SPENCER - When rail fans and residents of Spencer and Salisbury flock to see the George Clooney movie “Leatherheads” opening today, they might keep their eyes peeled for glimpses of the N.C. Transportation Museum. Known for evoking America’s bygone romance with trains, the site was used by Universal Pictures for the film. Leatherheads’” final scene even features megastars Clooney and Renee Zellweger silhouetted against the museum’s historic backshop and its “Be Careful” sign, as the characters ride away together on a vintage motorcycle.
The movie features museum exteriors in several scenes including when cars are chasing the football team’s train in Duluth, Minn., the team itself chasing the train and the scene where a 1920s-era train rolls into a rural train station and the team members are met by a very large football player. Other museum locations seen in the film are the interior of one of the Transportation Museum’s old passenger coaches and even the back platform of the master mechanic’s office building.
The movie also features footage shot at various other sites in Rowan County including the old Salisbury Depot. Besides Spencer and Salisbury, the movie includes footage shot in Statesville and Charlotte itself. Charlotte Regional Film Commission Director Beth Perry said, “When the “Leatherheads” location scouts told me what they were looking for, I knew Rowan County was the right fit. The N.C. Transportation Museum had operating period trains and Salisbury had the right look with the wonderfully preserved historic buildings.”
Set in 1925, “Leatherheads” is a romantic comedy set against the backdrop of the emergence of a pro-football league in America. Often called a later-day Cary Grant, George Clooney plays Dodge Connolly, a charming, brash football captain determined to guide his team from bar brawls to packed stadiums. Connolly faces his biggest challenge though when the team loses its sponsor and the entire football league faces all-but-certain collapse.
Determined to save the day, Connolly recruits a college football star hoping to capture the public’s attention. The team’s new member is a golden-boy war hero named Carter Rutherford (John Krasnsinksi) whose dashing good looks are only equaled by his speed on the field. Appearing almost too good to be true, the new champ becomes the quarry of investigative journalist Lexie Littleton (Zellweger), who thinks the football star’s war record is a pass fake. While Lexie tries to prove that Rutherford’s heroic persona is fiction, both Connolly and Rutherford vie for the spitfire newswoman’s charms.
The N.C. Transportation Museum is located in Spencer, just off I-85 at Exit 79, about an hour from Charlotte, Greensboro or Winston-Salem. Housed in what was once one of Southern Railway’s main repair facilities for its steam locomotives from the beginning of the 20th century until the 1950s, the 57-acre site is popular with train buffs, but also preserves and interprets many other aspects of transportation history, including automobiles, aviation and more.
The goal of the N.C. Transportation Museum is to preserve and interpret the history of transportation in North Carolina For more information about the museum, call 704-636-2889, toll-free at 1-877-NCTM-FUN, or visit www.nctrans.org.
The N.C. Transportation Museum is part of the Division of State Historic Sites, Department of Cultural Resources. This program reflects the N.C. Department of Cultural Resources 2008 theme “Telling Our Stories,” a yearlong celebration that showcases the story of North Carolina’s rich arts, heritage, and cultural life. Visit www.ncculture.org for more information.