The Reel and the Real (Published 2007) (2024)

THE American Museum of Natural History has assumed the unusual role, in recent weeks, of educating the public about differences between serious science and, well, the plot of a Hollywood movie.

In the 10 days after the release of the hugely popular comedy “Night at the Museum” on Dec. 22, attendance at the museum jumped by 50,000 visitors, a 20 percent spike over the same period a year earlier, according to museum officials. As of last weekend, the movie, which was more or less panned by critics, remained the top box-office draw.

“Night at the Museum” tells the story of a divorced dad, played by Ben Stiller, who, hoping to impress his son, takes a job as a museum night watchman, only to confront his fears — and negotiate a tremendous amount of infighting among fossils, dioramas and statues, which magically come to life after hours.

Although the film is hardly the first to feature the museum — “Men in Black II,” “Finding Forrester,” “The Squid and the Whale,” “The Devil Wears Prada” and the coming “Nanny Diaries” are among the many others — the public’s response has been unprecedented.

“I spent six to seven hours in the rotunda every single day of the holidays,” said Tom Slade, the museum’s director of security for the past seven years. “This holiday period was the largest crowd we’d ever seen. Many, many people came in because they wanted to see the Egyptian god protectors” — the jackal-headed tomb protectors who come to life in the movie and chase people around — “or Sacagawea and Lewis and Clark. Or the small soldiers and cowboy figures.”

Here’s the rub: The museum provided a fictionalized setting for the movie, but apart from an exterior shot of the museum’s facade and entrance, and an image of the sun rising over Central Park shot through an unspecified museum window, the movie was filmed on soundstages in and around Vancouver. Most of the dioramas and statues that come to life — Attila the Hun, for example, or the miniature Roman soldiers, or the diorama depicting the building of the transcontinental railway, which features a miniature cowboy played by Owen Wilson — are not in the museum.

According to Brad Harris, director of visitor services, the museum assembled a two-page list of responses to repeatedly asked questions after the release of the film, and by Christmas Day copies were being distributed for self-guided tours.

“We scoured the movie,” Mr. Harris said, “so we could tell visitors what was here and what wasn’t. There were so many kids asking with eager eyes, ‘Can you point me to the Peking Man’s skull in our Hall of Asian Peoples? Or to the giant sequoia tree section?’ It’s nice when you can say, ‘There it is, go find it.’ ” For the record, both the Peking Man skull and the giant sequoia are not figments of Hollywood’s imagination, but really exist in the museum.

By the first week of January, the pamphlets had all been snatched up. Robert Frank, a volunteer, clutched his only remaining copy. “Don’t give that away!” he told another volunteer, Helen Sorensen. According to Mr. Frank, a woman had just copied the entire two pages so she could explain it all to her son.

While Mr. Frank was talking, Daniel Moreno, 28, who had seen “Night at the Museum” in Barcelona, asked, “Is this the same museum that was in the movie?” Then he and his brother Juan, 24, inquired about the whereabouts of the miniature cowboys.

“From our point of view,” said Ellen Futter, the museum’s president, “it was always a movie about the spirit of the museum rather than a literal representation of it. I know that’s pretty sophisticated for a kid, but we feel strongly that once people are here, they’re pretty excited about what they’re seeing.”

This was clearly the case with Austin Metzger, 6, an Upper East Sider who hoped to see Attila the Hun, among other things. But he said that he didn’t really expect to find them, for an obvious reason. “I’ve been here lots of times,” he said, “and I didn’t think those things are here.”

George Blobe and his son, Jack, 5, from Center Valley, Pa., were also hopeful. “We were inspired by the movie,” said Mr. Blobe, who had gone so far as to take his son out of school for his first trip to the museum.

“Jack wanted to see Teddy Roosevelt on the horse and all the little cowboys,” Mr. Blobe said. “He was even wondering if he recognized some of the guards. We’re still looking for T. rex and the Roman soldiers.”

Sadly, Jack was probably disappointed. Asked if he had heard any unusual reports from the night watchmen, Mr. Slade from security said, “Nothing has come alive yet.”