Great Gus hits the "Big" time

March 21 and 22, the Poplar River Mine was the set of television shoot and Brian Wrolson and Gerry Beaubien were the stars!
Well, the co-starts anyway! The real stars of the shoot were Sherritt Coal's two draglines, "Great Gus" and "Lot 38."
A three person film crew from the Discovery Channel were on site to film the draglines for a new series on the Discovery Channel that covers the "biggest, baddest machines in the world!" said Ed Venner, director of the shoot from England. "Heroic!" added camera man Justin Ingham, South African born director of photography (cameraman!).
The third member of the crew, Natalia Dannenberg from England, the Associate Producer explained that the new series is tentatively called "Elite Machines" and will air internationally during the summer or fall of 2009.
The crew spent two days filming on the draglines. Great Gus was under maintenance and received the smaller amount of coverage. Lot 38 received the majority of the spotlight, along with operators Brian Wrolson and Gerry Beaubien.
The crew were very pleased with Wrolson and Beaubien. "Brian was the ideal type of character we were looking for! A real good guy!" said Venner. "We told him to make the machine come to life and that's exactly what he did" added Ingham.
The crew taped while the mine employees operated the huge digging machine. Ingham was impressed with the finesse with which Beaubien operated the gigantic machine. "When Gerry was controlling it, it seemed effortless. He was relaxed, chilled out. . . at one with his machine!" said Ingham.
The crew were surprised at the enormity of the draglines. "Our jaws dropped open when we saw the size of it," said Ingham. "You don't realize how bit it is till you get up to it." said Dannenberg.
The English crew were very impressed with the hospitality of the residents of Coronach and the employees at the mine. They stayed at the Country Boy Motel and ate at Orlies' Restuarant where the owners stayed open late to feed them the night they arrived.
The shoot was inconveniently interuppted by the 20 hour power outages experienced in Coronach. Although the mine has full power and the shoot was unaffected, the crew were unable to get breakfast in town before arriving at the mine.
Dale Weisgerber, supervisor in charge of the crew, raided the "Blizzard" rations that they keep on hand at the mine to provide them breakfast. According to Ingham, the crew didn't hear him quite right but were still grateful for the "Lizard" rations!
The hospitality continued when mine employees suggested they travel the short 20 minute drive to Willow Bunch to get a hot supper. The crew were surprised to find the 20 minutes turn into an hour with the ice covered roads that were a bit hard to travel with the smooth tires on their rental van! Nonetheless, they made it through to find the restaurant closed.
They then stopped in at Brenners' Gas and "raided" them of sardines! they explained. The group who were working together for the first time seemed to be able to make the best of everything they encountered and laugh at it later!
The crew, having been in Canada for over three weeks, were finding our weather a bit cold! Ingham found it very difficult to spend 8-12 hours standing (mostly still) in the cold, operating the camera.
After a "hearty" breakfast at Orlies Restaurant in Coronach the crew departed from Coronach shortly after 8 am on March 26, off for their next adventure.
Before they head back to London, England, they will have spend one month in Canada.
Before arriving in Coronach, the crew of freelancers completed pieces in the Maritimes, Winnipeg and Edmonton.
In the Winnipeg, they shot "Amphibex", an amphibious ice breaking machine that is used on the Red River to break up the ice to prevent ice jams and flooding.
In the Maritimes, they filmed "Louis St. Laurent" an ice breaking ship of the Canadian Coast Guard.
In Whitecourt, Alberta they did a piece on a M126, the world's biggest helicopter. Also in Alberta, they covered the Edmonton International Airport andthe task of operating an airport during the harsh winter months.
In Ontario, the crew were able to film inside the nuclear reactor of Bruce Power's nuclear power station, the biggest in the world
During their down time between shoots, the crew were able to enjoy downhill skiing in Jasper, Alberta; a rodeo in Winnipeg and were able to see the sights at Niagara Falls, Ontario.