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Hoofcare & Lameness Office Featured in New Movie "The Perfect Storm" Hoofcare & Lameness, the Journal of Equine Foot Science, has been published late many times. But on Halloween 1991, there was a particularly good reason: we were flooded. The "Storm of the Century", aka "The Perfect Storm," formed off the East Coast of the USA and hit the little island peninsula of Gloucester, Massachusetts -- hard. The storm's high seas were made even higher by an autumnal full moon, which always causes the highest tides of the year. A tidal surge seeped insidiously over the land on one side of the island, flooding everything in its path. On the other side, 35-foot waves crashed on shore, destroying homes and anything else in their path. The storm and its effect on our community were chronicled in the best-selling nonfiction book, "The Perfect Storm", by Sebastian Junger. The book focuses on the ill-fated local sword fishing vessel "Andrea Gail", which was caught in the storm at sea. Speculation is that the vessel went down in seas that ran as high as 100 feet. No one knows, because no one who was out at sea that day survived. Since 1623, when Gloucester was first settled by English fishermen, approximately 10,000 men (and probably some women) from the small town have died at sea. Warner Brothers bought the rights to the film and came to Harbor Loop last June to construct sets on the vacant dock next to the Hoofcare & Lameness building. They built a funky waterfront watering hole, an upscale representation of the less photogenic real Crow's Nest bar a few blocks down the road, where much of the action in the book took place. For the past year, horseshoes and Hollywood have been happy neighbors on the waterfront of America's oldest port, which is the most active sport fishing harbor on the East Coast, and home to commercial and sport tuna fishing fleets as well as traditional groundfishing and lobstering fleets. The film premiered on Wednesday, July 28 at a black tie gala featuring movie stars and fishermen and one starstruck editor. On screen, the Hoofcare office is featured in about 10 scenes. Whenever the "Crow's Nest" bar is shown from the water, Hoofcare's office, in the dark red building next door, is also shown. George Clooney is shown aboard the "Andrea Gail" on the dock outside the Hoofcare & Lameness office, though Hollywood wisely cut the footage on him trying to dock the boat. ``I actually pounded into that dock a few times,'' he told an interviewer. ``But then they asked me to take (the boat) down to the rubber pier where I bounced it for a while.'' Apparently, he never quite got it right; in the movie, the boat docks perfectly somehow, but the captain is on deck when it does! Clooney was remarkable for being the only cast member who did not get seasick during filming, which included "real" storm scenes filmed off Gloucester during Hurricane Floyd last September. "The Perfect Storm" is the perfect "guy movie": it is man against nature, at its best. No automatic weapons, no starships, no super-powers, just real guys and a real boat, the real ocean, and one bad storm. The scenes of actual longline fishing are very accurate and realistic; fish hooks probably manufactured by Mustad are strongly featured throughout the film. The producers are adamant that no fish were killed in the making of the movie and the "live" fish in the at-sea scenes are actually robotic. The catch unloaded on the dock is equally very realistic, but the fish carcasses are made of rubber, which made it possible to shoot scenes over and over again on hot September days. "I want to give people a feeling of what's behind the swordfish on their plate," said director Wolfgang Peterson ("Air Force One", "Das Boot") in an interview on television. No one who sees this film will ever casually order swordfish again. Plenty of women are interested in the movie because of their attraction to actor George Clooney, who in turn was attracted to Hoofcare & Lameness, but only out of concern for the overgrown hooves of his 150-pound pot-bellied pig, Max, who did not accompany him to Gloucester. "Once you have a pig in your life, you really don't have room for anybody," he says when asked about his lack of a girlfriend. "Max and I are very happy. We're a good team. It's my longest relationship." The Perfect Storm opens in theaters across America June 30, and in Australia June 29. Lots of information about Gloucester, the storm, and the movie are on the movie's web site, www.perfectstorm.com. On the web site, 360-degree Ipix photos show the entire set and the Hoofcare office. As always, Hoofcare & Lameness welcomes visitors to the office, and expects quite a few this summer. Better bring your own life jacket. © 1997-2000 Hoofcare & Lameness |