Posted on 07/17/2003 6:31:14 AM PDT by stainlessbanner
Earl Salisbury, a 44-year-old Civil War re-enactor from Goldsboro, picked up one of the first copies of "Gods and Generals" released on DVD Tuesday and found himself on the cover.
"Right, smack, dab in the center," Salisbury said. "I almost fell over dead. I'm the tall, skinny guy with stripes on his arm."
He said he had obtained the schedule for the filming of "Gods and Generals." He and a fellow re-enactor, his 21-year-old son, William, started going to the film shoots calling for Confederate soldiers. From summer to December 2001, they camped or stayed in hotels in Staunton, Va.; Hagerstown, Md.; and Charles Town, W.Va.
Warner Brothers Studio workers would wake them at 4:30 a.m. and drive them to the next shooting's location. They were told to stand here or there, never knowing whether the scene would survive the cuts.
He and William have invested eight years as re-enactors with the 8th Virginia Infantry, a unit of Longstreet's Corps. Earl Salisbury works at Corr-
Flex Display and Packaging in York. His son is a history major at Shippensburg University.
"He wants to be a writer like Michael Shaara," Salisbury said of his son. Shaara, who died in 1988, wrote "The Killer Angels," a novel about the Battle of Gettysburg. Jeff Shaara completed his father's trilogy with "Gods and Generals" and "The Last Full Measure."
The family was excited to see William Salisbury in the trailer promoting "Gods and Generals." When they attended the opening show in February at a Mechanicsburg theater they were more surprised to see Earl Salisbury in seven or eight scenes.
"You never know if you are in or out," Earl Salisbury said.
They received no money, because they are not "card-carrying" actors, he said. However, Ted Turner donated money on behalf of the re-enactors to a trust fund for battlefield preservation, William Salisbury said from his college dorm.
He said an earlier Ted Turner movie, "Gettysburg," sparked his interest as a child.
"When I found out 'Gods and Generals' was coming out, I made the time to get to a few weekend shootings," William Salisbury said. "It was definitely worthwhile. It was a motion picture."
The experience makes him notice the many minor players who appear in films as civilians or dead people.
"It was every Civil War re-enactor's dream to be in a movie rather than a PBS program," William Salisbury said.
The coincidences continued.
William Salisbury picked up a book, "Faith in Gods and Generals," which includes scenes from the movie. Two or three of the pictures showed the two Salisbury family re-enactors.
"The other day, somebody handed me paper and asked for my autograph," Earl Salisbury said. "When I asked why, he said because I was in his son's video game. This is totally wild!"
That's because your reputation on FR preceded you. They were looking for historical accuracy, don't ya know?
Sounds like it is doing well. A movie that long is probably better suited for home viewing and that may be one reason it's doing well.
That's because your reputation on FR preceded you. They were looking for historical accuracy, don't ya know?
Are you suggesting that the wardrobe department mistook me for Gandalf the Gray?
In any case, "Andersonville" was made in 1994, well before there was a FreeRepublic website, or at least 5 years before I ever heard of it .
Walt
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