Credits: Photo by Bryce Hudson
Southern Utah: The West’s Best-Kept Secret (Photos by: Kevin Moloney for The New York Times)

Sometimes its funny what my job as a producer entails. For instance, we have stumbled upon a batch of bad burned DVDs which means that every single DVD we now have cannot just be sent out even if it plays perfectly well in our Macs. Danny discovered the bad DVDs last week after he sent me a few.
He insisted I test each and every DVD in a real DVD player before sending out the movie to festivals as a screener. For me finding the time to sit in front of a tv and make sure a DVD is playing properly is really hard to do. However, tonight after working for 13 hours, my wonderful cousin Charlie randomly showed up at my apartment with a pizza and plenty of time to kill.

Bryce and I decided this was a good opportunity to show him, and our house guest Nick, the film. Having an audience experience something that you have worked so hard on really brings back the nostalgia of production. Like Jackie Rife (our biggest local Kanab, Utah supporter and former stunt woman) said, that red dirt is in my blood and I really miss Utah right now.

Even Bryce, who is usually nonchalant about his involvement in the film loves telling people about how he climbed up on that ladder and built that windmill. His new addition to that story is … “look it made it into the poster obviously it is important”.

I am happy to report that the DVD worked perfectly fine and I will be sending it out tomorrow to a lucky sales company.

Take Care!

Behind the Attic Door – Episode 7 – End in Sight from The Attic Door on Vimeo.

In THE ATTIC DOOR, we use the desolate and epic Western landscape, iconic John Ford country, to echo the terrifying loneliness of our two young characters. Though the landscape was at times harsh for our crew with high temperatures, dust storms, and the occasional flooding (seen in Episode 5 of “Behind the Attic Door“), we were certainly not the first filmmakers to face these conditions in Utah.

I found this great excerpt from John A. Murray’s Cinema Southwest: An Illustrated Guide to the Movies and their Locations.

“As early as 1925 director John Ford traveled to Promontory, Utah, to film part of his twelve-reel epic film The Iron Horse, shooting at the very place where the historic golden spike was driven, connecting the East Coast with the West Coast for the first time by rail line (which, in a larger sense, signaled the birth of modern America). During the 1930s the area around Kanab in southwestern Utah became known as “Little Hollywood” for the many pictures made there. Later, in the 1950s, the center of gravity shifted to the east, as Moab became the state’s major center for filmmaking. Virtually every American director and actor of note has worked in Utah, from Cecil B. DeMille (Union Pacific, 1939) to John Ford (Rio Grande, 1950) to Steven Spielberg (Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, 1989); from Henry Fonda (My Darling Clementine, 1946) to Clint Eastwood (The Outlaw Josey Wales, 1976) to Jodie Foster (One Little Indian, 1973). If a film has red slickrock and prickly pear cactus desert, cloudless blue skies, and distant mountain ranges, there’s a good chance it was shot in Utah.”

This article talks about shooting in Paria(h) as well as Kanab, Zion and the Coral Pink Sand Dunes. Theres also a mention of Jackie Hamblin-Rife, our ultimate production supporter, and mentor for shooting in the west.
Check out the entire article here.

Imagine giant film cameras and huge lighting trucks trying to maneuver down into Paria where it was difficult for us to go with our lightweight equipment, smaller vehicles and sparse crew. The advances in film technology really allow for modern indie filmakers to go to places where previously only huge Hollywood productions could afford to go. It is so humbling to think back on our shooting and all of the famous films that came to that area before us and the many more that will come after.

Behind the Attic Door – Episode 6 – Something Amazing Happens from The Attic Door on Vimeo.

Behind the Attic Door – Episode 5 – Monsoon Season from The Attic Door on Vimeo.

Behind the Attic Door – Episode 4 – A Tale of Two Friends from The Attic Door on Vimeo.

You can follow along with Alex’s design journey by visiting his six part series: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6

The movie itself is beautiful too. I got to work with Jake Johnson who played Darrel, we go to school together! I also got to work with the most awesome directer ever (not even exagerating) Danny Daneau. My whole experiance was amazing and I loved watching the movie. Oh wait I’m getting ahead of myself! My character Caroline is very motherly and is very strict yet loving at the same time. During the movie she is always hoping and knowing that her parents will come back. Now Darrel on the other hand is very childlike and playful yet he seems to want to care for his sister.

Danny is an amazing director, he lets you put a little bit of youreself into your character. I had so much fun. Thank you soo much Danny and thank you to everyone who helped put this project together!

LOVE,
Madison Davenport

Jake Johnson
Actor

Hello, my name is Jake Johnson and I am the actor who plays Darrell in the film THE ATTIC DOOR. I am 10 years old and in the 5th grade. My Dad, Mom, brother Zach and sister Caryn all traveled to Kanab while I had this great opportunity to shoot this film. Playing the part of Darrell was the most fun, yet most challenging job, I have ever done. For starters I had to wear clothes from the 1800’s which was a little awkward at first but became quit comfortable as the shoot went on. On many days my wardrobe had to be clean for the morning scenes and dirty for the afternoon scenes, which meant rolling around in the dirt and playing with the local chickens to dirty myself up. The wackiest part of the movie was when the light in the wagon we were shooting in burned out and everyone thought it would blow. I remember Cory, the first AD came running in with a fire extinguisher only to find a completely protected burnt out light. Afterwards when we looked at the tape we cracked up at the panic on everyone’s face.

Danny was an awesome director! He taught me how to break down each scene in a way I have never done before. He made me laugh, cry and yes even barf one day on the set (not really his fault, I had the flu!)

Madison and I actually go to the same school here in Southern California. Our families are great friends and we talk about our experience in Utah all the time. We had a great crew that I will never forget and would love to work with again!

[tags]5th Grade, Family, Wardrobe, Southern California, school[/tags]