Kevin and I had been invited to visit the set, and we in turn invited pretty much the whole Mirage crew of that time. As I recall, Steve Lavigne, Eric Talbot, Mike Dooney, Ryan Brown, and Jim Lawson made it down, along with some of their wives and girlfriends, respectively. My wife Jeannine and our less-than-a-year-old daughter Emily also visited the set.
Here we are getting Em ready for her first visit to a movie set (actually, I think it was EVERYONE'S first visit to a movie set!).
Wandering around the back lot where many of the street scenes were filmed, with Steve Lavigne…
Steve tries to get into the dump truck (the one in which the Shredder later meets his "end") while Kevin looks on. Note fake wooden manhole cover in foreground…
This is one of the alley walls in the backlot street set. We were able to get some "Puma Blues" posters put up on this wall as set dressing…
Steve displays his awesome strength by lifting a fake fire hydrant. I think Eric also did this…
Here's Kevin taping on the back lot, using what was then a state-of-the-art consumer camcorder…
Ryan, Mike, Jim and Steve pose in front of a comic book store facade on the back lot street set…
Elias "Casey Jones" Koteas poses for a shot with me and Kevin…
Ryan chats with Elias (can you guess who has the REAL long hair?)…
Kevin talks with director Steve Barron during a night shoot…
… and the Mirage boys (and Emily) pose for a shot standing on a "rooftop" edge -- this was actually one of the interior sets, and I believe it was the one on which the rooftop fight with the Shredder was filmed.
As I recall, it was a fun trip. We saw lots of cool stuff and met some very interesting people. If I hadn't left a day before Kevin did, I would have gotten to meet Jim Henson, something I'll always regret. But it was certainly worth the drive down there. -- PL
P.S. I'd like to put a photo credit here, but I can't remember who took these photos.
