The latest mildly insane property listing to make its way onto the Web is less of a traditional homebuying opportunity and more of a chance to insinuate yourself into the filmmaking industry. One of nearly a dozen privately owned movie ranches in California's Santa Clarita Valley, the Blue Cloud Movie Ranch specializes in depictions of war-torn Afghanistan—it has "an Afghanistan-town set that is so real the U.S. military uses it for training purposes," according to the L.A. Times—so it goes without saying that the place isn't exactly for the culturally sensitive. With a handful of full-scale sets and niche backdrops that its site identifies as "Foreign Courtyard," "The Cave," "Army Camp," "Helicopter Crash," "50s Town," and "Third World Country," the 100-acre ranch has been used as a backdrop in Zero Dark Thirty, Iron Man, a few episodes of True Blood, and a delightful-sounding production called Nazis at the Center of the Earth, among other projects.
Despite what the for-sale status might suggest, its current owner, a former stuntman named Rene Veluzat, asserts that the place is quite profitable. "I get 50 phone calls a day," he told the L.A. Times last year, claiming nearly $1M in revenue in 2011. An asking price of $7.5M may seem like a lot for a bunch of inauthentic crumbling infrastructure, even with a cache of tanks, Humvees, and helicopters thrown in, but hey, chances to own a piece of film history this large don't come around very often. Here, have a look:
· 'Zero Dark Thirty' Ranch for Sale [Realtor.com Blog]
· Blue Cloud Road, Saugus, Calif. [Realtor.com]