Posts published under “On Location”
On Location: No Country for Sure! Las Vegas, New Mexico
LAS VEGAS, NEW MEXICO
Numerous famous villains and heros including Jesse James, Billy the Kid, Doc Holliday, Dick Liddell, the coward Robert Ford and even Wyatt Earp once walked the streets of Las Vegas, New Mexico, which is located roughly one hour and ten minutes due east of Santa Fe and only 75 miles from Taos . Among the 74 (count ‘em, 74!) movies that have been shot in Las Vegas, No Country for Old Men is certainly a standout. Standing in for Texas, the film was shot almost entirely here over a two month period—even the border crossing into Mexico (so realistic in the film) was recreated using the Interstate highway (I-25) overpass and the Galinas River. The still beautiful Plaza Hotel looks just as it appeared in the movie, complete with the poor desk clerk who meets his demise thanks to Anton Chigurh.
If you manage to visit, be sure to stop into Popular Dry Goods, which will also look very familiar! It’s here that Josh Brolin visits—not just once, but twice—first for those camping poles and later for some clothes!! Also shot in Las Vegas for No Country: the car that blows up in front of the drug store (and the windows that blow out) plus at least two motel scenes. When I asked where everyone stayed, no one seemed to know. Their attitude in town about films: fun, but really, no big deal.
Be sure to check out all the films shot here—quite a list! Thanks IMDB.
On Location: The Music Box Theatre, Chicago
THE MUSIC BOX THEATRE, CHICAGO
A recent trip to Chicago led me and my teen traveling companions (two short people that look and behave eerily like yours truly) to this charmingly creepy gem of an art house in the Southport neighborhood. Pleased to have stumbled in on their Monday Special, we found shockingly affordable tickets ($5 for a 5:30pm showing of the hilarious [and teenager enthusiastically approved] doc Best Worst Movie) and sweet concession prices (a two-for-one deal of a pair of pops and ginormous bags of popcorn came to $11). Also welcoming was the staff, who didn’t mind us sprawling out on the lobby couch for an hour or so before showtime. Which was nice, because that couch was of a particular interest to us, as it is a key element of a certain bit of the theater’s lore. Read more »
Better Title: Stieglitz and O’Keeffe
Joan Allen as Georgia O'Keeffe
GEORGIA O’KEEFFE (2009/ DVD) Never heard of this film? Not many have. A Sony Pictures Television release, this well-cast biopic aired on Lifetime in September 2009 as a “made-for-TV” production purposely kept short (89 minutes) in order to fit its 2 hour time slot, allowing room for advertising. Joan Allen stars as Georgia O’Keeffe and Jeremy Irons as Alfred Stieglitz, the famous photographer who was her husband of 25 years. Of note, Irons is a dead ringer for the real Stieglitz who, according to all reports, put O’Keeffe on the map in the late 1910s and early 1920’s. The film basically explores the turbulent relationship and marriage between these two–from the time of O’Keeffe’s introduction to the New York art world, through her discovery of New Mexcio and its landscapes, until Stieglitz’s death in the mid-40s. A brief final shot and quote collapses the remainder of O’Keeffe’s life (she lived until 1986) and art in New Mexico, which is certainly the part of the story most of us know best. Bob Balaban directed the film from a script by Michael Cristofer who won a Writers’ Guild Award in 2010 for his work. Shot entirely in Santa Fe, the movie is rumored to have been produced and green lighted by Joan Allen, which would explain her prominent role as O’Keeffe. Both Allen and Irons were nominated for Golden Globes in 2010 and the film itself was nominated in the “made for TV” category—yet I must say, I don’t remember hearing about it at all and Rotten Tomatoes lists not even one review (at least not yet!). A movie waiting to be discovered? Perhaps. As a docent at the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum in Santa Fe said to a group of us recently: O’Keeffe was difficult and Steiglitz was impossible. Watching the two of them tangle, portrayed by two strong actors, is indeed a treat. And the costumes and settings are well done. You will learn much you never knew about O’Keeffe’s early life but don’t expect to learn too much in detail about her art — for that, visit the Museum in Santa Fe or read one of the many books about her.
Grade: B+ It’s tough to fit complicated stories into 89 minutes!
BTW: O’Keeffe famously stayed one summer with Mabel Dodge Luhan at her house and artist salon in Taos. Dodge is wonderfully portrayed by Tyne Daley in the film though she’s not on screen very much. Her husband, Tony Lujan, is played by Robert Mirabal who is a Taos native and one of its real life treasures of today.
A really good and longer review of this film is here.
R.I.P. Dennis Hopper
ON LOCATION FROM TAOS, NM, JUNE 2, 2010. A beautiful summer day here in Taos welcomed the remains of Dennis Hopper along with many friends and family, some flying in from Los Angeles in the morning and other locals who have known him a long time. The memorial gathering was low-key and casual, the setting perfect; San Francisco de Asis Church in Ranchos de Taos, a world heritage church, is one of the most photographed churches in the U.S. Among the celebrities in attendance were Jack Nicholson, Val Kilmer, Dean Stockton and Peter Fonda. The memorial service was advertised as private, but a good number of reporters and photographers were present. Standing next to me were two British photogs from Splash News—their fabulous photos can be seen here.
