Production in Calgary is booming. On top of the latest feature from waydowntown director Gary Burns, shooting has begun on Alberta’s biggest local feature yet, which has some serious star power to boot.

The Great Goose Caper is a family feature from Calgary-based Voice Pictures, budgeted at $8.5 million. Voice’s Wendy Hill-Tout produces with Montreal’s Colin Neale and U.K. coproducer Alex Brown of Studio Eight Productions.

‘The wonderful thing about a budget this size is that you can make creative choices that really add value to the film,’ says Hill-Tout, who adds that one of the distinguishing elements of this production is that scheduling was star-driven rather than budget-driven.

With the star power of Chevy Chase, the film started shooting Nov. 6 and will wrap Dec. 15. Other stars include Kari Matchett (Men With Brooms), who grew up in Calgary, Joan Plowright (Enchanted April) and James Purefoy (A Knight’s Tale).

Written by Charles Dennis (The Jayne Mansfield Story) and directed by Nicholas Kendall (Mr. Rice’s Secret), the U.K./Canada coproduction is shooting in Calgary and Banff and tells the story of a young boy, played by Toronto actor Max Morrow (Veritas), who stops talking after his mother’s death. It is a talking goose that befriends Morrow and helps him find his voice again. In turn, the boy helps save the goose from becoming dinner at the hands of a nasty school principal played by Chase.

The Great Goose Caper is distributed domestically by Odeon Films, internationally by Park Entertainment, and will be delivered in June 2003, with release planned for the holiday season.

Hill-Tout and Neale say the film was a long time in the making, partially because of the complicated nature of international cofinancing. They received funding from the EIP, LFP, the CanWest Western Independent Producers Fund the Alberta Foundation for the Arts’ Film Development Program and The Harold Greenberg Fund.

In order to secure bridge financing, the producers created ‘The Golden Egg Fund’ and in five days were able to secure $2.5 million in private loans. ‘It was truly heartwarming to see so many people come forward to help us make this film,’ says Hill-Tout.

Although it was a struggle to coordinate financing and official coproduction status with an American lead, Hill-Tout and Neale say they plan to bring more bigger-budget, star-driven features to Alberta.

Voice is also poised to start shooting Dangerous Acquaintances, an MOW for CTV coproduced with Toronto-based Indian Grove Productions and Studio Eight. Hill-Tout is executive producing with Indian Grove’s Michael Prupas and Studio Eight’s Jamie Brown. Producer Bernard Zukerman will work with Trudeau director Jerry Ciccoritti and writer William Scoular on the $4.4-million film, which explores the murder of department store heiress Nancy Eaton.

Dangerous Acquaintances, starring Alice Krige, Jessica Pare and Brendan Fletcher, will shoot in Alberta from Nov. 25 to Dec. 20.

Voice is also currently in development on The Chosen Husband, a feature written by Gerald Wexler (Margaret’s Museum), with funding from SODEC, the CFRN fund and Telefilm Canada. The project is due to start shooting a year from now.

Hill-Tout is also developing Alone: The Manon Rheaume Story, an MOW for CTV about the life of the Canadian women’s hockey legend. The Alberta/Quebec coproduction, scripted by Anne Wheeler, is being produced with Neale and will be filmed in Quebec.

Don’t Call Me Tonto

The action/comedy MOW Don’t Call Me Tonto, from Calgary-based Lester Beach Entertainment and starring David Hasselhoff (Baywatch), started shooting in and around Calgary on Nov. 13, to wrap Dec. 3. Other stars include Gordon Tootoosis (Legends of the Fall) and Michael Moriarty (Law & Order).

Written by Annie Frazier Henry, Don’t Call Me Tonto follows an ex-rhinestone cowboy (Hasselhoff) and an aboriginal lawyer (Tootoosis) who are pursued by a detective (Moriarty) for a crime they did not commit.

Frazier Henry executive produces with Jeff Lester of Lester Beach. Producers Jack Clements, Lars Lehmann and Eda Lishman work with director Philip Spink, who was recently nominated for a best direction Gemini for Voyage of the Unicorn.

The $2.3-million film receives financing from the Alberta Foundation for the Arts, the CFCN Production Fund, the CanWest Western Independent Producers Fund, the LFP and EIP, with presales to A-Channel, Movie Central, APTN and Super Ecran.

Gary Burns’ pain

A Problem With Fear, the latest film from acclaimed Canadian director Gary Burns (waydowntown), started shooting Nov. 14 in Calgary and will wrap Dec. 18, with an additional week in Montreal scheduled for Jan. 8-13, 2003. It is a regional coproduction from Calgary-based Burns Film and Quebec-based Luc Dery, to be distributed by Christal Films Distribution.

Shirley Vercruysse (waydowntown) and Dery (Un crabe dans la tete) produce, with Sharon McGowan (Better Than Chocolate) as consulting producer.

A Problem with Fear stars Paulo Costanzo (Road Trip) as a man who believes his fears are responsible for other people’s deaths when they become victims of downtown conveniences like elevators, escalators and revolving doors. Written and directed by Burns, it also stars Emily Hampshire (The Life Before This).

The feature receives funding from Telefilm, the Alberta Foundation for the Arts Film Development Program, LFP, Rave Film and The Harold Greenberg Fund, with presales to CHUM Television, The Movie Network, Movie Central and SPACE.

MOWs in Manitoba

In Winnipeg, Norma Bailey is directing Cowboys and Indians: The JJ Harper Story Nov. 16 to Dec. 14. The film approaches the true story of John Joseph Harper, an aboriginal leader who was shot and killed by a Winnipeg police officer. It is an Ontario/Manitoba coproduction from Winnipeg’s High Definition Pictures and Toronto’s The Film Works.

The project has been an important production for APTN and marks the first MOW the aboriginal broadcaster has commissioned and licensed. Producers Eric Jordan and Jeremy Torrie explain that with six years in development, the project was actually started before APTN even existed. APTN has first window, with CBC taking second.

The film stars Manitoba-born Adam Beach (Windtalkers) as JJ Harper and also features Eric Schweig (Last of the Mohicans), Gordon Tootoosis (Now and Forever), Currie Graham (Wilderness Station) and Garry Chalk, who recently won a Gemini for best supporting actor for his role in Cold Squad.

Jordan and Torrie say telling the story of JJ Harper is important but demanding, as it represents a very painful part of Winnipeg history. The screenplay, penned by Andrew Berzins, is based on the book Cowboys and Indians by Winnipeg Free Press journalist Gordon Sinclair.

Also shooting in Winnipeg Nov. 15 to Dec. 13 is Defending My Children, the working title of an MOW for Lifetime in the U.S. from L.A.-based Once Upon a Time Films, with service production from Winnipeg’s Eli Films. Diane Keaton stars and executive produces along with Stanley M. Brooks and Bill Robinson. It is written by Wesley Bishop and produced by Damian Ganczewski.