Oscar Winner at Home in the Foothills

Robert Duvall talks about filming Daughters of Joy in this article on the High River Times website:

“It’s cheap and it’s ranch country,” Duvall said of reasons for shooting in Southern Alberta.

The two-part mini-series Daughters of Joy, is set to air on the AMC network next year. The project was a perfect opportunity for Duvall to take a trip up north for the first time since working on 'Open Range', also shot in the area.

“I like the sight of the mountains,” he said.

Duvall goes on to talk about details in western films:

“You always see guys wearing double holsters on their horses in the movies, but that’s not what they did because it was too much weight,” he said.

“So now I wait until there’s a jeopardy situation to put it on.”

Duvall has enlisted area ranchers, The Bews family, to work as wranglers on the movie, and has learned a thing or two from them as well.

“When you play a cowboy you don’t slouch, you sit elegantly, but in a relaxed way,” he said.

He also pokes fun at his own words regarding Canadian talent:

As executive producer and star of Daughters of Joy, Duvall has sought out several Canadian actors for roles in the film - something he might have hesitated to do in the past.

“I made a statement before that there were no good actors up here. I eat my words,” he said.

Read more about the production at the link above!

Update: Daughters of Joy was the working title for what is now known as Broken Trail.

Photo credit: Chris Large - © 2003 Open Range Productions USA, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Courtesy of imdb.com.

Extras Casting Call: The Assassination of Jesse James

Originally published in the Edmonton Journal, July 19, 2005
NOTE: Extras casting location information at the bottom of the article.

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Old-school extras needed for Pitt's local scenes

RICK McCONNELL
Journal Culture Writer
EDMONTON

Wanted: Hundreds of men, women and children who dream of seeing themselves on the silver screen in a big-budget Hollywood film.

Reward: $9 an hour — and perhaps the chance to see Brad Pitt, up close and in person.

Be on the lookout for an open casting call being held Sunday in Edmonton to hire extras for a movie about the life and death of outlaw Jesse James. Shooting is scheduled to start Aug. 29 and wrap up by December, with scenes filmed in or around Edmonton and Calgary, and perhaps Winnipeg and Montreal.

Few details have been released about the movie, based on the Ron Hansen novel The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford.

What is certain is Brad Pitt will play Jesse James, and hundreds of extras will be needed to help recreate the town of St. Joseph, Mo., where the train and bankrobber was murdered in 1882, and Creede, Colo., the mining camp where Robert Ford was assassinated a decade later.

At least 600 men, women and children are needed for non-speaking roles, says Louise Mackiewicz of The Casting Line Canada Inc., who has done casting work on several films, including Open Range, Shanghai Noon and Mystery, Alaska.

Since the Jesse James movie is set in the 1880s and 1890s, men with "great character looks, especially facial hair," and women with long hair will be particularly prized, Mackiewicz says.

It's not known yet exactly when the Edmonton filming will be done, or even where.

"We will be in the Edmonton area for a three-week period," Mackiewicz says. "Some of our biggest scenes may require upwards of 350 people for one day."

It's thought some scenes will be shot at Fort Edmonton Park, where 1885 Street has buildings that would fit the time period.

The town of Creede, high in the mountains west of Denver, may be harder to recreate.

"They're looking at building a town on Fortress Mountain in K-Country," Mackiewicz says.

The movie is being directed by Andrew Dominik and produced by Pitt's company. Plan B Films, in conjunction with Scott Free Productions, owned by directors Ridley and Tony Scott.

There are more than a dozen speaking parts. Principal casting is being handled out of Calgary by Deb Green Casting. Green was in Vancouver this week looking for actors, including someone to play Robert Ford.

Edmonton's open casting call will be held Sunday from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. at the Ramada Inn and Conference Centre at 11834 Kingsway Ave.

rmcconnell@theiournal.canwest.com

More Stars to Film in Alberta in 2005

Originally published as a fact box in the Edmonton Journal, June 22, 2005:

MORE STARS

Brad Pitt isn't the only Hollywood star headed to Alberta. Liam Neeson, Richard Gere, Robin Williams and Robert Duvall are working on four separate projects. Williams is starring in the big-budget comedy R.V., which will film in Alberta for five weeks starting mid-July. Duvall, who was last in Alberta to star in 2003's film Open Range, is expected to film a miniseries here this summer. Neeson and Gere will star in Seraphim Falls, a psychological action film rumoured to begin filming here in late summer.