GBRulz
08-09-2006, 08:52 AM
http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=479758
Wisconsin brats make a cameo in 'Trade Center'
By DUANE DUDEK
ddudek@journalsentinel.com
Posted: Aug. 4, 2006
Duane Dudek
E-MAIL
It's a bit jarring to watch Oliver Stone's emotionally vivid new film "World Trade Center," opening Wednesday, and see references to . . . bratwurst.
The film is the story of two men trapped beneath the rubble of the twin towers on Sept 11, 2001, juxtaposed with the stories of their families and the efforts of rescuers searching for survivors. But it's also about how those events affected us all, and that's how bratwurst came to play a role.
As the film cuts to reactions from around the world, it stops at a Sheboygan diner where customers are watching news coverage of the terrorist attacks. Later, as rescuers emerge from the smoking ground zero, they walk past a sign that reads "Wisconsin Loves NYC Cops" where they are handed what they are told is "the best brat you'll get in the whole world." The scenes would be gratuitous if they were not grounded in as much fact as pork.
"There were Wisconsin cops at the scene and they did do bratwurst," Stone said during an interview. The scenes were in the script from the start.
But as often happens in Hollywood, events were altered for dramatic effect.
Sheboygan cops did pack up their Weber grills and 100 pounds of sausage and head to ground zero, but not until the six-month anniversary of the attacks, said Tim Tarkowski, who retired as sergeant of the traffic division in 2005 after 28 years of service. But right after the attacks a fund-raising brat fry raised $147,000, which was given to the families of emergency personnel killed in the attacks that Christmas.
Tarkowski said he and five other officers went to New York "because we had a need to see for ourselves and to do something for the Port Authority after all they went through." They've returned almost every year since. "We've made friends for life out there."
Sheboygan police chief David Kirk wrote in an e-mail that the filmmakers were provided with uniform specifications so that they would "accurately represent the Sheboygan police uniform."
But why Sheboygan? Stone said: "We went from the pit, the hole (of ground zero), to the macrocosm of the world, we showed all the countries reacting and came back to Wisconsin," to suggest the universal reaction to the attacks.
And why bratwurst?
"Why not," laughed Tarkowski.
Wisconsin brats make a cameo in 'Trade Center'
By DUANE DUDEK
ddudek@journalsentinel.com
Posted: Aug. 4, 2006
Duane Dudek
It's a bit jarring to watch Oliver Stone's emotionally vivid new film "World Trade Center," opening Wednesday, and see references to . . . bratwurst.
The film is the story of two men trapped beneath the rubble of the twin towers on Sept 11, 2001, juxtaposed with the stories of their families and the efforts of rescuers searching for survivors. But it's also about how those events affected us all, and that's how bratwurst came to play a role.
As the film cuts to reactions from around the world, it stops at a Sheboygan diner where customers are watching news coverage of the terrorist attacks. Later, as rescuers emerge from the smoking ground zero, they walk past a sign that reads "Wisconsin Loves NYC Cops" where they are handed what they are told is "the best brat you'll get in the whole world." The scenes would be gratuitous if they were not grounded in as much fact as pork.
"There were Wisconsin cops at the scene and they did do bratwurst," Stone said during an interview. The scenes were in the script from the start.
But as often happens in Hollywood, events were altered for dramatic effect.
Sheboygan cops did pack up their Weber grills and 100 pounds of sausage and head to ground zero, but not until the six-month anniversary of the attacks, said Tim Tarkowski, who retired as sergeant of the traffic division in 2005 after 28 years of service. But right after the attacks a fund-raising brat fry raised $147,000, which was given to the families of emergency personnel killed in the attacks that Christmas.
Tarkowski said he and five other officers went to New York "because we had a need to see for ourselves and to do something for the Port Authority after all they went through." They've returned almost every year since. "We've made friends for life out there."
Sheboygan police chief David Kirk wrote in an e-mail that the filmmakers were provided with uniform specifications so that they would "accurately represent the Sheboygan police uniform."
But why Sheboygan? Stone said: "We went from the pit, the hole (of ground zero), to the macrocosm of the world, we showed all the countries reacting and came back to Wisconsin," to suggest the universal reaction to the attacks.
And why bratwurst?
"Why not," laughed Tarkowski.