May 30, 2004 3 min read

CHICAGO (AP) – Visitors to the Museum of Science and Industry’s new exhibit on moviemaking can see such Hollywood relics as the scruffed bomber jacket worn by Harrison Ford in the “Raiders of the Lost Ark” trilogy and the harpoon gun used to spear the shark in “Jaws.” But even more enticing than the iconic costumes and props, the exhibit’s creators say, is the chance for a behind-the-curtain peek at the movie business.

“This has the wow factor of Hollywood-based attractions, but we also want to give you the how and the why,” said John Beckman, the museum’s manager of temporary exhibits. “The idea is to dispel a little bit of the movie myth and say ‘this is how it’s done, and it’s not so far out of your grasp.”‘

The $2.6 million exhibit “Action! An Adventure in Moviemaking,” opened Friday after two years in the making.

Visitors can see the model that served as the hulking gray transporter “AT-AT” in a battle scene from “The Empire Strikes Back.” The display describes how a special-effects crew spent 12 hours using a stop-motion technique to produce just a few seconds of the dinosaur-like vehicle crumpling onto an icy landscape.

The craftmanship of makeup artists also is on display. The lighted mirrors of a replica Hollywood makeup set come alive as a video elapses a makeup artist’s three-hour transformation of a fresh-faced young actor into a wrinkled, liver-spotted old man.

Makeup artists will work their magic on museum goers as part of the “Meet the Credits” project, which features actors, directors, stuntmen, costume designers and other movie-industry professionals each weekend through Aug. 29.

“(The exhibit) is pretty rich because the kids aren’t just looking at things, they get to participate,” said Don Stuart of Stevensville, Mich., who browsed the exhibit Friday.

Stuart’s 7-year-old son, Mason, banged a baseball bat against a garbage can while other participants used chains and folding chairs to create sound effects for a chase scene from a Jackie Chan movie playing on a large-screen TV.

The most interactive element comes at the end of the tour, when visitors gather on a series of sound stages to create their own spy flick. The film opens on the set of a Paris cafe, moves to a struggle over secret documents aboard an airplane and culminates in a scene from an evil spy’s underwater lair. Participants view the film and can buy a DVD copy for $5.

“That was our favorite part,” said Ralph Beamon, 63, retired doctor on vacation from Fredericksburg, Va., with his wife, Gale. “You never realize there’s so much going on behind the scenes.”

The exhibit runs through Jan. 9 and later will travel to other museums in the United States and Europe, Beckman said.

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