AS: What obstacles did you face in creating the set? It’s understood that there were some political problems within Disney while The Alamo was in production.

MC: Considering the scale of what I was proposing and attempting (the largest standing set ever built in North America) I encountered few genuine obstacles or problems in creating the Set. The transition of Ron Howard from Director to Producer, and the hiring of John Lee Hancock to Write and Direct, was a surprisingly small hiccup. The Disney Executive to the project was Bruce Hendricks, also a Texan, and University of Texas at Austin alum, and John Lee Hancock’s Texas Credentials were such that I was allowed to maintain the course that had been determined prior to all of these transitions.

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 by Victoria Reynolds

On Thursday, June 28, Mark Lemon’s presentation for his upcoming book, The Illustrated Alamo, 1836, was presented in the Georgian Room of the St. Anthony Hotel in San Antonio, Texas. The presentation, organized by the San Antonio Area Foundation, hosted Mr. Lemon’s speech. Shown during the presentation was a slideshow containing images from the upcoming book that details the Alamo’s appearance as it stood in March of 1836. The ground-breaking depictions of the mission-fortress are the most detailed, and arguably authentic, representations of what the Alamo looked like on that fateful day in 1836.

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AS: What process did you go through to land the role of Micajah Autry in The Alamo?

KP: I had been retired from acting for several years when the Alamo auditions came up. At the time my agent called I was writing and producing documentary films for my own independent production company. I got the script and was assigned several roles to look at. The script was good. Maybe even great….

As an actor, I have always been known for my research and preparation. By the time I went down to Austin to meet John Lee and read for M. Autry, I had lost 15 pounds, grown a full-length beard (the casting director had asked that all male actors audition with facial hair), read the script through 5 times, read 4 complete histories of the Alamo, memorized 30 pages of dialogue (I think I read for 4 roles that day), and watched a dozen or so films including 3 documentaries on the Mo, The Wayneamo (twice) and John Lee’s the Rookie.

I read for John Lee. John Lee hired me.

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AS: When were you first approached to work on The Alamo? And are you a fan of the subject?

DO: I was approached almost 2 years before filming by original producer Todd Hallowell to do some uniform research and figure out a realistic but cost effective costume budget. Ron Howard the first director then asked me to design the film. I became really inspired by the subject after reading and immersing myself in the research. The best thing about working in film is that you are always doing something different. Sometimes things you wouldn’t ever think you would be interested in turn out to be really fascinating.

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AS: In the recent Alamo film, we could see you amongst the delegates of the Provisional Government. Most notably reacting to James Bowie walking in on Houston and Grant about to get into it. Tell us about your experience on the set and how long the process took.

FT: I worked on those scenes for the greater part of a week. It was miserably hot in those clothes — somebody in 1836 should have invented Bermuda shorts and t-shirts — but it was an amazing experience. I mentioned earlier the post card I’d like to send to six year-old me — well, imagine how much I’d like to tell that kid that he would someday be in an Alamo movie, even if it was just a cameo role. And of course, I was one of the eight Alamo guys gathered together by Ron Howard in 2002 to talk things over. That was a great, great day for me. Plus, the hotel gave us each a chocolate Alamo. I saved it in the freezer for a few months but eventually ate it.

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AS: How long have you been a student of the Alamo?

SH: I started to think about the Alamo seriously when I was about twelve years old. This would
have been around 1960, when I had just seen the John Wayne movie and set myself the task of
reading Lon Tinkle’s Thirteen Days to Glory, John Myers Myers’ The Alamo and then Walter Lord’s
magnificent A Time to Stand, which I admire more and more with each passing decade for its concision,
sobriety, and ground-breaking research.

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AS: When were you approached to direct and how long did it take to work on the screenplay?

JLH: I’m not great with dates but when Ron Howard dropped
out as director, Dick Cook at Disney contacted me to
ascertain interest. I told him to give me a few days
to consider it. As much as it was already obvious
that the press was all over Disney on this one, I
couldn’t say no - I’m from Texas and The Alamo is my
favorite story of all time.

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