TH

"the Big Fellar". "He never raises his Mother Lode voice or has a mean word for anyone," says first assistant director Don Gran- bery, who is himself an actor. The res­ All in the family pect evident in the crew is demonstrated in the willingness and speed with which they execute his shots. And when Heston steps in front of the camera there isn't an eye in the place that is not on him. On our November visit on the set of DOP Richard Leiterman, who has put Mother Lode in , the his inimitable images on the screen in crew is in its fifth week of shooting, afid such films as Who Has Seen the Wind, their last location, an enormous un­ Silence of the North and Surfacing has healed warehouse on the outskirts of faced one of the most challenging pho­ . At first sight the set seems to tographic tasks of his career with this be nothing but a confusing forest of one. With the exception of some re­ lumbei" draped in black plastic, spread portedly superb aerial sequences over out over an acre of concrete floor. But it B.C. coastal and mountain scenery, the reveals itself to be a remarkable recons­ exteriors were mostly in rain, and more truction of a mine, designed by produc­ than 70% of the picture takes place tion designer Doug Higgins, and executed either in a dim lamp-lit cabin or in a by art directors Mike Bolton and Jimmy pitch-black mine. Fraser Heston points Chow and their crew. Standing in one of out that it is one of the first movies to the tunnels, you are surrounded by shoot so much footage underground, what you swear is solid rock, rough £md that Leiterman's rushes have been hewn and covered in dust and cobwebs fantastic, with just the right mysterious or dripping with water. But hit it with quality needed for the mine sequences. your fist and it echoes hollow, nothing Despite the long hours and severe but styrofoam blown and shaped and conditions there is a great deal of cama­ painted to look amazingly like the real raderie among the crew. When we left, , thing. There are yards and yards of it, in between takes, they were all chipping narrow twisting tunnels, big excavated in (including both Hestons) on a lottery areas full of rusting mine equipment, that was predicting the time and date deep pits and a mysterious nest of dark when camera assistant Bruce Ingram's j underground caves called the Labyrinth new baby would be bom. The picture ; where one of the climaxes of the movie wrapped on time and on budget on J t2ikes place. November21. Andthe baby wasanS lb. J The shooting crew is gathered around boy. , a narrow opening in the "'rock" where Jean Dupr6 (Canadian actor Nick Man- Elizabeth Emtage • ' cuso) and Andrea Spaulding (j\merican Kim Basinger) are crawling on their stomachs through a narrow pitch-black camera operator Bob Saad, and script tunnel lit only by their lamps and hard- supervisor Penny Hynam from Toronto, (MOTHER LODE d. Chariton Heston 2nd unit d. Joe Canutt Ist, 2nd, 3rd a.d. Don Gran- hat lights. A voice familiar to all movie and sound mixer Bill Nelson from Los bery, Jacques Hubert, Matthew O'Connor exec p. fans ceills "'cut". Director Cheirlton Heston Angeles (plus stuntmen and a special- Peter Snell p./sc. Fraser C. Heston p. man. Les is an imposing figure on the set, not only effects man working with Vancouver's Kimber loc man. Gordon Mark scr. superv. because of his 6'3" height andBen-Hur- John Thomas). The out-of-towners are Penelope Hynam p. co-ord. Catherine Howard asst to p. Marilyn Heston asst to d. Carol Larming Moses aura, but also because of his impressed with the expertise, efficiency p. conipL James Westwell asst compt. Lisa shoulderlength gray hair, long matted and good-naturedness of the Vancouver Richardson d.o.p. (main unit) Richard Leiterman beard, filthy old sweater and miner's crew. Both Hestons have gone on i^cord oper. Robert Saad 1st, 2nd asst. cam. Sandy in various press interviews as saying McCallum, Bruce Irgram d.o.p.'s (2nd unit) Peter boots. Not that he looks like this regular­ McLennan, Tony Westman oper. David Butler ly... here he is performing the dual role that the crew is one of the best and most assf s Tom Fillingham, Tim Sale stills Chris Hel- of director/actor and is garbed as Silas committed they have ever worked with. cermanas-Benge p. des. Douglas Higgins St. art d. McGee, the grim old Scotsman who is All of which adds up to another paf on Michael Bolton loc. art d. James H. Chow appren­ tice Lynn Trout prop, master Grant Swain prop, the only other major character in the the collective back for Canadian film asst. Gail Irvine liead set dec Jim Erickson asst. movie. It is no easy task, directing euid workers. set dec. Delia Johnston scenic painter Guenther playing a major role, but with 55 movies