--Stephen Hardin, historian
The 18-pounder, the cannon left behind by Santa Anna's brother-in-law Gen. Martin Perfect de Coz and used to hold off Santa Anna for a time, sits ready atop a ramp. Inside a building, Bowie's solemn death bed awaits, surrounded by gold drips of candle wax, a crucifix, crew members' discarded water bottles and an empty potato chip bag.
Back at Bexar, extras carrying flintlock rifles bide time until the next take, while a worker wearing a cap bearing the name of Hancock's directing debut, "The Rookie," collects film cables.
Frank Thompson, an author of numerous Alamo books including the upcoming novelization of the film, looks on with glee and points out how extras aren't wearing coonskin caps but top hats and frock coats more appropriate to the time.
"I've been studying this since I was 8 years old," Thompson says. "I'm like a kid in a candy store."
He points to the male extras, many sporting sideburns so huge Elvis Presley would be jealous, one sipping at a Gatorade bottle.
"I've only seen two guys with beards," Thompson says. "Anglo men in 1836 did not wear beards. I'm just delighted by this."
In fact, extras were instructed to grow out their beards and hair just so they could be shaved back into the period look the stars also sport.
Billy Bob Thornton is not on the set this day and is now done filming his role (he marked the end with a visit to the real Alamo in San Antonio), but his presence as Davy Crockett is already legend. Thompson witnessed Crockett's death scene--the details of which are a closely guarded secret.
"If he doesn't get an Academy Award nomination, I'll be very surprised," Thompson says.
Thornton is said to often stop and regale extras with his latest joke; at one point he was reportedly surrounded by the Mexican army, happily doling out autographs.
"Billy Bob is so Crockett, it's scary," says Stephen Hardin, a Victoria College professor who serves as a historical consultant for the film. "He has the same magnetism Crockett had. All these other guys are acting; he's channeling."
Thornton's natural accent from his youth in Northern Arkansas is coincidentally a dead ringer for how someone like Crockett from Southern Tennessee would speak, Hardin says.
Hardin and fellow Alamo historian Alan Huffines went through the script looking to excise any words like "OK" and "yeah" that weren't used in 1836. A Spanish linguist did the same for Spanish dialog.
Hardin scoffs at contentions this "Alamo" aims to take John Wayne's 1960 version and transform it with political correctness by also portraying the Mexican side of the story and showing how Mexicans
fought both with the Anglos and against them. He sees the Texas revolution as one theater of the larger Mexican civil war.
"The truth is that Anglos and Texans had been getting along for 15 years, thank you very much," Hardin says. "There is a sensitivity to Hispanics while never crossing the line to pandering. It's just historical accuracy. If that's political correctness, I can deal with it."
That attention to detail is what excites Marc Blucas, who portrays Alamo messenger James Bonham, about the film. He says the enthusiasm has infected the crew who often engage him in Alamo history discussions.
Bonham's "actions defined a lot of themes of what this movie is about," says Blucas, who played basketball with the Spurs' Tim Duncan at Wake Forest before turning thespian. "Courage. Believing. Commanding. That's what we've talked about a lot as a cast."
Blucas, Thornton, Wilson, Jason Patric (Jim Bowie) and others loaded in a rented motor coach and drove to watch college basketball's final four teams compete in New Orleans recently. Much of the talk there and
back was of the film, Blucas says.
"We've all examined the question of why these guys stayed," Blucas says. "Beyond their belief in what they were doing was a fraternal bond between men."
Back on the set, Hancock is ready to film a close-up of Travis' moment with Seguin. Extras are told to remove their 21st Century sunglasses. An odd patch of rainbow hovers over the set.
Hancock is aiming for an '"Alamo" with a large scope that still remains a character piece. He believes it's working. He's taking that elephant bite by bite.
But there are moments when reality blurs into the past, moments like when they filmed the Mexican army breaking ranks and heading toward the Alamo's north wall for the final assault.
"For a moment you're not a director," Hancock says. "You're just sitting back and living it."