Fort Edmonton Park Key Location for Brad Pitt Western

Edmonton Economic Development Corporation released the following news release today regarding Fort Edmonton Park's use in The Assassination of Jesse James currently filming in Alberta:

EDMONTON, Aug. 30 /CNW/ - Fort Edmonton Park, Canada's largest historical park, will shine in the glare of the Hollywood spotlight as one of the primary locations for the western, The Assassination of Jesse James.

Brad Pitt, one of the film industry's global superstars, will play the lead in the major Warner Bros. movie that will use locations throughout Alberta beginning yesterday and continuing into the fall. The Edmonton Film Commission, operated by Edmonton Economic Development Corp. (EEDC), the Alberta Film Commission and Fort Edmonton Park partnered to bring one third of the production to Edmonton.

Other locations for this film include various rural areas in southern Alberta, Winnipeg and Calgary's Heritage Park. The set is closed to the public and media at all locations.

"Attracting a film of this magnitude to Edmonton and Alberta is a credit to the members of our film industry who have made a concerted effort to sell Edmonton as a production destination," says Mayor Stephen Mandel. "I'm confident the filming of this movie is a sign of great things to come in Alberta's growing film industry. With magnificent assets such as Fort Edmonton Park, the City of Edmonton is well poised for future opportunities."

Greater Edmonton hotels, restaurants, caterers, lumber yards, hardware stores, trades people, car rentals, transportation, personal services and other businesses all stand to benefit from the $30-million (US) production.

"This film will significantly boost global awareness of Edmonton as a major film location and travel destination," says Allan Scott, EEDC President and CEO. "The value of international media exposure garnered from this kind of production for our city and province is immeasurable."

Mayor Mandel urges all Edmontonians to warmly welcome our special guests to the city as we do with all visitors, but to please respect the cast and crew's privacy.

"As Edmonton continues to position itself as a major film location, it is important that the industry feels welcome and views Edmonton as a film-friendly, professional destination," says Mandel.

The Assassination of Jesse James is one of several major film productions in Edmonton this year, including CBS Television's The Christmas Blessing, Lifetime USA's For the Love of a Child, and CBC's Waking Walter. Other major films are considering using Edmonton's scenic settings and world-class film crews for their productions.

For more information about Greater Edmonton and its multi-million dollar film industry visit www.edmonton.com.

For further information:
Media contact(s): Jim Rudolph, Corporate Communications,
Edmonton Economic Development Corporation,
Phone: (780) 917-7894,
Toll-free: 1-800-661-6965,
Cell: (780) 722-3788,
E-mail: jrudolph@edmonton.com,
Web: www.edmonton.com/eedc

Hollywood brings Christmas in July to Edmonton

Originally published in the Edmonton Journal, July 14, 2005
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Pine trees with fake snow work just fine for CBS TV movie

BILL RANKIN
Journal Culture Writer
EDMONTON

It's going to look a lot like Christmas around Edmonton over the next three weeks.

On Wednesday, a sequel to the popular 2002 CBS television movie The Christmas Shoes began shooting north of downtown.

The film, tentatively entitled The Christmas Blessing, stars Rob Lowe, late of The West Wing; Neil Patrick Harris of Doogie Howser, M.D. fame, and scream queen Rebecca Gayheart. It wraps Aug. 8 after filming in various Edmonton locations including the General Hospital, two houses in Glenora, the McCauley school and throughout Old Strathcona.

Executive producer Beth Grossbard said The Christmas Blessing "is a small-town movie, and Edmonton has that small-town feel."

Grossbard also produced The Christmas Shoes, a tearjerker about a young boy trying to find the perfect shoes for his dying mother. It drew nearly 17 million American viewers and was the second-highest rated TV movie of 2003-04.

She said she found everything she needed for her sequel right here.

"We spent a couple of weeks scouting for the right locations, finding the right school that looked like a northeastern town building, a home that not only matched the Nova Scotia home (in the original film), but the neighbourhood in and around the home.

"The people at the General Hospital have been wonderful also. There's a wing that's empty there. It's perfect for shooting," she says. "You can't find that in a lot of towns where there's a totally shut-down wing of a hospital where you can go in, clean it up a little bit, put a little spit polish on it and you've got yourself a set."

