Distinctly Montana Magazine

D I S T I N C T LY M O N TA N A • S U M M E R 2 0 1 8 52 "It was cool," J. D. says with a smile. "It was something I'd never done before." But after having been forced to audition by his sister, he says he "learned how much time and how much work is put into it. One two-minute scene took 12 hours to shoot," he says. But he's not complaining when he says it. In fact, he sounds pretty excited. Because he says that in the course of starring in the film he has found that this might be what he wants to do with the rest of his life. And not just acting, he says, but directing, too. When I ask him if he's excited to film in Montana again, his eyes light up and he says, simply, "Yes!" And he will, too; his second star- ring role is in another Montana family film called SK8T DOG, and in the mean-time he works after school at the local video store. What started as simply being a movie fan has blossomed, because of his experience, into a full-blown passion. But the most conspicuous benefit of shooting in Montana is being able to leverage one of the state's most singular natural resources: three beauti- ful hours of golden sunlight, ideal for shooting, known in the industry as "Magic Hour." Emilie Saunders describes it in almost mouth- watering terms: "e high altitudes and our famous 'Big Sky' give a textured quality to the afternoon light that for six-weeks in the summer extends 'Magic Hour' both before and after sun- set," she says with the requisite verve of a film-lover. And then she adds that "…the brilliant oranges and blues in the sunset along with the alpenglow on the mountains never fails to impress." Which brings us, finally, to the best reason to shoot here. Because, putting aside all of the financial incen- tives, the hard-working local folks, and the miraculous fact of our long "Magic Hour", and you've still got Montana's enormous variety of almost untouched natural locations, from rugged mountain ranges to placid prairie, wide rivers wending slowly to the horizon. UPCOMING PROJECTS I asked MFC Communications Director Emilie Saunders if there are any projects in the pipe- line about which she is particularly excited. She was especially eager to mention is the RFDTV show SPECIAL COWBOY MOMENTS, which is being filmed in Miles City and concerns filling in, as Saunders says, the "gap in mod- ern western history" with "incredible stories... that are on the verge of being lost forever." It's first episode aired May 2 on RFDTV. The next project she mentioned was the film WILDLIFE, starring Jake Gyllenhaal and Carey Mulligan and directed by Paul Dano. Adapted from a novel by Richard Ford, Wildlife tells the story of a Great Falls lawyer in the 1960s and his complex family life. J.D. Hoppe, star of Timber the Treasure Dog JOE SHELTON BRINGING A WIDER WORLD TO BOZEMAN FOR 40 YEARS keep 'em flickering! www.bozemanfilmsociety.org EST. 1978 STORY UNDER THE STARS FRIDAY AUGUST 24, Bozeman's FREE Summer Tradition on the Lawn of Story Mansion Park SUPERMAN THE MOVIE ( 1 9 7 8 )

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