Executive producers: Kevin DeWalt, Carlo Rambaldi, Barry Collier – Producers: Gary Kaufman, Antonio Cortese, DeWalt and Rob King – Associate producers: Lloyd Martell, Vincent Di Paolo – Director: Victor Rambaldi – Diary by: Joanne Morgan

Winter 1993: An Indian rebellion breaks out in the Mexican state of Chiapis. Buffalo Films, the l.a.-based producer of Hunted, a feature film set to start lensing in the area, gets the word from its completion bond guarantor: ‘Don’t even think about it.’

The search begins for other ‘exotic’ locations in which to shoot the film.

February 1994: Buffalo’s Antonio Cortese, a Canadian producer living in l.a., contacts a number of Canadian film commissions as he dials his way across North America in search of an alternate location.

Saskfilm’s locations officer, Marla Jefferson, spots the opportunity and puts general manager Mark Prasuhn onto it. Prasuhn calls l.a. and pitches Saskatchewan’s ‘fabulous wilderness’ as a possible fit for the script. The conversation sparks interest at Buffalo.

Prasuhn also takes the opportunity to suggest a Saskatchewan coproduction partner, Kevin DeWalt of Regina-based Minds Eye Pictures. DeWalt contacts Cortese and his partner, producer Andy Kaufman.

Buffalo sends DeWalt the script. It’s an action-adventure set in the wilderness, a deadly game of danger and deception where two highly skilled ex-intelligence operatives are hired to protect the daughter of their former directing officer from a gang of high-tech mercenaries. l.a.-based Victor Rambaldi is directing.

DeWalt suggests revamping the script to fit the Saskatchewan wilderness. Rob King, DeWalt’s partner in Minds Eye and vice-president of creative affairs, makes a scouting trip to Lac la Ronge in northern Saskatchewan in search of distinctive locations that would fit the existing script.

King returns with his location ideas and begins rewriting the script with l.a.-based screenwriter Robert Sarno.

March 1994: Five days prior to the annual American Film Market in Santa Monica, DeWalt flies down to l.a. to meet with Kaufman and Cortese. They hit it off immediately and decide to jointly pitch the project to distributor Prism Entertainment. Prism likes it and comes on board with a hefty advance for world rights. But there are still several critical pieces of the financing missing.

DeWalt starts securing the remaining one-third of the budget. He entices Saskfilm to invest and sells off Canadian rights.

Minds Eye pushes for inclusion of a native motif in the script to reflect the aboriginal communities that represent the majority of the population in northern Saskatchewan.

They also bring on Lloyd Martell, a Cree Indian from the Meadow Lake Reserve in Saskatchewan, for mentoring as an associate producer.

Through Martell, they are able to access a native investment pool of capital through the Kitsaki Development Corporation. Kitsaki’s investment also ensures the film will be shot in an aboriginal territory near Lac la Ronge, and that it will employ natives wherever possible as cast and crew.

April 1994: Papering of the deal is completed. Final rewrites get underway and casting begins. Three casting directors, in Edmonton, Vancouver and l.a., begin the search. They need a couple of recognizable stars with international theatrical appeal and several strong Canadian actors.

Four weeks of pitching pay-or-play deals go by.

May 1994: Actor Peter Weller (Naked Lunch and Robocop), has a keen interest in the world’s aboriginal people and is drawn to the film, and The Terminator’s Robert Patrick also expresses interest. They sign on, with Canada’s Scott Hylands (Night Heat) fleshing out the marquee.

June 1994: Six weeks of prepping begins. Assembling a top-notch crew proves to be a real problem. Not only is the whole country busy with production, but Paris Or Somewhere (formerly Playboy of the Western World), a Prairie Initiative mow for CanWest Global, is also shooting in Saskatchewan.

With only one and a half crews in the province, production manager Dan Howard scours the country to find keys. Despite the challenge, he puts together an 80% Saskatchewan crew, enticing many native Saskatchewanians (aka stubble jumpers) back to home turf for the summer. The art department works with a skeleton crew for two weeks until Paris Or Somewhere wraps.

A cease and desist letter arrives from the producers of the similarly titled The Hunted, a feature starring Christopher Lambert and Joan Chen that’s shooting in Vancouver. Unwilling to do battle with a Hollywood studio over a title, Hunted’s producers rename their film Decoy.

