By Emily-Rose Toohey
Baz Luhrmann’s latest film ‘Elvis’ made its Australian theatrical release in late June of this year, and transported viewers back in time to witness the rise of iconic entertainer Elvis Presley.
But in order to capture the look of the era, Warner Bros. Pictures required the set to completely transform into decades of the 1900s, and Stanthorpe local Ian Schmidt was called upon to help make it happen.
As the owner of two Model T Fords and a workshop, one of Ian’s vehicles was featured in the film, which was shot on the Gold Coast in 2020 during the Covid-19 shutdown.
Described by Ian as a grey 1925 T Model Ford Coupe, he said the film studio approached him after finding the vehicle on a website.
“I put it on a site where they hire movie cars,” he recalled.
“Then I got a call from Warner Bros. asking if they could borrow it, which was an immediate yes – we just had to work out the logistics.
“It’s a left-hand drive which is not too common in Australia.”
However, the pristine vehicle Ian has been working on was covered in ‘movie dust’ for the film, which Ian said was to give it a rusty look.
“The scene it appears in is early on in the movie,” Ian said.
“It’s the car driving past a young Elvis running towards a tent, set in the late 1930s.”
However, Ian said was unable to be on set for the filming process due to Covid-19 regulations and in another world without the pandemic, he would have been the driver.
“I drove it to the Gold Coast and they had someone else drive it in the movie,” he said.
Although Ian only came into possession of the car seven years ago, he said he’d been interested in them since he was six years old.
“I imported the body (of his first Model T Ford) from the US and restored the mechanical parts I found near Toowoomba,” he said.
But that’s not all: Model T Ford owners bring their vehicles to his Stanthorpe workshop from all over Queensland.
“I work on them every day of the week,” Ian said.
