The county of Ventura confirmed that a production company has taken out a film permit for Thursday to start shooting a movie in Fillmore. That project is likely a Fox 2000 film based on “Water for Elephants,” Sara Gruen’s best-selling Depression-era novel about a traveling circus.
No big tops have been reported in Fillmore or environs, but on Sunday, circus trains and wagons painted with the words “Benzini Bros. Most Spectacular Show on Earth,” the circus in Gruen’s book, were spotted in the city’s downtown.
On Monday, Ventura County senior planner Becky Linder confirmed that a production company has taken out a film permit to start shooting “Jerry Novak’s Big Adventure” in Fillmore and “other locations around the county” on Thursday.
“Jerry Novak” isn’t a character in the book, but on Sunday, at the Santa Clara and Mountain View site, a dirt lot near the tracks of the Fillmore & Western Railway Co., a large rental fence had been erected with a black covering around it. A look inside a crack in the gate revealed more than 10 red, yellow and orange boxy circus wagons, some with ornate decorations.
In Gruen’s book, she describes circus wagons that “are painted scarlet, with gold trim and sunburst wheels, each emblazoned with the name ‘Benzini Bros. Most Spectacular Show on Earth.”
In Fillmore, “Benzini Bros. Circus” was printed in gold letters on some of the wagons. Also, on the tracks next to the lot, about 10 old-fashioned railroad cars — boxcars, flatcars and passenger cars — sat on the tracks. Painted maroon, several of them were printed with “Benzini Bros. Circus” and “Most Spectacular Show on Earth.” A few had bales of hay inside.
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