How Did They Film Christmas Vacation Truck Scene?

By Robert Palmer

If you’re a fan of Christmas movies, chances are you’ve seen the classic comedy film “National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation.” One of the most memorable scenes in the movie is when Clark Griswold, played by Chevy Chase, is driving a huge truck down the highway with a Christmas tree tied to the roof. The scene is both hilarious and impressive, and you might be wondering: how did they film it?

Well, it turns out that filming this scene was no easy feat. In fact, it required some pretty creative thinking from the filmmakers to make it happen. Let’s take a closer look at how they pulled it off.

Setting the Scene

First things first: in order to film a scene like this, you need to have a convincing-looking truck and tree. The filmmakers used a specially-built truck that was much larger than a standard pickup truck. They also used an oversized tree that was so big it had to be transported on its own trailer.

Building the Truck

To create the giant truck for the scene, the filmmakers had to build a custom vehicle from scratch. They started with a regular pickup truck chassis and then added on an enormous cab and trailer that were all one piece. The result was an 18-wheeler-style truck that looked like it could barely fit on any road.

Securing the Tree

Of course, one of the biggest challenges of filming this scene was making sure that the massive Christmas tree stayed securely attached to the roof of the truck as it barreled down the highway. To accomplish this, special rigging was used to tie down the tree from multiple angles. The crew also had to make sure that any branches or debris from the tree wouldn’t fly off and cause accidents or damage.

Filming on Location

Once everything was set up and ready to go, it was time to film the scene. The filmmakers chose a long stretch of highway in Colorado to use as the filming location. They closed off a section of the road and then had the truck drive back and forth along it multiple times while cameras captured the action from various angles.

Creating the Illusion of Speed

One of the most impressive things about this scene is how fast the truck appears to be moving. However, in reality, it was only going about 25 miles per hour.

To make it look like it was going much faster, a combination of camera tricks and post-production editing was used. For example, some shots were filmed using a camera mounted on a car that drove alongside the truck, while others were shot from above using a helicopter.

In Conclusion

So there you have it: that’s how they filmed one of the most iconic scenes in “National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation.” It took a lot of hard work and creativity to make it happen, but the end result is definitely worth it. If you’re ever watching this movie again during the holiday season, take a moment to appreciate just how much effort went into creating this one hilarious scene.