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Easy Rider
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===Filming=== [[File:.00 1505 1968 Chevrolet Impala.jpg|thumb|A [[Chevrolet Impala (fourth generation)#1968|1968 Chevy Impala convertible]] like this was used for filming ]] The filming budget of ''Easy Rider'' was $360,000 to $400,000.<ref name=BudgetCitations/><ref name=Kiselyak/> Peter Fonda said that on top of this, he personally paid for the costs of travel and lodging for the crew, saying, "Everybody was taking my credit cards and would pay for all the hotels, the food, the gas, everything with Diner's Club".<ref name=Barra2008/><ref name=Kiselyak/> Cinematographer [[László Kovács (cinematographer)|Laszlo Kovacs]] said that an additional $1 million, "about three times the budget for shooting the rest of the film" was spent on the licensed music tracks that were added during the editing.<ref name=Fisher2004/> He already had made two [[outlaw biker film]]s and suggested that a [[Chevrolet Impala (fourth generation)#1968|1968 Chevy Impala convertible]] be purchased to carry his camera smoothly, with speeds not exceeding 25 mph. According to associate producer Bill Heyward in interviews included as part of the bonus DVD feature, "Shaking the Cage", Hopper was difficult on set.<ref name=Kiselyak>{{cite AV media |last1=Kiselyak |first1=Charles |title=Shaking the Cage |type=DVD |publisher=Columbia Tristar Pictures |date=1999}}</ref> During test shooting on location in New Orleans, with documentary filmmaker [[Baird Bryant]] on camera,<ref name="LA Times2">{{cite news |date=16 November 2008 |title=Obituary |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2008-nov-16-me-passings16.s1-story.html |access-date=22 April 2011 |newspaper=LA Times}}</ref> Hopper fought with the production's ad hoc crew for control. At one point, a paranoid Hopper demanded camera operator [[Barry Feinstein]] hand over the footage he shot that day so he could keep it safe with him in his hotel room. Enraged, Feinstein hurled the film cans at Hopper and the two got into a physical confrontation.<ref name=Kiselyak/> After this turmoil, Hopper and Fonda decided to assemble a proper crew for the rest of the film.<ref name="Kiselyak" /> Consequently, the rest of the film was shot on [[35 mm movie film|35mm film]], while the New Orleans sequences were shot on [[16 mm film|16mm film]].<ref name="LA Times2"/> The hippie commune was recreated from pictures and shot at a site overlooking [[Malibu, California#In popular culture|Malibu Canyon]] on Piuma Canyon Road, since the New Buffalo commune in [[Arroyo Hondo, Taos County, New Mexico|Arroyo Hondo]] near [[Taos, New Mexico]], did not permit shooting there.<ref name="Fisher2004">{{cite magazine| first = Bob | last = Fisher | title = Easy Rider: 35 Years Later; László Kovács on the 35th anniversary of Easy Rider | magazine = Moviemaker | date = June 22, 2004 | url = http://www.moviemaker.com/directing/article/easy_rider_35_years_later_2921/ | archive-url = https://archive.today/20120211125811/http://www.moviemaker.com/directing/article/easy_rider_35_years_later_2921 | archive-date = February 11, 2012 | access-date = 2008-10-19 |url-status=dead}}</ref> Among the [[Extra (acting)|extras]] who appear in the sequence are actors [[Dan Haggerty]] and [[Carrie Snodgress]], musician [[Jim Sullivan (musician)|Jim Sullivan]], and Fonda's daughter [[Bridget Fonda|Bridget]]. A short clip near the beginning of the film shows Wyatt and Billy on [[U.S. Route 66|Route 66]] in [[Flagstaff, Arizona]], passing a large figure of a lumberjack. That lumberjack statue—once situated in front of the Lumberjack Café—remains in Flagstaff, but now stands inside the [[Walkup Skydome|J. Lawrence Walkup Skydome]] on the campus of [[Northern Arizona University]]. A second, very similar statue was also moved from the Lumberjack Café to the exterior of the Skydome.<ref name="rightpalmup">{{Cite book | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=omHzQwAACAAJ | title = Right Palm Up, Left Palm Down: The Log of a Cross-Country Scavenger Hunt | isbn = 978-0970340771 | last1 = Aldaz | first1 = Gabriel | date = April 2010| publisher = Sparkworks Pub. }}</ref> Most of the film is shot outside with natural lighting. Hopper said all the outdoor shooting was an intentional choice on his part, because "God is a great [[Gaffer (motion picture industry)|gaffer]]." Besides the camera car, the production used two [[Truck classification#Table of US GVWR classifications|five-ton trucks]], one for the equipment and pulling an 750 Amp generator trailer, and one for the up to four motorcycles, with the cast and crew in a motor home.<ref name="Fisher2004" /> One of the locations was [[Monument Valley]].<ref name="Fisher2004" /> The restaurant scenes with Fonda, Hopper, and Nicholson were shot in [[Morganza, Louisiana]].<ref name="Fisher2004" /> The men and girls in the scenes were Morganza locals.<ref name="Fisher2004" /> In order to inspire more vitriolic commentary from the local men, Hopper told them the characters of Billy, Wyatt, and George had raped and killed a girl outside of town.<ref name="Kiselyak" /> The scene in which Billy and Wyatt were shot was filmed on [[Louisiana Highway 105]] North, just outside [[Krotz Springs, Louisiana|Krotz Springs]], and the two men in the pickup truck—Johnny David and D.C. Billodeau—were Krotz Springs locals. While shooting the cemetery scene, Hopper tried to convince Fonda to talk to the statue of the [[Mary (mother of Jesus)|Madonna]] as though it were [[Frances Ford Seymour|Fonda's mother]], who had committed [[suicide]] when he was 10 years old, and ask her why she left him. Although Fonda was reluctant, he eventually complied. Later Fonda used the inclusion of this scene, along with the concluding scene, as leverage to persuade [[Bob Dylan]] to allow the use of [[Roger McGuinn]]'s cover of "[[It's Alright, Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)]]".<ref name=Kiselyak/>
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