Kilmer film adds $250,000 to the local economy

Production crews for The Thaw are wrapping up shooting this week in the Alkali Lake area before rolling back to the Lower Mainland to shoot for another three weeks.

On Tuesday, the crew was shooting the opening scene featuring a polar bear encounter, as well as a scene with Martha MacIsaac, who plays the lead role as Evelyn Kruipen, on an ATV with co-star Aaron Ashmore, who plays a research student.

Anagram Pictures, along with Etch Media, are producing The Thaw, which also features Val Kilmer, who plays the supporting role of Evelyn’s father, Dr. Kruipen.

The Thaw is about a young woman (MacIsaac) who heads to the Arctic with a group of students on a research mission, headed by Dr. Kruipen (Kilmer). The research team discovers that a melting polar ice-cap, caused by global warming, has released a deadly prehistoric parasite on the world after the remains of a wooly mammoth are released from the ice and thawed. The students must then find a way to save the rest of the world from the deadly parasite before it reaches the rest of civilization and causes a potentially global epidemic catastrophe.

Co-writer Michael Lewis, in an interview with the Tribune at the movie set Tuesday, said the original story was called Bed Bugs and didn’t include a wooly mammoth.

He had been living in England with his girlfriend and his brother Mark Lewis, the director and other co-writer, when the brothers decided to write a horror script exercise.

“My girlfriend and I went to Prague and we got bed bugs,” he said, adding that his girlfriend had several bites after they stayed at a hostel.

The story took place in the far north and originally didn’t include the concept of a wooly mammoth. Instead, the bugs found safety in another creature.

“In order to survive, they’d go into polar bears.”

Co-producer Rob Neilson from Etch Media was the first to take interest in the brothers’ script, and then Anagram Pictures got on board, taking the story to a whole new level, Lewis said.

The writers and producers brainstormed for different ideas, and the concept of the wooly mammoth began to take shape.

“Mark and I would go away and write a whole new script,” he said. “It took about a year before the story evolved into what it is now.

“It’s just been a constant process,” he said, adding that the budget for the film is about $5.8 million.

“I believe it’s the second largest film ever made in Western Canada,” Lewis said, adding that the film also contains a strong environmental aspect, as the discovery of the wooly mammoth is a result of global warming. “We wanted to make it a lot more current.”

The story, he said, isn’t as far-fetched as people may think.

“A lot of scientists are saying we don’t know what’s under this,” he said, adding that while there may not be parasites hiding out under the permafrost, there quite possible could be methane gasses that could further put the Earth in a dire state.

Neilson said the subject matter of global warming is not only an issue that deserves more attention, but it’s also timely.

“The environmental angle is a good one,” he says, noting that there are few movies that include a global warming aspect. “The subject matter is technically viable. The film has meaning, It’s not just a slasher film. We’re trying to make something different.”

The film is also co-produced by Anagram’s Maryanne Waterhouse and Trent Carlson.

The setting doesn’t include a lot of snowy areas, as most of the action takes place in the isolated and quiet Arctic tundra, where there is mostly snow-less frozen ground. For the parts that do require the glaciers and the ocean, computer graphics will be added in later.

Then there’s the special effects.

Special effects coordinator Rob Paller said a 1,000 gallon propane tank, sand cannons, gun powder, and piping will be used to blow up the research station, which took a lot of sweat and fast-moving, sleepless people to painstakingly build in four days.

“Then it’s over in a heartbeat.”

Numerous businesses and people from the area were involved in the work associated with the film. Many of the drivers, extras, assistants and construction workers are from the Cariboo area.

Since the film is shot near the Esket Reserve, many of the First Nation people were also involved, including Chief Charlene Belleau who even blessed the production.

The Tribune was unable to interview Kilmer, but MacIsaac described her character, Evelyn, as having had a strained relationship with her father, Dr. Kruipen (Kilmer), but then heads to the north to help him on a research mission.

“She sort of ends up to be the hero of the movie I guess,” MacIsaac says. “She’s sort of got to figure out how to fix it. … I get to be pretty active,” she said, noting that her character is a bit of an action hero and gets to ride around on an ATV and hold a gun.

Jeff Holloway, unit publicist for The Thaw, said it’s too early to tell if Williams Lake and area residents will recognize the areas where filming took place, since the location will be covered in computer graphics such as oceans and glaciers.

He estimated that about $250,000 has been contributed to the local economy, due to hotel accommodations, local rentals and supplies such as water and fuel, as well as on groceries, local bars and restaurants.

Holloway said only having two weeks to work at the Alkali Lake area means there are a lot of hours, stress and mind-numbing work that goes into the production, from making sure there is continuity between shots, to scrounging up tidbits of material, to sometimes re-shooting a 20-second shot 20 times over.

The drivers, he said, have one of the toughest jobs, as they have to transport actors and crew members back and forth from set to set on a continuous basis.

He said there are a couple of local assistant director’s production assistants, who also have had to work extremely hard, making sure everyone is kept organized and doing what they’re supposed to be doing.

“It’s a really hard job. They’re very lucky to jump in,” he said.

Local Michaela Washburn is one of the ADPAs, who also landed a spot in the film as a copilot/rescuer.

“This is my feature film debut,” she said, adding that she has previous acting experience. “It’s very exciting. I have the last three lines in the film. That’s way cool.”

Local Nick Calderone is Kilmer’s personal stand-in. After he heard about the movie, he contacted Anagram and sent in his resume.

“The next day, the director called me,” Calderone said, adding that he’s having a blast being part of the film. “It’s not hard work at all. It’s been pretty cool.”

An exact release date for the movie hasn’t been determined, but it is expected to be out in theatres in 2009.