The Location Managers Guild International (LMGI) is the largest organization of Location Managers and Location Scouts in the motion picture, television, commercial and print production industries. Their membership plays a vital role in the creativ
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Protecting the set; Photo by Matt Palmer/LMGI Calgary. For Paino, the Canmore Street was the most impressive find. "Jackson still has this frontier feel and Canmore fit that element beautifully," Paino says. "But more than that, I had been to Jackson and when you stand on the main street there, you can see the Rockies. In Canmore, the Canadian Rockies are right at the end of the street which meant that it was real and felt real. No VFX required." "We knew almost a year out that we wanted to film a large part of this episode in Canmore, so I met with the town officials the spring before," says Nolan. Over the course of the year, more and more meetings were held as getting final approvals would require the full support of the mayor and city council. In the end, they received unanimous approval. "They had to dress the entire street and build awnings and some facades to incorporate some real Jackson locations," says Nolan. Then there was that wall. "The massive gate needed to be able to open and close, not just for picture, but to allow residents and tourists through before the shoot," Nolan says. "It also meant we needed traffic control 24 hours a day for more than a month as we reduced the road down to one lane." Canmore, it turns out, is a very busy town. Just 15 minutes from Banff, it has a bustling local community and a high influx of tourism in the winter. To add to the complication, they shot the episode leading up to Christmas, so shopping was full-on. "We kept businesses open while prepping for three weeks," says Nolan, "and it was hard to manage all the pedestrians. When we were finally ready to shoot, we closed all the streets and bought out all the businesses." The filmmakers wanted snow for the scenes but, in the weeks leading up to the shoot, Mother Nature had denied them. Luckily, she had a change of heart and decided to sign her location agreement the night before the shoot. "We ended up with a winter wonderland the morning of and our director was actually upset because the snow was so heavy, you couldn't see all the mountains at the end of the road," recalls Nolan, "but the sun burned it off, it turned out great and everyone was happy." For the Christmas tree, they brought in the biggest tree they could find that would fit on a semi-trailer and, after the filming, moved it out of the middle of an intersection where it had been placed for picture to a better spot for the residents to enjoy over the holidays. Photography on the main street took a week. Nearby, they took over several public parking lots where practical horse stables were built for a few scenes. "We, of course, wanted snow in those scenes but there wasn't much," says Nolan, "so the SPFX department trucked a lot in from the surrounding mountains. Another task that took a tremendous amount of coordination." OKOTOKS Matt Palmer/LMGI (featured previously for a 2022 LMGI Compass article on Hulu's Under the Banner of Heaven) was brought in when sections of episodes three and four needed to be reshot and Nolan needed an experienced location manager to handle the last two episodes. "While they were busy working on their episodes, I set to war prepping the last two," Palmer says. "It was a tremendous challenge, but it's a great thing when you have time, resources and support to do your job." In episode eight—spoilers ahead—Joel has been seriously injured and, while attempting to find help for him, Ellie encounters a group of survivors who appear to be deeply religious people but are actually harboring a vile and deadly secret. The episode would require a complete takeover of an LM Matt Palmer/LMGI