Co-producer Craig Anderson chose Edmonton over Vancouver, Calgary and Winnipeg. He was looking for a feel that would harken back to the first movie.

He says financial and professional incentives also made the project most viable in Edmonton.

"I was looking for a small-town feel that wasn't Calgary, that wasn't Vancouver or Toronto. I wanted a crew that knew each other, that had been together for quite a while so there's a nice camaraderie there. I scouted in four different places, but I ended up with Edmonton because of the feel that I had here.

"There's a great crew here and I get a percentage back by hiring local. Not only casting and crew, but department heads are all local. About 95 per cent of the entire crew is from the area, which is just great."

By filming in Alberta, the production can draw on an available $1.5 million in provincial film development funding, and 50 percent of Alberta-based labour costs also get rebated.

After shooting The Christmas Blessing, Anderson will take a week off and then begin doing a second film here for Lifetime Television. That shoot will end in mid-September.

Patti Tucker, head of the Edmonton Film Commission, says luring the two productions to the dty will build on the reputation Edmonton is gaining as a film-friendly location.

"When you're dealing with CBS and Lifetime, it certainly raises the credibility of the city."

She estimates local financial spinoffs from the two productions to be worth $4 million.

Grossbard found Tucker's helpfulness a major incentive for working here.

"I think in a town that doesn't have an excessive amount of film production, people are more open to it. If you go into Vancouver or Toronto, they don't want you in their neighbourhoods. They're tired of it," she says.

"We're doing one of our biggest scenes this coming weekend in and around Old Strathcona. We were able to get cooperation from the film commission, and permits and the traffic control and the police. I can't say a lot of places would allow you to do that." The stretch of 83rd Avenue between 104th Street and Gateway Boulevard will be made to look like a town square for the movie.

Anderson will have to resort to some Hollywood magic make midsummer Edmonton look like December in the eastern U.S.

"We always make Christmas movies in July and August for some reason. I've done it before, so we'll be laying down snow, making people wear jackets and gloves and mufflers in order to give us the atmosphere."

He'll have to keep the leafy poplars out of the picture. "We shoot in front of pine trees," he says.

Meanwhile, Grossbard says in the month she's been living in Edmonton preparing for filming, there's only one question she's getting tired of answering.

"The only problem is everybody keeps saying to us, 'Oh, you're with the Brad Pitt movie.' Everybody wants to see the Brad Pitt movie."

Warner Brothers begins shooting a film about the American outlaw Jesse James, starring Pitt, at the end of August in Calgary. There are unconfirmed reports that some of the scenes will also be shot at Fort Edmonton Park.

brankin@thejournal.canwest.com

Brad Pitt Coming Back To Alberta?

Brad Pitt as Tristan Ludlow in Legends of the Fall. © 1994 TriStar Pictures, Inc.

There's been rumblings about Brad Pitt filming in Alberta again for quite a while now. When I was conducting research for the print version of The Alberta Movie Guide a few years ago, locals in southern Alberta towns mentioned hearing about his return for a feature film production. It's been rumored that he's already visited Alberta several times in addition to filming Legends of the Fall and that he has property in Bragg Creek near Calgary, though he denies it saying if he owned land in all the places people said he did, he'd be "quite the land baron." A month ago, I heard the rumor resurface and was told that Pitt had recently made a visit to Alberta to scout locations including Fort Edmonton Park. Calgary and Edmonton media outlets have been buzzing with the news, but no official announcements have been made.

The Assassination of Jesse James, one of many flicks about the infamous outlaw, is to be directed by Chopper's Andrew Dominik and produced by Ridley and Tony Scott's Scott Free Productions.

If you've never been to Fort Edmonton Park, it's worth visiting not only for it's historic atmosphere, great location, and cultural history, but to see it up close before it appears on film again. I've had the good fortune to visit it many times during school and family outings, celebrate special occassions and film weddings there. I've even traveled down the North Saskatchewan River by canoe to stay overnight at Fort Edmonton, just as Hudson's Bay Company Fur Traders used to do many years ago. Fort Edmonton Park remains one of my favorite locations in the city. I'll have more on Fort Edmonton Park's role in films at a later date.

