Citizen Staff/Hank Snyder
Some people had "Public Enemies" shirts on Sunday that Adam Boor was happy to sign.
COLUMBUS - Movie fans by the scores gathered at Julie's Java House Sunday for a "Public Enemies" Appreciation Day featuring Adam Boor, the movie scout who 'discovered' Columbus.
"We were here everyday for lunch," said Boor, who is headquartered in Chicago.
That's why Julie Hornbacher, owner of Julie's Java House threw the appreciation party for Boor, and any of his crew who were around that could come. In addition to having cake, guests were invited to write a note about the filming in Columbus and any special memories they had of it. In the end, Boor was given a book full of photos of the shoot, and all the notes for a memory scrapbook.
Boor said he has been in the scouting business three years.
"To start, we're given a script, read it and we get a vision. For this job, we first started looking for banks. We started out in Black River Falls, then circled out. The banks we liked we put in a folder and sent to the director," said Boor.
Boor said working for director Michael Mann is unique because he doesn't like to build sets.
"With him, you go where the property is," Boor said.
After finding the right banks, Boor said they next scouted where the robbers would go into town, and then plotted the getaway scenes.
Although Boor usually just finds the locations, this time he was asked to take care of other things such as getting the local businesses under contract, arranging for security, arranging to have the department of transportation close streets, and even making sure there were plenty of portable toilets. Boor said he likes his job.
"I'm not a frustrated actor, although I have acted in some movies just for fun," he said.
Boor said he's scouted about 10 movies, including "The Breakup" and the soon to be released Batman movie, "The Dark Knight."
When asked why there is so much secrecy when scouting a location, Boor said there is an advantage in having no early publicity.
"If you tell the town what you're doing and the people get excited, and then the director doesn't pick the town, then the people get upset. I like it when a town is happy.
"We had an awesome time here, it was as easy as it could be," Boor said while signing a "Public Enemies" shirt. "The county, state, town, all were very active in helping."
hsnyder@ capitalnewspapers.com