It’s been almost 25 years since the last Buick Grand National had rolled off of the assembly line, but the cars are far from forgotten by our culture of gear heads. The Turbo Buicks have appeared in a handful of TV shows and feature films over the years, and although we’re happy that they haven’t fallen into the same trap as the Dodge Charger of constantly being destroyed for the sake of making a Hollywood buck, we wish we could see them on the silver screen a little more often.
Enter independent filmmaker, Andrew Filippone Jr. and his latest endeavor entitled, “Black Air: The Buick Grand National Documentary.” It’s Andrew’s self-made film that takes a look back at everyone’s favorite “Darth Vadar car” by interviewing the engineers who designed and developed the GN, along with well-known, veteran automotive journalists, presidents of Buick clubs, authors of coveted GN books, and even some of the key players in the Turbo Regal aftermarket.
What’s equally as impressive as the lineup of gentlemen we’ll get to hear stories from is the incredible fact that Andrew singlehandedly shot, interviewed, directed, edited, and assembled everyone featured in the documentary himself without the help of a single person. Of course, there have been a few helpful individuals who assisted Andrew as far as supplying information of the cars and whom to contact, but otherwise, it’s a one-man-operation. He credits long-time supplier of parts and accessories, Dennis Kirban, of Kirban Performance Products, among several others who helped assemble the all-star cast of GN enthusiasts.
For a movie to be made utilizing only one person during the entire production process is completely unheard of today, but from the looks of things, Andrew is pulling it off nicely. We first caught wind of the currently-in-production documentary through the TurboBuick.com Facebook page, and once we were able to get a little one-on-one time with Andrew, he decided to throw together an exclusive teaser just for us (!), since you know, we’re huge fans of Turbo Regals and all.
If the names Bill Porter, Gary Smith, Tony Assezna, Don Sherman, Csaba Csere, Steve Pasteiner, Martyn Schorr, and Doug Nigro don’t mean anything to you now, they will after watching the teaser trailer, and checking out the documentary’s Facebook page. Andrew has also created a website for the film, and you can check that out by going to www.GNMovie.com. The finished product will be released early next summer, and Andrew has a few surprises in store for all of you Buick fans out there, so stay tuned. Enjoy the clip.
Black Air - "Misfit" Teaser from Andrew Filippone Jr. on Vimeo.