Camping

Film making in Southern Alberta isn’t a new thing. In fact, it goes back to the earliest days of silent films, when “Cameron of The Royal Mounted” used Fort Macleod and members of the Kainai First Nation as backdrops for heartthrob Gaston Glass –swoon –in 1920!

Photo courtesy Fort Macleod Historical Association.

Often the beautiful landscapes and wide-open spaces ‘stand-in’ for past times in other ‘places’, but not just the past. In the bigbudget sci-fi movie “Interstellar,” Fort Macleod and Okotoks represented small-town America, in a vaguely apocalyptic future where corn is the only viable crop, and the prairies are once again becoming a dust bowl.

Dirt played a big part in that shoot, and eventually a costly one. To set the town scene, producers blew thousands of pounds of ‘movie dust’ down Main Street. Which led to paying to replace the air units on most of the street’s businesses. All in a days work in Hollywood.

Your author actually ‘worked’ as an extra on “Interstellar.” Which meant, in this case, spending three days dressed down and fake dirty, sitting in the local arena with a ton of other local folks, being fed and paid – and never once getting on to the dusty set. Not once.

The local environment has its pluses and its minuses. A 2019 Calgary Herald article noted “Facing 100 km/h winds and two massive dumps of snow, production of actress Robin Wright’s directorial debut “Land” was shut down three times atop Moose Mountain in Kananaskis.” The movie also involved Calgary’s Nomadic Pictures, who seem to have a hand in almost everything shot in Alberta. Leonardo DiCaprio said shooting “The Revenant” in K-country was the most grueling work he’s ever done.

Another modern heartthrob, Kevin Costner, has shot here many times, and he’s straightforward about why. Regarding his own 2002 film, the western “Open Range,” Costner shared two distinct advantages to filming here - the landscapes and

the savings. But when scouting the Calgary area for the film, he did it under a blanket of snow, and had to hope it looked good when he returned to film! Canadian crime series “Tin Star,” starring Tim Roth, set in a fictitious Canadian mountain town bearing a resemblance to Waterton. Hint: It is.

Making movies is often a constant effort to raise enough money, and Canada provides some clear advantages, both due to the (recently-limited) Alberta tax breaks and the lower value of our Canadian dollar. Costner admits he’d rather film in the U.S., but that the savings can’t be ignored. Which isn’t to say he doesn’t like it here...

“Canada is a very rich place to work, with some great actors. It’s very difficult to find a 360 degree panorama of unspoiled nature anywhere in the world anymore,” said Costner. But he found just the setting outside of Calgary on the Stony Reserve, where he built a western town from scratch.

Sixteen years later, Costner was back with the thriller “Let Him Go,” starring himself and Diane Lane. Scenes were shot at JD’s Restaurant in Didsbury, which had local ladies hanging out all day, hoping for a chance to swoon. He also shot back in Fort Macleod, which has stood in for everything from early 1900’s Calgary, in Paul Gross’ WW1 epic “Passchendaele,” to Wyoming in “Brokeback Mountain” and Montana in Costner’s latest. You can find a picture ofthe star at Johnny’s Restaurant on Main Street, along with a number of other famous faces.

Television series lately include CBC’s “Heartland,” centered on High River and into the foothills, and the recent British

Then there’s Fargo. The quintessentially creepy ‘great plains’ crime drama starring Ted Danson and Kirsten Dunst, which shot Season 2 in Fort Macleod, Calgary, and K-country just a few years ago. On that show, I actually got to be on set with the man himself. No swooning. Just standing in the background, looking very cop-like.

And Ghostbusters 3 scenes were filmed in the Fort Macleod, Calgary and the foothills region to the west last summer.

To get a glimpse for yourself, it’s possible to visit locations used in all kinds of productions. One great resource for doing so is on the southwest Alberta website, which offers three maps. albertasouthwest.com/resources/regional-maps/alberta-movie-maps

For the many locations used in Brokeback Mountain, visit findingbrokeback.com/New_Maps/Select_Map.html

Travel Alberta also has this: travelalberta.com/ca/articles/reel-adventures-in-alberta-1991 (It’s more up-to-date than 1991!) By: Allen Gibson Allen has lived in S. AB for a dozen years, working in tourism and once getting close enough to touch a star. He was not invited back to that set.