Note: Please don't send requests asking where Brad and other stars will be staying or what time they'll be at a certain place as I won't be providing that specific kind of information. The film production needs to run smoothly and though there'll probably be some kind of media photo opportunity if they do film here, the cast and crew don't need delays in work or hassles during the off-production hours. Just like you or I, they have a job to do. Perhaps serving as an extra on the film might be your shot at getting a glimpse of Mr. Pitt?

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Originally published in the Edmonton Journal, June 22, 2005:

Details of Pitt visit as elusive as James gang
Hot actor coming to Edmonton for film about Wild West outlaw

Rick McConnell
The Edmonton Journal
June 22, 2005

EDMONTON - Wanted: Information leading to some arresting details about the new Brad Pitt western coming to a city very near you.

The blond, heart-throb leading man will soon be back in Alberta to film his new Jesse James movie, which will be shot at historic Fort Edmonton Park and in the wide-open spaces outside Calgary.

Beyond that, there are few eyewitness reports about the $30-million drama. Reporters seeking tips about the movie and its big-name star followed a cold trail Tuesday.

"This is the best news a film commissioner can get," said Edmonton Film Commissioner Patti Tucker, who, as it turned out, couldn't offer an accurate description about who will do what to whom, or when, or how.

"I'm as frustrated as you are," Tucker said when asked to confirm the whole Brad-Pitt-is-coming-to-town story.

"We need to get this good news out, but it's got to come from (Alberta Film Commissioner) Dan Chugg. I can't say one word to anybody, and I've been working on this for three months."

Chugg, who oversees the province's film industry and reports to Economic Development Minister Clint Dunford, was out of the office and unavailable for comment.

Requests for information were passed to the department's communications branch, but no one from that office called back to confirm one of the biggest film projects to hit the province in years.

Still, despite efforts to keep word from leaking out, those tracking the story were able to learn that Plan B Films, a company started by Pitt and his estranged wife, Jennifer Aniston, will co-produce the movie, along with Scott Free Productions, owned by brothers Tony and Ridley Scott.

Pitt will play Jesse James, who was living under the alias Tom Howard in St. Joseph, Mo., when he was gunned down in his living room on April 3, 1882, by his cousin, Bob Ford, a former member of his gang.

The movie, based on the 1983 Ron Hansen novel The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, will be good news to Alberta's film industry.

But to the people who will one day market the movie, good news is apparently no news at all.

At Warner Bros. Pictures offices in Los Angeles, one publicist after another said, more or less, "they went thataway," and finally suggested information might be forthcoming from the company's Canadian headquarters in Toronto.

There, however, a harassed publicist was dealing with a power outage and had no time to talk. Hours later, the Toronto publicist called back and passed the bouncing ball back to another Warner spokesperson in Hollywood, who confirmed that Pitt and the Scotts are indeed involved, but wouldn't say much more.

Is there anyone from Warner Bros., the spokesperson was asked, who can talk about this project?

"No," the spokesperson said.

Could you tell us why that is?

"No," the spokesperson said. "If we put out a press release in which we announce this, then the head of production would make the announcement. When we put out a formal announcement, then it will come from the head of the studio."

Over at the Alberta Motion Picture Industries Association offices, things seemed a little more certain.

"I understand there are quite a few locations around Alberta, not just Calgary and Edmonton," said executive director Alan Brooks. "It means a lot of work for a lot of people in this industry."

Brooks said he was told production officials involved with the project visited the Alberta capital months ago.

"They fell in love with Fort Edmonton Park," he said. "It was absolutely perfect for the movie."

"We have no information," said the person answering telephones at the park, who then suggested Patti Tucker might be the person to call.

With a posse of reporters still hot on the story's trail, by the end of the day the film's director had been identified as Andrew Dominik, who once wrote and directed a film called Chopper (2000), which starred an actor named Eric Bana, who later worked in a film called Troy, which starred a certain shy fellow named Pitt, who might remember Alberta from his work a decade ago on Legends of the Fall, which some people say was filmed here.

But that might be a rumour.

rmcconnell@thejournal.canwest.com

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The Calgary Sun also has a report on the 'Pitt-stop' at this link.