Two weeks before he booked his first job on a film set, Bobby Huber ran away from the circus. Running away might sound a little dramatic, but then, Bobby Huber’s whole life has been dramatic. Every time his phone rings, he says, he knows his life is about to change.
Growing up with circus performers as parents, Bobby and his sister, artist Fritzi Huber, spent most of the year on the road. As a young adult, Bobby went to work in the circus, sweeping up sawdust, graduating to elephant crap, and then becoming a prop boss – which parallels key grip on a film set.
In the circus, Bobby Huber learned the importance of dotting i’s and crossing t’s because one unchecked piece of rigging could mean a performer plunging to the end of a career – or even their death.
Bobby Huber joined the world of professional filmmakers when a friend invited him to help with rigging on the 1980s film, Firestarter – one of the first feature films to shoot in Wilmington, North Carolina.
After working on Firestarter in Wilmington in the early 1980s, Bobby Huber rose through the ranks, his circus rigging experience preparing him well for the job of key grip. His work has helped earn Oscars in cinematography for two films: Braveheart and Legends of the Fall.
Other standout credits include Snow Falling On Cedars, The Abyss, Always, Far and Away, and Back to the Future. His key grip resume includes more than 30 films, including Shag, shot in the late 1980s in South Carolina, as well as multiple TV credits – including 90210.
There is a free screening of the film Shag Sunday, May 15, 2022 at 4 PM at The Pointe 14 in Wilmington.
Bobby Huber will answer questions from the audience after the film. The event is courtesy of the North Carolina Filmmakers Series.
