When designing a presidential limo for White House Down, producers were stuck with a bit of a conundrum: The specifications of the actual, heavily-armored presidential limo—nicknamed The Beast—are kept under wraps by the Secret Service for security reasons. How was a production team to replicate a vehicle that, apart from pictures, they had no actual information about?
According to this behind-the-scenes featurette about the film, it was all guesswork. Much of the replica had to be built based on scaling a 2009 Cadillac Escalade headlight, and by simply looking at pictures of the real Beast. The result turned out to be massive, custom-built replica of the real presidential limo that can't actually take a missile, but really looks like it could. This is Hollywood, of course - looks are everything.
For more about the film's version of the Beast, as well as a look behind-the-scenes of the film, check out the video above. White House Down hits theaters on June 28th.
In the meantime, if you want to tweet at the Beast, check this out.
