Filming the Rouge

By Joel Thurtell

On vacation in Canada, I found a little sandwich shop with a Mac computer and a wi-fi connection. I logged on and found a message from a French film maker, Florent Tillon, wondering if I’d take him on a trip up the Rouge.

I shot back an answer: Sure thing.

But  did he want to go by canoe or by motorboat?

I’m not sure Florent was aware of Up the Rouge! Paddling Detroit’s Hidden River, the book by me and Patricia Beck  about our 27-mile odyssey up the Rouge back in 2005.

In any case, he opted to make the trip by motorboat.

Darn!

That means he’ll miss the wonderful logjams that so entertained us over four days of our five-day trek.

Ah, well, motorboat it is. He’ll get to film the blast furnaces of Zug Island or the coke piles of Severstal or maybe the gypsum piles at U.S. Gypsum, and too there are the wonderful drawbridges for cars and trains that help to make the Lower Rouge River one of the most picturesque industrial landscapes in the world.

Should be an interesting trip. But I don’t want it to be TOO interesting. Recalling the scolding I got from a Severstal security guard last September when I trolled my boat into the freighter slip at the Ford Rouge plant, and the nasty reception I got from one of Matty Moroun’s shotgun-totin’ goons when I dared step onto the city of Detroit’s public Riverside park, I called the Coast Guard and just for good measure sent the USCG an e-mail outlining my plan to give a French film maker a tour of the Rouge.

Wayne State University Press, publisher of Up the Rouge!, sent out a press release just to make sure there is an awareness that my maroon and tan Crestliner fishing boat is helping to make a film documentary of the Rouge. Here’s the release:

For Immediate Release                Contact: Laura L. Rodwan 313.477.2750

                                                                   Cara I. Belton 313.520.8454

MEDIA ADVISORY

French Film maker Joins Local Author of “Up the Rouge!” to

Document Wildlife on the Rouge River

DETROIT— July 1, 2009 — On Wednesday, July 8, at 8 am, noted film maker, Florent Tillon will join retired Detroit Free Press reporter Joel Thurtell, author of Up the Rouge! Paddling Detroit’s Hidden River to reenact Joel Thurtell and photographer Patricia Beck’s expedition up the Rouge River.  The team will depart from DTE Delray Pier and Boat Launch, located on W. Jefferson, between Waterman and Livernois, next to Historic Fort Wayne in Detroit.

Tillon and his crew are in Detroit to film a documentary about the return of animals and rural lifestyle in the city of Detroit. Since 2006, he has been working on different projects about the interaction between civilization and wilderness, including the Detroit Wildlife Project, Las Vegas Meditation, and Les Sables de Cabo de Gata. During the early part of his career, Florent Tillon filmed urban animals in Paris. His first feature film, Porte Maillot Traffic Circle documented a rabbit colony stuck on a huge traffic circle over the course of a month.

“We’re pleased that Mr. Tillon has selected our book Up the Rouge! and our collective experience as a resource for his work,” said Joel Thurtell. “It was our goal to present a different view of the fabled river, as its very seclusion makes it a sanctuary,” he added. 

Up the Rouge! chronicles the author and photographer’s journey as they traveled by canoe to explore the legendary Michigan river’s industrial side, and its hidden urban wilderness. The book captures the Rouge River as a home to wildlife. Thurtell and Beck show that despite its environmental contamination, the Rouge is home to wildlife and that its very seclusion makes it a sanctuary. During their trek, the authors saw animals such as green and blue herons, snapping turtles, musk turtles, mallards, feral dogs, and the first adult female common mergansers ever recorded in summertime in Wayne County.

Reporters in need of more information, please contact: Laura Rodwan at (313) 477-2750 or Cara Belton at (313) 520 – 8454.  To learn more about Wayne State University Press or to order a copy of Up the Rouge! please visit wsupress.wayne.edu or call 1.800.978.7323. Special discounts are available for bulk purchasers.