Distinctly Montana Magazine

D I S T I N C T LY M O N TA N A • S P R I N G 2 0 1 7 48 "But we also have wide open spaces, such as Eastern Montana. And we have locations that lend themselves to scenes other than strictly Western. We're trying to overcome the stereotype images and show people that there is more here than cowboys and snow- covered peaks." Wunderwald spent more than a decade convincing production directors in places such as California and the East that Montana isn't too isolated to reach or too cold to work in. Montana continually allures filmmakers "for the beautiful locations and the Western mystique," said Sten Iversen, one-time Montana Film Commissioner. "People think of Montana when they think of the West. ey don't think Idaho or the Dakotas. We have something special, and the film business knows it." It's partly the name, Montana, Spanish for mountain, he said, noting, "It has a nice, rhythmic quality. It's a wonderful handle." And, of course, the stars can't get enough of the Big Sky State. e glamorous have been flocking to it in droves since the late 1980s. Ted Turner and Jane Fonda once frolicked with the buffalo on his 127,000-acre spread near Bozeman; Jeff Bridges met his wife at Chico Hot Spring in the mid-1970s during filming of Ran- cho Deluxe and has been a resident for 40 years. When Bridges once exhibited his paintings in Livingston's Danforth Gallery, people drove as far as 125 miles to attend the opening. e curious crowd jammed the sweltering gallery, standing elbow-to-elbow, every- where except within six feet of Bridges. The Revenant, Director Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu. As testament to Montana's enduring presence, personality and power on screen, 2016 saw e Revenant secure a number of major film awards. In e Revenant, Leonardo DiCaprio's character, trapper Hugh Glass, endures a harsh winter in the pursuit of vengeance and redemption, and the frigid scene shot at Kootenai Falls sets the stage for the drama that unfolds.

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