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HOH Exclusive: A Day AT P13
By Dave Dreher
Jan 26, 2006, 23:59

I know, I know, I promised this set / shop visit report a few days ago.  Been busy transcribing the very lengthy interview that we conducted with Robert and this kind of got put on the back burner.  Anyway, here is a blow by blow breakdown of our morning/afternoon spent at the offices of P13 Entertainment.  Should have the interview for all of you by the end of this week.

Nestled deep in the heartland of central Ohio where the Amish farm and the pace of life is slower and more peaceful lies monster, horrible terrifying monsters, and they can all be attributed to one person, Robert Kurtzman.  Crestline Ohio sits just west of Mansfield and up to this point its claim to fame has been that it is known as the junkyard capitol of the world.  My dad made me aware of that fact when a few days before my trip he told me that Crestline was where you could go and find any used auto part that you could ever need.  With that in mind I kind of expected Crestline to be a gritty dirty little place but the exact opposite is true, Crestline is a nice, clean friendly little town and now it can also lay claim to one of the nations top FX houses. 

Robert Kurtzman’s Precinct 13 Entertainment is located in what was once a bowling alley and was an amazing place to hang out.  Caretaker (John) and I arrived late morning, driving by the faculty the first time and having to back track to hunt the building down.  As soon as you enter the building you are exposed to a gallery of movie posters, films that Robert has worked on, and it is a rundown of modern classic horror films, Wishmaster, From Dusk till Dawn, Bubba Ho Tep, and Army of Darkness.   These posters line the walls around a reception area and down a long hallway that leads to the inner rooms of this very large complex and works as the perfect appetizer for what we are about to witness inside.

Robert enters through a conference room that is directly in front of you as you enter the building and enthusiastically greets us both.  As he entered through the conference room we couldn’t help but peek in and were thrilled to see what looked basically like museum of props with a large conference table in the center.  Before we could speak we had to take a quick tour of this amazing room.  I’m not sure I can put into words the immense coolness of this room, you really kind of have to experience it for yourself to understand but I’m hoping that the picture here can kind of give you an idea of just how awesome it is.   After Caretaker and I ogle at all these goodies for an extended period of time Robert leads us on journey through his facility

We leave the conference room heading back into the entry way and head down the long hallway, the one lined with those awesome posters.  To the right is digital editing bays. I am blown away by the technology that these walls contain.  These guys aren’t messing around; they are state of the art and have spared no expense.  I have to keep reminding myself that I am in Ohio and not in LA.  It just seems weird to have this caliber of production facility in North Central Ohio but it is obvious that Robert loves it here and this is where he wants to be and that is just to cool for words.

At the end of this long hallway is one of the props used on Wishmaster, which Robert directed of course, it is from one of my favorite scenes in that film, when Kane Hodder gets killed.  Great stuff.

You have to take a left turn at this point and when you do you enter an immense screening room that features even more rare posters, memorabilia and the like.  It is kind of set up like a huge control room with the screen at the front, a sitting area and then above that a control console that looks like the bridge of the Starship Enterprise.  Very impressive.  We spend a little time in this room and are promised a return visit to view what has already been shot of Robert’s new project The Rage.  More on this later.

We are then led through a set of double doors that enter into the main body of the building.  This section is a huge open area that serves as both the main FX shop and also a sound stage.  The area is expansive and before we are shown all the goodies we pause at a table that is set up, kind of like a break area, at which point we meet a bunch of Bob’s crew.  Sorry guys, I can’t remember all your names but suffice to say, a great group of folks and it was great to stand around and shoot the shit with them all for a few minutes.  Bob is cool enough to let us kind of wander around and check out all the stuff lying around.  The room is huge and set up in different work stations.  P13 has several things in the works right now so there is a lot of stuff lying around.  As we round the corner of the first section of work table we are escorted into a set that is being used in The Rage.  It is awesome.  It is set up like a mad scientist’s lab, there is blood everywhere.  We shot pictures of all this stuff but my good digital camera had taken a crap the day before and I was using an older one that I had laying around the house and the pictures came out like crap but take my word for it, this is a great set.  We spend quite a bit of time on the set talking to Bob about the project and process by which a set of this magnitude is constructed...  Let’s just say that being located in the junkyard capital of the world has its privileges.  Some of the machines and stuff that they have constructed are amazing.

After an extended time on the set of the film Robert asks us if we are ready to view what they have completed on The Rage to date.  Oh hell ya.  We go back into the screening room and they take us up onto the control panel.  On a huge flat screen monitor they bring up the first 20 minutes of what will soon be The Rage.

Wow, The Rage is going to be one interesting film.  What an intense opening to a film.  We have Andrew Divoff playing the hell out of a mad scientist role, speaking Ukrainian for the better part of the scene.  Crazy effects, tons and tons of blood, gore, ripped flesh 

Great stuff, awesome stuff.  They are going to shooting the main body of the film a little later this year, waiting for the weather to break; we do a lot of that in Ohio.  We’ve been invited back over to watch some filming and you can bet your ass we’ll be there with bells on.  The Rage is one to keep an eye on.  You can visit the films official website by clicking here.

After the screening we head back to that break area that is in the main part of the building at which point an extensive interview is conducted.  Caretaker asked most of the questions and I just sat there in awe of the great interview.  As I mentioned earlier, I am working on transcribing the interview now so look for it soon.

Once the interview was concluded Bob wanted to show us his new FX reel which had just been finished.  They have since loaded it up on their website; you can view it for yourself by clicking here.  Needless to say, AWESOME…

We shake hands, we make plans to hook up at the Fango show and Caretaker and I are back on the road.  Bob and his crew are a great bunch of guys.  They made us feel very at home and John and I would both like to thank Bob and his crew for the hospitality and time that they afforded us.

Okay, back to work on the interview.  I’ll finish it up just as quickly as I can.  Check back soon.