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October 23, 2005
The other Air Force One
TV's 'The West Wing' keeps its version close to the original
By Eugene Tong
Inland Valley Daily Bulletin
When fictional President Josiah "Jed" Bartlet flies Air Force One to political hot spots foreign and domestic on TV's "The West Wing," there's always a layover in Valencia.
While all eyes are on the Air Force One Pavilion officially opening Monday at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley it features the Boeing 707 that served seven presidents another Oval Office in the Sky has sat among us for more than six years -- albeit a wingless fuselage that takes flight only on television.
"It's essentially nose-to-tail -- the front cabin with the presidential quarters all the way to the back kitchen," said Ken Hardy, production designer on the N drama, who has overseen the Air Force One set since "The West Wing" debuted in 1999.
Stored in a local Warner Bros. warehouse, some 30 miles northeast of the Reagan Library, the set is 168 feet long and more than 20 feet wide -- about three-quarters the size of the Boeing 747 in presidential service since 1990.
On a recent visit, it sat grounded as the crew focused on another corner of the massive stage, where Martin Sheen was performing a scene as the president in a lavish hall bedecked with fresh bouquets.
The 747 was covered in make-up -- it's an election year on the show, and the set has been doing triple duty as President Bartlet's jet and as campaign planes for presidential contenders played by Jimmy Smits and Alan Alda.
Posters touting Democratic nominee Rep. Matthew Santos (Smits) as "The Real Deal" shares press cabin wall space with political cartoons and other campaign memorabilia. But step behind a door embossed with the presidential seal, and the cloth seats and red-and-blue motifs of the rugged campaign plane give way to the rich wood paneling, broad leather loungers and roman blinds of Air Force One.
"We had to plain it down a little bit to make it more like a charter plane that a large presidential campaign would have," series producer Michael Hissrich said. The conversion took about two weeks.
"It's basically first-class or business-class seating (on Air Force One)," Hardy said. "For the campaign plane, it's more coach seating. There are not many overhead bins on Air Force One."
It wasn't always first class for this Hollywood player. Before the show's creators discovered the 747 interior alongside sets from "The American President" -- the 1995 Rob Reiner film was scripted by "West Wing" creator Aaron Sorkin -- it appeared in such plane-in-peril thrillers as 1997's "Turbulence," Hardy said.
"We noticed this 747 interior sort of flying around up there," he said. "That inspired us -- if we ever needed Air Force One, we can use that."
The set debuted in the first season episode "20 Hours in LA," when Sorkin took President Bartlet and his staff on a fund-raising swing through Los Angeles.
"We needed a set to get them out there," Hardy said. "We just built the press section and a couple of senior staff cabins. Over the years, we've added to it -- we have the president's private quarters, the conference room and the president's office."
Set designers rely on both public drawings and photos from former White House insiders for accuracy. Both Hissrich and Hardy have visited a real Air Force One.
"You have that eerie feeling that you've been here before," said Hissrich, recalling a trip onboard former President Bill Clinton's jet. "You have all the right parts. Some of it are just offset here and there."
Six set artists ensure the 747 is always camera-ready, right down to the presidential seals adorning the plane's intercoms.
"When it's fully dressed and fully working, there could be 150 to 170 in that space at any given time with the crew and the background artists," Hissrich said. "It gets a little worn, but the maintenance our set department does is amazing."
Hardy said there's more work ahead, now with an actual presidential jet just a half-hour drive away.
"I'm planning to take my crew up there for a field trip as soon as we have a spare moment -- to see what we can learn," he said.
"You can't do a show like this for as long as we have and not be oversensitive to any sort of presidential history and artifacts," Hissrich said. "To have such a significant piece of history and such a large piece of history so close -- it's great."
Posted by Jo at October 23, 2005 07:37 PM