A Conversation with A. Lane Batot Regarding His Association With Jane Goodall and ERB
2//07 - 3/07
Photo: On the set of "Last of the Mohicans" - Batot is the Frontiersman on the far left
Amar: What does the A in ‘A. Lane Batot’ stand for?
A.Lane Batot: I am Alan Lane Batot--I go by "Lane"--ask my parents WHY they decided to use my MIDDLE name as the call name--I sure don't get it. I also go by "Witko"--my nickname from college days--it is Lakota for "crazy"; if you knew of any of my wild college exploits, you'd understand! Most everyone who met me back then still calls me Witko, including Jane Goodall! Anyway, if it is about sled dogs, the envirnment, or critters of any kind, it is almost certainly about me! My googling of favorite characters(Robin Hood, Zorro, Mowgli, and--Tarzan!) is how I found Sky's fun fun website and got invited to join the "movie hopes" discussion! And yes, the
"Christy" references are about me, too! Small little world, ain't it? WHAT a WONDERFUL experience working on that T.V. series was! I had worked in a few movies filmed locally as an Xtra or a stunt-double ("Last Of The Mohicans", "Ritchie Rich", and "Heavyweights"--all filmed partly around Asheville, N.C.--not to be Confused with ASHEBORO,N.C., which is mid-state, where I am located now) and some wonderful casting ladies I got to know INSISTED I get a job on the Christy series--the book was one of my grandmother's AND mother's FAVORITES! I managed to get on the construction crew, but also got to do some of the animal work (some of my hounds were used a coupla times), some greenswork (horticulture backgrounds and such), AND, I was an extra twice--a dirty deer hunter in one episode, and the Scottish ghost of Bonnie Prince Charlie in another! Never got any actual dialogue, though--but it was loads of fun, and paid a heckuva lot more than I was accustomed to! A lot of the "rustic" props you see on that series I made! The production people were amazed at us local hillbillies--they'd give us a chainsaw, explain what they wanted, and we'd just go up in the woods and MAKE it! They said we saved them kuhzillions of dollars being able to do that! Before the series was cancelled(alas), I was promoted from "laborer" to
"Property Craftsman!" That is one of the jobs where I had the nickname "Tarzan", it seems to happen to me a lot, unprompted(that is my nickname at the Zoo, now too), as I never actually tell people that was ever a nickname. But I do relate to the character enormously, and I have long hair and run around in the woods and do good animal imitations, so I guess it is to be expected.
Did you see the Bonobo special on T.V. just this past Tuesday? Well, that's when it showed at my house, anyway--a PBS show(an episode of the series Nova), which are notoriously variable depending on your local station! Anyway--super show, titled "The Last Great Ape"--available for $19.99 on tape! I hope the DelToro writers saw that show--I'll mention it on the discussion ....They compared chimpanzee with bonobo behaviour throughout the program--these apes look a LOT alike (they are closely related), but boy, how DIFFRENT in behaviour! ERB's Mangani are really amazingly like "regular" chimps--moreso than any of the other "known" apes....
