Library of Congress Blog
“Light and liberty go together.”

The Library of Congress has been known for its �American Treasures� and �World Treasures� exhibits, but more recently, we have been hosting �National Treasure.� Or, more precisely, �National Treasure: Book of Secrets,� the sequel to the hit 2004 Disney film.

I�m prohibited � at least for now � from talking much about the film. That�s what they have a publicist for. But as the Library�s �project manager� (the production team probably got tired of hearing that the title meant I was the guy who OK�d their filming here), I hope to talk a lot more about our involvement in the months ahead.

In the meantime, it seems others haven�t been subject to quite the same prohibition. Such as Dan Zak, who wrote an article on the front page of yesterday�s �Sunday Source� section of the Washington Post. It was all about his stint as an extra during the portions that filmed at the Library � complete with a second article giving an hour-by-hour account of the �hurry up and wait� nature of the process.

I won�t comment much about the articles linked above, except to respond to what seems to be a fixation on Nicolas Cage�s height: I am a good 6-foot-2, and I don�t think he was but maybe a couple inches shy of me.In general, however, I think the Library�s role in the film has the potential to redefine the Library of Congress in the eye of movie-goers, much the same as the iconic shot from the dome of the Main Reading Room did for previous generations in �All the President�s Men.�

One small peek behind the scenes: The last night of shooting involved exteriors. It also coincided with the nasty Noreaster that recently pounded the Atlantic Seaboard with winter�s dying sting.

The crew were helping light the scene with what is known as a �china ball.� It was a very large helium-filled balloon with a megawatt lightbulb in the middle, and strapped down to a cherry-picker. I took a brief video clip to show the forces we were up against:

Link (750kb WMV file, 384kbps, 16 seconds)

Tags: disney, national treasure, book of secrets, movies, films, hollywood, library of congress

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This entry was posted on Monday, April 30th, 2007 at 10:19 am and is filed under News, Thomas Jefferson Building. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.