Tonight a select group of international buyers and media will be the guests of Rysher Entertainment and producers David Valdes and Martin Ransohoff at the Culver City Studios for a Trans Con Airlines' fantasy flight which will depart from the set of director Robert Butler's Turbulence. Budgeted at over $45 million,Turbulence, which will receive a prime Christmas release slot in the US on December 20 through MGM, is one of Rysher's most ambitious projects to date.
Featuring Ray Liotta and Lauren Holly, Turbulence , which went before the cameras Monday for a 66 day shoot after aerial and exteriors had been shot in New York and Los Angeles, utilises one of the largest and most complex sets ever constructed in Los Angeles, using four massive gimbals located over five of the studio's largest soundstages to recreate a full scale interior of a Boeing 747-200. All the gimballed sets, which are helping to cause the film's extremely turbulent flight from New York to Los Angeles which culminates in a stewardess (Holly) having to land the jet in Los Angeles while avoiding a convicted serial killer (Liotta), are computer controlled and have been constructed by the same team, headed up by Al Di Sarro, who built the gimbals for Crimson Tide and the Hunt For Red October.
The first and largest gimbal, producer Valdes explains, is a huge rotisserie that will support a 70 foot section of the mock-up which can turn a full 360 degrees in 10 seconds. The second gimbal is a speed gimbal comprising of a 28 square foot platform with a two foot vertical drop and shaker that can raise sections of the plane from a full 45 degree angle left and right in under four seconds. To simulate the extreme turbulence suffered by Liotta, Holly and the rest of the cast, gimbal number three, which covers a 170 foot section of the plane, is capable of two feet of vertical movement to give a real jolt.
Ray Liotta can currently be seen in Unforgettable, while Lauren Holly, opens tomorrow in Down Periscope alongside Kelsey Grammer.
