Even in the face of open criticism of the Prairie provinces’ ability to support major film and TV productions, the region’s foreign and indigenous production business continues to grow.

Alberta has seen Oscar winners Halle Berry, Kevin Costner and Robert Duvall visiting in connection with Hollywood blockbusters such as X2, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen and Open Range in a transitional, landmark period for the province’s film community.

Last August, the provincial government took a step towards increasing production by hiring businessman Dan Chugg, head of video producer Vicom, as Alberta film commissioner. According to Chugg, the province decided to bring the commission back inside the government and paired him with Jane Bisbee of the Alberta Film Development Program.

‘My focus is economic development; Jane’s is cultural, but we come together a lot of the time to just grow the industry,’ says Chugg.

Chugg’s primary function is to lure guest productions to Alberta, and the past year has seen high-profile examples such as the US$100-million X2. Chugg says 20th Century Fox and Marvel brought the X-Men sequel over to Alberta, after primarily shooting in Vancouver, for one particular scene.

‘For them to get to a [comparable] location in B.C. they’d literally have had to fly everybody in,’ says Chugg. ‘Instead, they were able to drive right into Kananaskis and put up 350 crew within minutes of the site.’

Chugg and Bisbee both acknowledge that in addition to Alberta’s tax credits and six crews, locations are a huge attraction. Touchstone Pictures’ US$45-million Open Range, directed by and starring Kevin Costner, came to take advantage of Alberta’s Old West feel, says Chugg. A made-for-TV remake of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid began production March 25.

‘When someone looks at doing a western, Alberta is the first place they think of,’ says Chugg. ‘We’re trying to build our other locations as well. Within an hour of Calgary you can have glacial meadows on a mountain, and an hour the other way you’re in prehistoric badlands, with everything in between.’

Open Range, slated for release later this year, has gone on to achieve particular notoriety after some dismissive comments by costar Robert Duvall.

‘I prefer not to work in Canada,’ Duvall was quoted as saying at a recent press junket in Washington. ‘I prefer to work in my own country. There are better actors down here. That’s why they have to import so many actors for their Canadian productions.’

There is no indication that Costner shares this viewpoint, and the actor/director has expressed the desire to make more westerns in Alberta. At one point he posted a clip on his website applauding his Canadian crew. But Duvall’s comments remain hurtful to many and ‘unfortunate’ in the words of Stephen Waddell, ACTRA’s national executive director.

‘It’s disrespectful to the talented performers that we represent… [and] reflects more on Mr. Duvall’s concern with respect to so-called ‘runaway production’ rather than the quality of performers that Canada has,’ says Waddell. He adds that after talking with a number of the 38 ACTRA members with speaking roles in the film [in addition to 200 background talent], Duvall’s remarks surprised everyone.

‘Everything on the set was good and there weren’t any complaints,’ Waddell says. The film’s producers could not be reached for comment.

In all, ACTRA has 723 members in Alberta, 283 in Manitoba and 275 in Saskatchewan. According to Carole Vivier, CEO/GM of Manitoba Film & Sound and acting Manitoba film commissioner, the acting talent in Manitoba is a draw for out-of-province producers.

‘We have a history of strong theatre, and as film production has increased it’s provided more opportunity for local actors,’ she says.

Vivier says in the recently ended MFS fiscal, production revenue reached a provincial best of more than $80 million (up from $65 million the year prior). This year is proving lucrative as well, with the Winnipeg Pictures cable movies More Than Meets the Eye and Trackdown and the Buffalo Gal features The Saddest Music in the World (a copro with Toronto’s Rhombus Media), directed by Guy Maddin, and Seven Times Lucky underway.

According to Vivier, 20 new productions have scouted various parts of Manitoba over the last six weeks, thanks to an effective marketing campaign, strong word of mouth and a deepening talent pool on both sides of the camera.

‘We’re now working on putting together our fourth crew so we have more crew depth and can accommodate multiple films,’ Vivier says.

SaskFilm’s CEO/film commissioner Valerie Creighton says her province is running on the power of nearly two full crews.

‘There are a couple of positions that we’re still short on – like in our locations department – but in Saskatoon they shot three films back to back last year while there was still stuff going on in Regina, and we were able to crew them in both places,’ says Creighton.

That was accomplished thanks to the ‘deeming’ provision in the provincial tax credit, whereby individuals can be deemed provincial residents for a shoot if no Saskatchewan resident can do the job. This has helped attract recent projects including the US$3.5-million feature The Lost Angel from L.A.’s ACME Pictures, Toronto’s Elio Pictures and Regina’s 4 Square Productions. Rampage Entertainment’s MOW I Accuse and Cooper Rock Pictures’ The Pedestrian are both shooting currently in Moose Jaw.

-www.albertafilmnetwork.com

-www.mbfilmsound.mb.ca

-www.saskfilm.com

-www.actra.ca

-www.kevincostner.com