and continues in the Chicago area, in Washington, D.C., and in Madison, Wisc. In February the cast and crew move to Argonne for scenes featuring the mysterious "Mount Weather," home -- in the movie -- to clandestine research activities.

Two currently unused Argonne facilities -- the old Zero Gradient Synchrotron ring room and the Continuous Wave Duterium Detector, a remnant of the Pentagon's discontinued Strategic Defense Initiative ("Star Wars") project -- will come to life as Argonne's chief "actors" in the film.

The ZGS and CWDD, along with other locations throughout the 360 area, will be playing the part of Mount Weather. Argonne exterior scenes will also be featured. The control room of the Intense Pulsed Neutron Source has been duplicated at the film company's studios, and additional scenes will be shot in the real control room.

Some Argonne employees may be selected for roles in the film as extras. Casting of extras will be done from photos. For consideration, send a photograph of yourself (5x7 or 8x10, either color or black and white) and write on the back your name, telephone number, height and weight. Send photos to Catherine Foster, OPA, Building 201 by Feb. 1.

Actors in the film include Keanu Reeves ("Speed," "A Walk in the Clouds"), playing the part of Eddie, a machinist-technician working on a giant, privately funded physics project; British actress Rachel Weisz as Lily, a physics post-doc; Nigel Hawthorne, nominated for a best actor Oscar in last year's "The Madness of King George," as the physicist leading the project; Morgan Freeman ("The Shawshank Redemption," "Driving Miss Daisy"), as the head of a research foundation; Tommy Lee Jones ("The Fugitive," "Batman 3"), as the head of the clandestine organization trying to steal the research results; and Fred Ward ("Miami Blues," "The Right Stuff") as the FBI's counter-terrorism expert. All but Hawthorne are expected to be at the Argonne site during shooting the week of Feb. 12.

"Dead Drop" is scheduled for release in July.