Iceland. A vast country with beautiful landscapes and a population of only 290,000. Home to singer Bjork and to live volcanoes, black beaches and summers of eternal daylight. Many famous movies have been shot in Iceland. Tomb Raider and Batman to name just two. It was here that Clint Eastwood decided to bring his young cast to re-create the goings on of Iwo Jima, the bloodest battle in American World War II history.
Now, here at Jesse Bradford Space I were ecstatic. Jesse was coming to Europe! There was no way I were going to miss out, so, on Thursday 18th August 2005 me, my dad and my sister Jayne hopped on board the IcelandExpress 20:40 flight to Rejkyavik, Iceland.
Arriving into the airport we started our Jesse search which would last for 4 whole days and take us miles over the volcanic ashes of Icelands country roads, ending in ultimate disapointment.
Our first port of call was Rejkyavik itself. The capital of Iceland. Logical place to start. We found the Hotel Nordica, one of Icelands plush hotels which Jesse was staying in. Unfortunately getting in was rather difficult. You had to be staying at the hotel to use the facilities (bar, gym, etc.) and they had a 24/7 security guard in the main reception. We did have the option of standing outside waiting for Jesse's 4x4 to show up, but, we found very quickly that every other vechile in Iceland is an off road landrover - something we ourselves should have hired.
Iceland are famous for their roads. They are bumpy, narrow and have lethal corners. Alot of fun to drive though!
The Krisuvik film site was the mountain site. Where the famous flag was raised. It's just off of the road, you HAVE to drive past it so you can't miss it at all. There were huge white tents, a large red truck with an American flag on the side and a couple of cars there when we went down the first day. There was also some secuirty there and we stopped and had a chat with one of the guards who told us they weren't filming the day we went by, but they were due to start the day we were to leave Iceland so we headed off for the second location with plans to return.
The second filming location was a place called Sandvik beach. This is where alot of the battle scenes were going to be shot. Finding Sandvik beach was not easy. We went here, there and everywhere looking for signs and ways to the beach but to no avail. Tourist information refused to even confirm to us that there was a Sandvik beach in Iceland and after a couple of hours of driving aimlessly in circles we turned to head back towards Rejkyavik when, what do you know, the same van from Krisuvik pulled past us! Without hesitation we followed this van around the Icelandic countryside until we had to turn back to Rejkyavik for petrol. We never did find Sandvik beach :(
Arriving back in Rejkyavik we went out for birthday dinner (Jayne and I turned 19 on August 19th - yay!) before heading into the town for a night of partying and vodka. Before this though, I felt a sudden urge to give Jesse Bradford a present. The only store we could find open was a garden centre so I gave him a make-it-yourself cactus! We went back down to Hotel Nordica and left it at the front reception for him....since returning to the UK I have descovered that Jesse did in fact recieve this little token of my adoration.xx
During the period of time we were there we were lucky enough to be in Iceland the night of the Cultral Festival and had a fantastic time partying on the streets of Rejkyavik. Jesse was apparently out that night too..we didn't see him :( but we were definately seeing double by the end of the evening!
Things suddenly got interesting.
As we appoached the film set we could see there was a lot of activity. There were cars and people walking around. There were people at the top of the mountain and there was a helicopter flying overhead.
We pulled over and got out of the car over-excited about the fact we were about to meet Jesse. It didn't happen. We were told that yes they would be filming today but the actors weren't going to be arriving until the afternoon, they were just setting up. I was devastated, heartbroken. Our flight was due to leave in less than 2 hours so we had no chose by to grudgely sulk our way back to the car.
