A Riverton veterinarian had his hand in the creation of the recently released Civil War movie Emancipation, starring Will Smith.
Karl Luthin, an equine practitioner who has provided historically accurate horse-drawn wagons for movie and television productions throughout the United States, said Emancipation is his latest endeavor.
Will Smith plays an enslaved person who became known as “Whipped Peter,” whose badly scarred back was photographed and reproduced in Harper’s magazine during the Civil War. The image became a rallying point for abolitionists.
Whipped Peter, whose slave name was Gordon, was separated from his family when he was sold to the Confederate government to build a railroad in Louisiana. He escaped and joined Union forces, where he rose to the rank of sergeant and fought for the end of slavery.
Civil War productions are where Luthin got his start.
He first became involved in movie productions in 1978, when he was part of a troupe of mounted Civil War reenactors who would hire themselves out to perform in various movies.
“Oh, we have done 130 or 140 productions. We’ve been doing this 45 years,” he said. “I wouldn’t want to depend on it for a full-time job, but yes, it is profitable. It is a nice second income.”
Luthin said he started out doing Civil War cavalry and had a unit that lasted 25 years before shutting it down in 1999.
Dan Boston, a Pawnee farmer, was one of the original Civil War reenactors who has continued to work for Luthin.
“We shut the cavalry unit down because we just got too old and there weren’t enough young people who wanted to join,” Boston said.
It was during this time Luthin observed that there is a need for historically accurate wagon reproductions for westerns and war movies.
Today, Luthin maintains one of the largest inventories of wagons, caissons and other period-accurate, horse-drawn equipment available in the movie industry, said Fenton Quinn, a Utah-based “wagon master” who works with various production companies.
The equipment is built and maintained on Luthin’s Riverton acreage.
While Luthin got his start with Civil War films, he has provided horse-drawn equipment for westerns as well as for movies about the Texas Revolution, World War I, World War II and other conflicts, Quinn said.
The wagons are built in Luthin’s Riverton workshop and are based on historic photographs and drawings. They are then rented by producers and trucked by Luthin’s business to movie sets.
Throughout production, Luthin or his employees are present to move wagons and assist with scenes. During the filming of Emancipation, Luthin made four trips to the Louisiana set and had employees present at all times.
While it wasn’t the case in the filming of Emancipation, he often serves as the on-site veterinarian caring for the horses used in production.
“I’m first and foremost a horse vet,” he said.
Scott Reeder, a staff writer for Illinois Times, can be reached at sreeder@illinoistimes.com.
This article appears in Best films of 2022.
