Not ready to yell 'cut'
Businessman works to create Dallas' first permanent film set and studios
07:55 AM CDT on Tuesday, August 9, 2005
By PAUL MEYER / The Dallas Morning News
Soaked in triple-digit heat, the fair-skinned businessman paces his two-block kingdom of Islamic facades, razor wire and Arabic signs. Around the corner, a white warehouse door swings open.
MONA REEDER / DMN
Businessman Jack Stadtman wants to turn this one-time TV movie set in South Dallas into a permanent film back lot. "Pretty lifelike, isn't it?" he says, gesturing to a monumental head of Saddam Hussein inside, the former dictator's bronze likeness looming over a black limousine. The man is 52-year-old Jack Stadtman, and the neighborhood is an old South Dallas industrial district. Two years ago, crews stealthily transformed this place into a made-for-television Iraqi city, filming the movie Saving Jessica Lynch.
Well, the flick has long vanished from collective consciousness, but its residue has left a more lasting impression that blurs the line between fiction and reality. Mr. Stadtman opted to keep the Middle Eastern motif – still running his manufacturing business out of the complex – as he works to create Dallas' first permanent outdoor film set with production studios.
"They asked us to keep it up ... but it looks like the Taliban is occupying the buildings or something," he said. "It's kind of different when you have clients coming over. They expect me to come out with a turban on or something."
For the casual passers-by or the lost driver who stumbles near Cockrell Avenue and Alma Road, curiosity and consternation await. "I think most people scratch their heads and wonder what the heck's going on," said Janis Burklund, director of the Dallas Film Commission. "Frankly, I kept driving by, watching it, and wondering how long it would last."
Open to idea
Ms. Burklund first approached Mr. Stadtman with idea of transforming his buildings for the movie. Mr. Stadtman isn't shy about new ideas. In addition to owning the faux Iraqi complex, the native New Yorker lays claim to an energy drink company, an import retail store, a recording studio and a replica Western town just outside of Dallas.
He makes millions of picture frames a year in the more than 550,000 square feet of space he owns in South Dallas, a stone's throw from police headquarters and the Dallas Convention Center. "I kind of walked outside, looked around and said, 'If we changed the facades of these buildings, it could look like Baghdad,' " he said of the original proposition. Crews layered streets in sand, planted palm trees and rolled military equipment in. They coated buildings in plastic foam, shooting gunite over it to provide the muddy texture. Seemingly overnight, anonymous South Dallas warehouses became a replica of An Nasiriyah, the southern Iraqi city where in 2003 Ms. Lynch's Army unit was ambushed, and where she was held captive and later rescued.
Arabic signs for a mosque and market still hang on some of the buildings – an interesting juxtaposition against Mr. Stadtman's new Bentley parked outside. "I never even thought about the fact that it would still be existing, and I'm fascinated that it is," said former Dallas City Council member Lois Finkelman. "I'll have to make a pilgrimage down there."
In 2003, in the months following filming, Ms. Finkelman and others engaged Mr. Stadtman in conversations about making the area a permanent film back lot. Those plans, however, never materialized after complications arose about abandoning publicly owned streets, figuring out compensation and other details, she said. The project fell off the radar screen until a few weeks ago, when Mr. Stadtman began pursuing the plans anew. He and others say it could revitalize the area while bringing renewed interest in Dallas from the film industry. In addition to warehouse buildings, the area includes a former technology company facility that has been used by production companies. "I think there's a lot of potential. Having that so close to downtown is extremely attractive to filmmakers," Ms. Burklund said. "We would love to have a back lot."
Set for commercials
In the meantime, the area still buzzes sporadically with activity – from a Lockheed Martin weapons commercial shot there to gaunt models posing for cameras in front of exterior walls. A foreign cellphone commercial dressed up actors as Japanese cowboys, Mr. Stadtman recalls. "What it ends up doing for the southern sector of Dallas is bringing life, activity and tax dollars to this area," he said of the film and commercial activity.
After two years of Dallas weather, some of the foam walls have begun to crumble. Otherwise, the compound is remarkably intact. A warehouse space still houses some of the movie props used, including the Saddam Hussein head carved from foam. "After he goes on trial, let's put it on eBay," Mr. Stadtman said in jest one recent afternoon.
Next door to his operation, Sandy Myers and Anita Braun staff Artful Corporate Interiors. They moved in shortly after the movie filming, when sand still covered the streets. The first reaction? "We're not in Kansas anymore," Ms. Myers said.
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