Joseph Lynch
Also filming for Albuquerque’s Channel 4 News was Joseph Lynch who actually appeared with Hopper in one scene in Hoosiers—walking behind the bench during the first tense time-out of the big final game! He’s also in many of the crowd shots from the shoot in Indianapolis. I love Hoosiers and Turner Classic Movies was running it just last night (June 1). What better tribute to Dennis Hopper than to watch him on screen—a truly charismatic actor/director/artist and one we will remember forever. Farewell, Dennis; may you rest in peace in Taos.
P.S. Hopper first discovered Taos in 1969 when scouting for locations for Easy Rider. Many scenes from the film were shot in and around Taos; Hopper lived here for many years and kept a house in Ranchos. 
Just last year, he appeared in person to kick off the Taos Summer of Love at the Harwood Museum with “Hopper at the Harwood. LA to Taos: 40 Years of Friendship” featuring works by Larry Bell, Ron Cooper, Ronald Davis, Dennis Hopper, Ken Price and Robert Dean Stockwell. He visited the Mabel Dodge Luhan House, his residence in the wild days, just recently to say good-bye.
The Real Shining
The Stanley beckons you....to Estes Park, Colorado
THE SHINING (1980/ Stanley Kubrick), as everyone knows, was written by Stephen King in one of his Colorado visits, inspired by The Stanley….an elegant hotel which began construction in 1907 and opened in 1909. It was funded entirely by Freelan O. Stanley of Stanley Steamer fame who brought his guests to the hotel on one of his Steamers (which sits in the lobby now). Worth a visit today…..or anytime. The movie was NOT filmed here, but at the Timberline Lodge near Mt. Hood in Oregon. BTW: The Stanley Hotel shows the uncut R-rated version of Kubrick’s The Shining on a continuous loop on Channel 42 on guest room televisions.
On Location: George Clooney, Hollywood Take St. Louis Behind the Middle School and Get It Pregnant
George Clooney and director Jason Reitman rapping in my fake snow covered hood. (photo by: Dale Robinette, Paramount Pictures)
St. Louis and its environs finally gets its due as a viable major motion picture production location in Jason Reitman’s new George Clooney Oscar bait (and actually pretty awesome) Up In The Air, a film that not only shot St. Louis-set scenes actually IN St. Louis (gasp), but also used STL as a stand-in for several other locations, including a wedding in suburban Wisconsin, Clooney’s character’s spare condo in Omaha, Nebraska, various cities, airports, etc. A fun and very detailed listing of STL locations used can be found here. (It’s fun! And very detailed.)
St. Louisans pretty much lost their shit as soon as word of the impending production made its rounds last year and never really got their shit back. Production moved right into my very quiet Maplewood neighborhood for a couple weeks—all of the wedding related Wisconsin-set scenes were shot in and out of Maplewood United Methodist Church, exactly two blocks from my crib—and you’ve never seen a happier bunch of Midwesterners, all lined up and gawking at the set (the whole block was cheerily spray painted with a thick layer of fake snow covering houses, trees, and piles of dirt standing in for snow drifts) and eagle eyeing the lot of REAL MOVIE STAR TRAILERS with REAL MOVIE STAR NAMES ON THE DOORS (although I’m pretty Danny McBride could have walked by unnoticed—considering he looks like every dude these people went to high school with). Those who caught a glimpse of Clooney still talk about it in awestruck whispers. Those are some happy weirdos. Some of my family drove into town to stand amongst the throng for a few hours and were shocked that I wasn’t interested in altering my sleep schedule (I sleep SO much!) and joining them. (Weirdos.) I figured a couple casual strolls by the set would suffice. (It did.) Read more »
Milagro Country…Visiting Truchas, New Mexico
How many people remember the movie of The Milagro Beanfield War (1988)? It was Robert Redford’s 2nd directing attempt (his first was Ordinary People in 1980) and really highlights at least two of his passions–the spirituality of New Mexico and the people who live there, and his environmental activist side, crusading against real estate and other developers. The movie won an Oscar for original score and was relatively popular. It still has a 59% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes. The film was shot on location in Truchas, New Mexico, a gorgeous community along the High Road to Taos—definitely a place worth visiting, especially in the fall for the High Road Art Tour. Don’t miss it, if you’re in the neighborhood.
Milagro Lives On in Truchas, New Mexico
In Bruges….Seriously
Did everyone love “In Bruges” as much as me?? Traveling there this past week, I met natives who are basically amused at the black humor portrayal of their sleepy medieval city. And…the film has brought more tourists to town, so what can be wrong with that? BTW: Unfortunately, no sightings of Colin Farrell on this trip.