Shooting in two locations 700 km apart – Regina and la Ronge, deep in the remote wilderness on the edge of the Canadian Shield – means creating two production offices and hiring two art departments to prep the locations.

After completing the Regina shoot for urban scenes, they move the entire crew up to la Ronge. The townsfolk are ecstatic; it’s the biggest event this decade for la Ronge, population 1,500.

Float planes lining the dock cause traffic jams. ‘What, no valet parking?’

The ‘movie people’ arrive, taking up every possible hotel room within miles. Hoping to be the next Northern Exposure discovery, locals form long lineups at the production office looking for roles as extras.

July 15, 1994: This is Buffalo’s first coproduction. From the beginning, Minds Eye has made it clear the film will have to be a true coproduction, meaning joint approvals on all aspects of the production.

The relationship works out so well the producers call a press conference three days prior to principal photography to announce plans for a $20 million, multipicture deal that would see the two companies uniting on six more feature films to be shot in Saskatchewan.

July 18,1994: Production begins.

The l.a. cast is looking forward to shooting in the Canadian North – fresh air, pristine lakes, unspoiled wildernessÉ. No one has bothered to mention the other realities of northern summers – mammoth mosquitoes, hoards of black flies, and, in the words of Robert Patrick, ‘leeches the size of rats’ in the lake.

It is a bit of a surprise for the Hollywood talent, to say the least, says DeWalt, ‘but that’s part and parcel of the North, and it worked for the look of the film.’

Carlo Rambaldi, the director’s 72-year-old father, arrives on set to watch his son direct his first feature-length action film. Rambaldi Sr. becomes a cause celeb when locals discover he is the creator of the et and Alien characters.

The legendary, multiple Oscar-winning special effects expert spends his days drawing miniature ets for the native children on the reserve while keeping an eye on the innovative high-tech weapons he designed for use in Decoy.

In keeping with the Indian motif, the art department, working with native carvers, constructs 17 towering totem poles, which are then donated to the reserve.

Weller takes such a liking to the locals, he promises to set up a computer lab at the elementary school on the reserve.

Aug. 15,1994: Five weeks into shooting, l.a.-based dop Jon Cranhouse, who thought he’d seen his share of action working on Ninja Turtles III and Jean-Claude Van Damme’s latest pic, finds the real-life action behind the camera threatens to eclipse the action in front of it: a forest ranger has just arrived to announce a fire is raging just five miles away. ‘No need to panic,’ he says, ‘but be prepared to leave at a moment’s notice.’

The set is located at the end of a narrow mining road. There’s only one way out. They continue to shoot.

An hour later a truck races back down the road, this time with a message that the fire is headed in their direction and they’ve got 10 minutes to move as close to the lake as possible.

Apocalypsian sounding helicopters and water bombers hover ominously overhead. The fire crosses over the road, eliminating any exit out. The wardrobe units, catering trucks and trailers are rolled to the edge of the water. The cast and crew stand in the lake while water bombers make repeated passes trying to keep the vehicles and surrounding forest soaked.

After several hours, the producers convince the forest fighters to water-bomb the road enough to make it passable. The film crew leaves behind most of the vehicles in their dash to safety. The fire rages on for another week.

‘We did lose several shooting days,’ says DeWalt, ‘but fortunately there was no serious damage to the vehicles we had to leave behind.’

The insurance company promptly settles the claim for lost shooting days, acknowledging this is the first time in the history of Canadian filmmaking that a production has been interrupted by a forest fire.

Twenty-two days of shooting completed and still not a drop of rain. A filmmaker’s dream, a firefighter’s nightmare.

Aug. 24, 1994: Production wraps on time, on budget, despite the delays.

Oct. 14, 1994: Vancouver editor Frank Irvine, working out of Minds Eye post facility in Regina, completes the fine cut.

November 1994: Audio post gets underway at Of Sound Mind in l.a.

San Francisco-based composer Mark Adler begins work on the score, recording with musicians from the San Francisco Philharmonic Orchestra.

Jan. 15, 1995: The film is delivered to Prism in l.a.

Buffalo and Minds Eye launch into preparations for their next film, scheduled to begin shooting in April.