And it hasn't been an easy shoot. It Bartlik greensman Paddy Holleywell key grip and a 2S-year career on stage and in rained non-stop in the first two weeks of John Dillard Brinson 2nd grip James Hurford dolly gHp David Gordon grip Arthiu- Collier gaffer films behind him, Heston handles it exteriors in the magnificent scenery David Anderson best boy Leonard Wolfe 1st, 2nd admirably. around Squamish and Whistler moun­ lamp John Scott, Duncan McGregor gen. oper. There is another Heston on the set centuries. They find more than they tain, and they filmed on regardless. "We Barry Reid sd. mix. William Nelson boom Ralph had mushrooms growing on our heads" Parker make-up Jamie Brown wani. bead playing a dual role, son Fraser who is bargained for, and therein lies the plot. Maureen Hiscox wartL asst Linda Langdon ed. both the writer and the producer of The only other actors in the movie are one crew member grins. Mancuso and Eric Boyd-Perkins Ist, 2nd, asst ed. Jack Hilton, Mother Lade, at 26 one of the youngest John Marley who plays an old Indian Basinger even had to do a long love Michael Robison head sp. efx Joe Day asst sp. efx producers in the industry. Tall like his (what will they do about his New York scene in the rain, although apparently John Thomas efx man Lee Routly, Michael Clifford stunt pilots Hany Haiiss, Joe Hughes, Art Scholl father, and slim, he seems a powerhouse accent ?) and Vancouver actor Dale Wil­ the endless water doesn't show on film. pilot Malcolm Falconer transp. co-ord. Jake of energy, keeping an eye on the second- son. The crew has been shooting 12 to 14 Callihoo driver capt. Brian Boyer, Ian (MoasI unit shooting around the corner, dis­ Executive producer Peter Snell is a hour days, 6 days a week, mostly in the Urgunart drivers Bill Bowe, Allen Brown, Domi­ cussing line changes with the actors, wet or the cold. Kim Basinger, a fragile nique Fauguet-LeMaitre, Mark Gould, Ken J. John­ sofi-spokeh Albertan now living mainly son, Ken Johnson, Ron Maleschuk, Michael Murphy. conferring with the production designer in England. He was exec, producer on blonde who manages to look good even Terry Newton, Alois Stranan, Rocky Zantolas on the new sets, and helping ouTwhen the Anglo-Canadian film Bear Island in wet hair and hii>waders, turns out to caterers Shelley Hetherington, Tana Tocher, Kim his father becomes actor and steps in shot in northern B.C. and Alaska in 1979- be a real trouper during filming despite Armstrong craft serv. Joanne Ryan const, superv. front of the camera. Fraser is a landed- being immersed in freezing November Ken Chang const, buyer Sharon Low carp, lead 80, and has a long list of credits to his Don Gervais carp.'s Barry Brolly, Richard Falhman, immigrant, married to Vancouverite name, including the Nicholas Roeg suc­ lake water, dragged through the dust John Kalman, Charles Leitrants, Thomas Wells, Marilyn Heston (the unit publicist) and cess Don't Look Now. He took on the and dirt of endless mine tunnels, and Arthur Wills, James Armstrong carp. help. Brian living in West Vancouver. He is full of movie at the request of the Hestons chased around by a maniac with an axe. Collins. Robert Nicholson carp, apprentice enthusiasm for his adopted British Co­ Nick Mancuso, fresh from his critical Christopher Wills painter-lead Mvles Quinn when another Western project of his painters Susan E. High, Phillip Morgan, Robert lumbia and it is reflected in the script, a temporarily fell through. He and Heston sucess in survives his Sowden occasional crew 2nd a.d. Doug White story about a Vancouver bush pilot who had worked together 10 years ago on the own trials during the filming. He is labourer Michael O'Connor dolly griplohn Brown flies up into fhe inountainous inner movie Anthony and Cleopatra, which magnetic on film, but intense and with­ make-up Phyllis Newman prop, asst Rose-Marie drawn on set and, like Basinger, does McSherry process spec, co-ord. Donald Ray regiciris Of B.C. with an ex-girl friend, in Heston both directed and starred in, so Hansard, Sr. proj. Donald Ray Hansard, Jr canad. search of a missing co-pilot and the the two have had a long working rela­ very little mixing with the crew. pub. Holly Levine amer. pub. Murray Weissman mother lode, the fabulous source of all tionship. The crew is mainly from Van­ unit pub. Marilyn Heston pub. journalist Grin the gold that has been washing down couver with a few exceptions : director There is a genuine affection on set for Borsten Lp. Charlton Heston, Kim Basinger, Nick the streams of the Cassiar region for of photography Richard Leiterman, Charlton Heston, whom everyone calls Mancuso, John Marley, Dale Wilson. "Chuck" and sometimes (not to his face)

Cinema - February 1982/31