“Bum da bum bah!!” The music might not be playing, but the “Indiana Jones” theme is in the air. Everywhere you go at Paramount, there are ghosts — and not just because the Hollywood Forever cemetery is behind the lot. For the VMAs, we’re working from the Crosby Building — named randomly for Bing Crosby, even though he had nothing to do with this space. But Indy did: His theme was scored here.
(See where the movie magic happens in this photographic tour of the Paramount lot.)
When the celebs arrive Sunday night, they’ll be going through Paramount’s Bronson Gate — one of the most widely recognized Hollywood landmarks. A common misconception is that it’s named after Charles Bronson, although the reverse is true: He named himself after it or, rather, the street it’s on, when he changed his name from Buchinsky.
When the stars walk the red carpet, they’ll be following the above-ground version of a path that — as lot legend has it — Rudolph Valentino used as a secret tunnel to avoid running into fans and photographers. On that pathway these days is usually a bench from “Forrest Gump,” so you can sit and have a box of chocolates, but not for the VMAs.
The main show is being held at Stage 16, where films such as “Pretty in Pink,” “Elizabethtown” and “Looking for Mr. Goodbar” were shot. Even though Hitchcock favored Stages 15 (for “To Catch A Thief”) and 18 (for “Rear Window”), the lights he used for “Rear Window” and “Vertigo” will be hanging up high to illuminate VMA mainstage performers — after being in storage for 50-odd years.
Not all the performances will be at the soundstage. The Jonas Brothers, Pink, T.I. and Kanye West are all making use of other locations on the backlot. The Jonas Brothers will take over a Brooklyn block and Pink will perform on a SoHo block in what’s called New York, where several facades are meant to look like brownstones and other Big Apple buildings that are easily converted based on each production’s needs. Pink, for instance, is going to make use of a restaurant front that doubled as a ’50s diner in “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.” And Austin Powers danced across the street she crosses.
Just a block away, however, T.I. will be in what’s known as Chicago. There’s a series of shops, boutiques and clubs he’ll walk through, but the alleyway between them has been used countless times in “Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” “Angel” and “Charmed” when the things that go bump in the night needed vanquishing.
Kanye, who is making use of B-Tank, will be calling upon the most cinematic history of all of them. When there used to be an A-Tank, the two tanks were filled to spill into each other and then reversed on film, to depict the parting of the Red Sea in “The Ten Commandments.” Now B-Tank is all alone, but it’s still keeping busy — both when wet and dry. For “Waterworld,” the space was enclosed with scaffolding and nylon sheeting. “Snake Eyes” used it for a tunnel leading out to Atlantic City’s boardwalk during the storm. And, most recently, “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” used Tank-B for a Brad Pitt rowboat scene. There’s a 175-by-75-foot blue-sky backdrop — because the real Southern California sky looks fake — that was used in “Button” that Kanye is borrowing so clouds can make up the horizon.
But when B-Tank is not in use, it’s just a parking lot. There may not be much movie magic in that, but during weeks like this one, you’ll take whatever spot you can get.
Now that you’ve helped us pick the nominees for this year’s Video Music Awards, head to VMA.MTV.com to vote for your favorite in the Best New Artist category, check out the latest additions to the performer and presenter lineups, see the best (and worst) of VMA fashion and much more. Then tune in this Sunday at 8 p.m. ET for MTV News’ “Opening Act” on the red carpet, followed by the big show, live from Hollywood at 9 p.m. ET.
