Among scientists, space exploration may have lost a certain cutting-edge feel amid more immediate concerns such as bioterrorism. But in Hollywood, NASA rules. Or at least it did 24 September, when dozens of movie producers and directors Barry Rosenbush (Scary Movie 2) and Bill Borden (End of Days) trooped up to nearby Pasadena to visit the agency's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL).
Cheap set?
CREDIT: NASA/KSC
The unusual gathering was the brainchild of Hollywood consultant Robert Shapiro. Awed by a space shuttle launch last year, Shapiro persuaded NASA to hire him to reignite the American passion for exploring the unknown.
A group of senior space agency officials, including space science chief Ed Weiler, spent the day laying out NASA's long-range plans for exploration and technology. They exhorted the gathered moguls to think big, and the listeners seemed game. "We're looking for a way to make big, expensive movies without spending a lot of money," said Borden. "And why spend 4 or 5 months building a set when NASA has it for free?" JPL officials say that since the meeting, they've been deluged with requests for more information and assistance.
