Production Companies RV Camping Productions Ltd., Red Wagon Productions, IMF Internationale Medien und Film GmbH & Co. 3. Produktions KG, Intermedia Films, Relativity Media
RV was indeed a step above camping. The production entailed a great deal of travel and multiple locations, wrapping on a soundstage south of Vancouver where the Munro and Gornicke families were dressed in their garish cowboy-best and sang “(Get your Kicks on) Route 66” for use over the closing credits. The crew enjoyed a final meal together listening — along with honoree Sonnenfeld — as Daniels sang his composition, “The Ballad of the Kosher Cowboy.” And yes, the director wept openly because someone had actually written him a theme song.
Apart from the many talented cast members, the other very real characters in RV are the recreational vehicles themselves. The Gornicke bus in particular, says picture car coordinator Rick Rasmussen, “attracted more attention and stopped more traffic than any other single vehicle I’ve ever worked with and that includes Vipers, Concept Vehicles and some other fairly exotic vehicles.”
The script originally called for a 1990s recreational vehicle, but Sonnenfeld wanted something more classic and asked Rasmussen to help him find it. His search yielded two 1948 “Flxible Clippers,” which were used in the ‘40s and ‘50s by such companies as Greyhound and Trailways. At one time there were more than 5,000 “Clippers” in use by the fleets of about 1,000 bus companies. Since then, the “Flxibles” have been used in federal parks as shuttles and have remained popular with many smaller bus operators. Nowadays, “Flxible Clippers” are extremely popular as recreational vehicles, so much so that it has spawned an international organization of “Clipper” owners.
Of the two buses Rasmussen found, one was being used for a tour company, Cumberland Tours, in Nashville, Tennessee, while the other had been put out to pasture. Both were in reasonably good shape when the production acquired them and were then overhauled to suit the demands of the film. The seats were stripped away, the bodies restored and painted an eye-catching red and cream (they were originally blue and white) and outfitted like vintage motor homes.
Other exterior appointments included “eyelid” shades over the headlights, a chrome ladder up the back and a wooden roof rack to complete its distinctive classic look. The second bus was completely rebuilt, including engine and drivetrain, with only about 60 percent of the interior restored. It was used mainly for stunt work and second unit exterior shots.
The Munro RV was — at least at the start of the film — brand new and hot off the showroom floor. But it is unlikely that anything like it could be found in a real showroom. “I wanted the Munros to have the most garish RV that you’ve ever seen,” says Sonnenfeld. “I wanted this RV to stand out from the landscape in an unnatural way.”
So the first thing Sonnenfeld did “was pick colors that don’t exist in nature, so the greens are strangely too primary, too bright.” To push his idea even farther, Sonnenfeld opines, “How embarrassing would it be if the RV not only had embarrassing colors but also had the words ‘RENT ME’ on it? So we used the most glowing yellow for that. Then I said why not put a huge picture of me, Barry Sonnenfeld, in western garb (though I call myself ‘Irv’) on the side of the RV, advertising ‘For a day or a lifetime.’”
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