We shot the Apple headquarters in a couple places, one was in Valencia.
We also shot on a recently deserted skunkworks north west of LA. (Lockheed Martin or Grummann, I don't recall which)
It was a beautiful bunch of land, the building we did as Xerox Parc had shielding all over so that it couldn't be electronically spied upon. It was clad in white metal panels. As you neared the entrance any and all electronics on you stopped working. (anything that used radio waves) Cell phones and pagers were unable to connect. This made it difficult to stay in touch with crew members once they got in building. I personally set up the Alto in the scene shot there.
We had done a "Picasso Room" in the Apple HQ. The decorator had some artist friend make them quickly for peanuts. Simple 1x4 frames and cheap canvas and house paint. After the movie I sold them on Ebay and have always wondered where they ended up. They weren't very good but I wouldn't mind getting them back. I recently visited the DeYoung and saw real Picassos and I must say the ones we did were rather weak in comparison.
The Transpo guy, Geno was a hack. For some reason he choose Steve Jobs car for scenes in the 70's. He got a Mercedes 560...I argued with Producer & Director that 560 didn't exist then, that a 450 was the top. Nobody cared, I guess they thought it wasn't a car movie.
We were forbidden from contacting Apple to get any props. Our props guy made an Apple 1 and I ended up trading it to a vintage computer museum in San Diego for a deal on all sorts of machines we borrowed for the West Coast Computer Fair. We had gone to a GREAT deal of trouble to recreate booths and the floor layout of the event where Apple II got introduced. I had been to computer shows at the time and knew "the look" but we tried to get the EXACT companies and products that were at the real event. I had a huge space in Hollywood full of these ancient computers. Even the Alto spent a few nights there. I piddled days away using "Barkeeps Friend" on various yellowy machines trying to get their inner beigeness back.
My first day on the show, I fired up an Apple II and hit "PR#6" to boot the floppy drive. A capacitor shot out of it in a shower of sparks. I learned a lesson that came back a few times. Capacitors of this age don't take well to having electric current in them after their innards have dried up.
I still have a few of the Apple IIs from the movie in storage. I think only one of them ever worked well.
The Lisa IIs were interesting. I had 2 of them working for the show. I went so far as to source new CRTs for them. The 10 Meg hard drives were cranky.
I never really found a Lisa I for the scene where Gates rolls it through a shot. I ended up with a Lisa 2 and the guys at Sun Remarketing were kind enough to loan me a Lisa 1 faceplate. The back of it had a plaque from Jobs, thanking them for support and signed by him. I think they got the job of landfilling / scrapping the failure that was Lisa.
They had sold me a couple complete systems, then just 15 years old, but wrapped tight in plastic. They looked new and they were the Lisas we shot. No idea why they trusted me with the Lisa Faceplate or it's significance. Apple had offered a free upgrade from Lisa 1 to Lisa 2 so nobody had them anymore. I was so relieved to get that faceplate.
The Producer, Leanne, was one of the very few with any ethics that I have met in nearly 30 years in film biz. Most would have told me to quit wasting time getting the Alto, or Lisa 1 and just had me toss some beige box on set and ROLL CAMERA !!
The director was NOT passionate about computers, he was passionate about telling the story and telling it right. All of the principals were offered and encouraged to have me coach them on "the lingo" but Noah was the only one who cared. The Ballmer & Gates guys were true to character....no interest at all.
The interior of Bill Gates dorm room was shot in La Canada in a building that is now ISS Props. We had to get a bunch of old Playboys, apparently he had "an interest". (Coincidentally, I spent most of last 4 years working for PLayboy TV). We also had a way cool 8 track player that worked. It was SO COOL, that someone stole it from the set.
Noah Wyle wanted more than anything to get Steve "right". Now more than ever I am glad we all tried so hard.
