Kyle Oliver
Kyle "Snappy" Oliver is a location manager and location scout for Hollywood films. He was one of the Assistant Location Managers on 2009's Star Trek. He procured many of the California locations used in the movie, including:
- the lower levels of the USS Kelvin, filmed inside the Long Beach Generating Plant
- portions of the Corvette chase scene
- the Vulcan Council Chamber, filmed at Rose Hills Memorial Park in Whittier, California
- the Shipyard Bar
- the exterior of Starfleet Academy, filmed at California State University, Northridge
- the Starfleet Academy Assembly Hall, filmed at the Long Beach Civic Center
- Starfleet Hangar 1
- the exterior of Spock's childhood home, removed from the theatrical cut of the film
- the scenes set on Rura Penthe, filmed outside the Long Beach Generating Plant but also removed from the theatrical cut of the film
- The location information above came from conversations with crew members following the release of the movie in May 2009.
Oliver has been doing location work since 1994, starting out as a location assistant. His first project was a made-for-TV movie for NBC, which starred Spencer Garrett, Sharon Lawrence, and Jeffrey Nordling. His earliest feature film project was the 1995 thriller Above Suspicion, which starred Kim Cattrall. He was also a location assistant on Robert Rodriguez' hit horror/action film, From Dusk Till Dawn, which featured Fred Williamson.
Oliver's early credits as an assistant location manager include the 1996 TV movie drama The Bachelor's Baby (starring Scott Bakula), Brown's Requiem (1998, featuring Brad Dourif), Houdini (1998, starring Ron Perlman, Paul Sorvino, and David Warner), and Pirates of Silicon Valley (1999, featuring J.G. Hertzler and Jeffrey Nordling). He was also a location scout on Meet Wally Sparks (1997, starring David Ogden Stiers) and Quentin Tarantino’s Jackie Brown (1999, featuring Sid Haig).
Since 2000, Oliver has worked on many major studio films, including Phone Booth (which featured James MacDonald, Josh Pais, and Dell Yount), Quentin Tarantino’s Kill Bill: Volume 1 (2003, featuring James Parks) and Kill Bill: Volume 2 (2004, featuring Sid Haig), Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy, Meet the Fockers, Must Love Dogs (starring Christopher Plummer), and I Love You, Man. He was also an assistant location manager on two films starring Virginia Madsen: Sideways (2004) and The Number 23 (2007).
Star Trek was the second film Oliver has worked on which was directed by J.J. Abrams. Oliver was previously a location scout for Abrams on Mission: Impossible III, which was co-written by Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci and featured collaborations by many other crew members and actors who later worked on Star Trek. Oliver and several other location scouts and managers (including Becky Brake, Michelle Latham, and Scott Trimble) won the 2006 California on Location Award as Production Company/Location Team of the Year for their work on M:i:III.
Oliver was later the Key Assistant Location Manager on Takers (2010, starring Star Trek's Zoë Saldana).