RAT RACE

About The Production
Principal photography on "Rat Race" began in August, 2000 in Calgary, in the western Canadian province of Alberta, just north of Montana. The first two weeks of filming took place in a variety of locations in and around Calgary, primarily on Calgary's scenic highways which doubled for the three states that compose the racers' journey: Nevada, Arizona and New Mexico.

The desert scenes were shot in Drumheller, which was a perfect match for the terrain of Las Vegas and Silver City, Nevada. In addition, the scenes with Cuba and the Lucy's were shot in the rolling hills at the foot of the Canadian Rockies.

Continuing with tradition, Jerry Zucker's mother, Charlotte, plays one of the Lucy's in this sequence. "It started with the very first film, which was 'Airplane,"' recalls Mrs. Zucker. "And ever since then, I've decided that's the way the kids got back at me, at their mother, by making me do stuff like this. And I love it!"

"She's in every movie," adds son Jerry Zucker. "It's like the Alfred Hitchcock signature. Instead of me, it's mom."

For eight weeks the production continued in Calgary at the Currie Barracks, a former Canadian Forces military base that now serves the local film, television and commercial production community. Utilizing two aircraft hangars that have been converted into soundstages, as well as the army gymnasium, the crew filmed many of the film's interior scenes such as the Venetian Hotel suites and conference room, as well as numerous driving scenes using green screen and rear screen projection techniques.

In late September, the production traveled back to the United States and set up in Las Vegas, Nevada. After a few days of filming at Las Vegas's MeCarran International Airport, the crew relocated to The Venetian Hotel Resort-Casino, one of the grandest hotels on the Vegas Strip, which recreates the intricacies of Venice, Italy's architecture and decorative arts. In "Rat Race," fictional casino tycoon Donald Sinclair, portrayed by John Cleese, owns the Venetian. The crew utilized most of the interiors and exteriors of the luxurious resort including its lobby area, the 120,000-square-foot casino and the extravagant exteriors, all of which pulsate with the vigor and excitement of life in Renaissance Venice.

Following two weeks in Las Vegas, the production traveled five hours north to the small mining town of Ely, Nevada. Ely, an active gold and copper mining town, is also home to the Fly Depot, a historic turn-of-the-century train station in the center of town. The Ely Depot, operated by the Nevada Northern Railway Historical Operating Museum, portrays the fictional Silver City train station where the $2 million is stashed in a station locker.

Following Ely, production moved to Southern California where the final six weeks of production occurred primarily in the Antelope Valley, north of Los Angeles, Palmdale, Rosamond, Acton, Santa Clarita and Newhall. Additional sites included Big Sky Ranch in Simi Valley and El Mirage Dry Lake.

After giving her daughter up for adoption as a baby, Vera Baker (Whoopi Goldberg) decides it's time to finally meet her, so she's arranged a reunion at The Venetian Hotel in Las Vegas. Little do they know the about the adventure that they are about to embark.

"I just want to have fun," says Goldberg. "I would pretty much stop anything I was doing to work with Jerry. He is the quintessential director. And he's funny. And that's also rare in a comedy director; when you find one that's actually funny."

Lanai Chapman, a television and voiceover actress and relative newcomer to feature films plays Vera's daughter, Merrill. Chapman was thrilled with the opportunity to work with Whoopi Goldberg.

"Merrill comes to Las Vegas to meet her birth mother for the very first time" explains Chapman. "Together we set off on this trek across the desert toward two million dollars, and in the process kind of re-establish a mother-daughter bond. Initially, this seems like it's going to be an easy trek, but everything that can go wrong, does go wrong.

After blowing a call in an important NFL game, Owen Templeton (Cuba Gooding, Jr.) is drowning his sorrows and attempting to escape his newfound notoriety at a bar in the Venetian Hotel casino. When he wins the special gold coin and embarks on his dash for riches, his recent past soon comes back to haunt him in the form of Gus, a cab driver and big football fan who seeks revenge for Owen's ill-fated call. Abandoned without clothes in the middle of the desert, Owen surreptitiously hijacks a chartered bus, only to find it full of dozens of Lucille Ball impersonators on their way to a Lucy convention in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Playing Gus, the cab driver, is noted comedian and actor Paul Rodriguez. "Gus is a pretty whacked out guy," admits Rodriguez. "He's a super Dallas fan who lost every nickel on the big Dallas game. By chance he picks up Owen, the referee who he blames for all of his ills."

For Gooding, an athletic actor who's done physical films such as the boxing film "Gladiator" in 1992, and the football-themed "Jerry Maguire," the character of Owen Templeton proved to be the most physically demanding role he's ever performed. "One day they've got me running down the middle of the street in my underwear with 40 Lucille Ball impersonators chasing me at full sprint for take after take!" exclaims Gooding.

Screenwriter Andy Breckman recalls the inspiration for the Lucy look-alikes. "I was leafing through The National Enquirer; every comedy writer knows that's the bible, and there was a little article about a Lucy convention, and there were was a picture of three or four women dressed as Lucys. That just writes itself. I cut the picture out and brought it to Jerry. He immediately got it and we were on our way.

Mr. Pollini doesn't seem to have a care in the world. An exuberantly cheerful Italian man, when he wins the gold coin he is the most excited person in the room, however, he has a hard time getting started on his cross-country trip since he also happens to be narcoleptic and falls asleep on his way out the door of the hotel. When he finally makes it outside, he's struck down by an erratic ambulance driver, Zack, who offers to take him to Silver City. Zack, however, is also transporting a donor heart packed in ice on route to the hospital for transplanting. Needless to say, mayhem ensues.

Rowan Atkinson, a veteran British comic actor best known to American audiences for his portrayal of Mr. Bean, plays Pollini. "Pollini's a relentlessly optimistic and good-natured character," says Atkinson. Pollini also offers the actor the opportunity to display his physical comedy skills.

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