Flash back to Wednesday night - I'm completely out of it. I've been up for endless hours and had only slept for three hours the night before and then I get the call. I'm so drained and exhausted that when I was asked to cover the set for Steven Spielberg's upcoming remake of the classic HG Wells story 'War of the Worlds' I actually declined. I had to pull my ear away from the phone when I got a blaring, "Are you freaking nuts?! This will probably never happen again!" So I said ok- the next morning after sleeping 13 hours I woke up and the first thing that crosses my mind is, "What the f--- was I thinking?!" I was truly out of my mind...

So I'm sitting bumper to bumper on the 405 in LA heading north into the valley wondering if there is any chance I'll make it in time. It's finally sinking in, I'm going to meet Tom Cruise and Steven Spielberg and watch these geniuses in action. Lucky enough the traffic clears and I'm home free.

As I approached the set, for the first time in my life I'm completely star struck. There are hundreds of tents set up along the line of the shoot. As I peered down the road I could see a section of the road beaming with lights - it looked like something out of a 'Close Encounters of the Third Kind.' There were giant cranes and hundreds upon hundreds of people; some working, some helping out and some acting. Behind the lights, cranes and all the madness was a pair of mountains that also appeared to be lit up. It was the most beautiful scenery you've ever seen in a movie set, one can only wonder if this was also part of Spielberg's vision.

As I walked through this little quiet mountain town, it was eerie how much it looked like a typical Spielberg town- even weirder is that this is how the town normally looks, there were only minor renovations. But as we got closer to the set interesting items began to appear, such as turned over cars in the middle of people yards. A bunch of reporters starting joking, "Man these people are low class!" But someone pointed out that it was obviously part of Spielberg's vision.

Finally making my way to the shoot area, I could see that the scene being set up was insane. There were giant cranes with sprinklers attached to them to make it look like it was raining. Underneath getting wet was a mob of people who were screaming, yelling at attacking something. What was it? It was an old blue rusted van with a brown trim stripe across it. What made it so special was inside you'd find Tom Cruise and Dakota Fanning trying to escape the madness and fear filled town. The people were trying to break into their car because it was rare at that point of the film to see an operating automobile.

We were told that during this scene there are attacks going on and everyone is trying as hard as they possibly can to get out of the town before they die. I'm just curious if they had stunt men or real people next to the car while it was trucking forward- and if anyone had got their foot run over?

The costumes were really cool. Everyone looked like an average Joe in their beanie hats, raincoats, work coats and old worn out boots. The mob looked dusty and beaten- at the brink of the end of their sanity. The whole essence of Spielberg was present; it's something you would never think you could ever experience. Even after such a short visit, and watching the same scene shot over and over, this was easily one of the first (and probably only) times I could actually say that the movie I watched them film is going to kick major butt!

After an hour or so of watching the same scene and drinking some delicious coffee we were rounded up like cattle and shipped off to be slaughtered for seeing too much. I escaped by pretending I was the guy in the suit who played one of the Raptors in 'Jurassic Park'.

Other Chapters Available:

Section Two - Interview: Tom Cruise & Steven Spielberg
Section Three - Interview: Kathleen Kennedy