Javillac
Nowadays, seeing a Spanish film star succeeding in Hollywood is quite common, but a few years ago the story was very different. In the 1950s it was Sarita Montiel who explained to Americans where Spain was on the map and she got to share the screen with legends like Gary Cooper or James Dean. But As for Spanish cars that have appeared on the big screen in an international blockbuster, the examples can be counted on the fingers of one hand., not to say that there is only one.
En “Batman” was released in 1989, the first feature film about the superhero since 1966.. The film was directed by Tim Burton, who gave a more gloomy and gloomy look to the fictional city of Gotham. Batman was played by Michael Keaton and in the role of the villain Joker was Jack Nicholson.
That movie introduced a new version of the Batmobile, which is one of the most iconic, based on the chassis of a Chevrolet Impala and another unit that was mounted on an Oldsmobile Cutlass, both with V8 mechanics. On the other hand, and in a much more secondary role, the bad guy's henchmen used two units of Dodge 3700GT. But how did two Spanish cars come to circulate on the streets of Gotham?
THE 3700 OF THE JOKER'S MINIONS
Unlike what it may seem from the images, the film was not filmed in the United States, but that is part of the magic of cinema. Although recording in California was considered, It was ultimately filmed entirely in England, so the cars did not have to cross the Atlantic, only the English Channel.
It is in this part of the story where Christian Wolf La'May comes in, the person responsible for the cars appearing in the filming. La'May was a driving specialist and well known in the film industry for his expertise in chase scenes. It was he who He bought the cars with his brother in Alicante in order for them to appear in the film, with the intention of selling them once the recordings were finished.
According to what he said in 2010, the cars arrived rolling to the United Kingdom, traveling more than 2.000 kilometers in the process. The reason Dodges were selected was because of their availability in Europe and because they were a vehicle with the shape of an American sedan, but not very identifiable to the general public, so it looked like a comic book car to those who are not familiar with the model.
Both 3700 GTs were painted purple with the roof and wheels in lime green, the Joker's colors. One of the cars was damaged during one of the scenes and had to be replaced with a Chevrolet Malibu from the same era that underwent the same cosmetic modifications as the Dodge. After filming La'May fell in love with the cars, and instead of selling them he decided to preserve them, and as of 2010 he claimed to keep them, so it is very likely that the 3700 of the Joker still survive today somewhere in the United Kingdom.
TM and © WarnerMedia (1989) Fair use, Christian Wolf La'May
