FIREARMS: Property master Jason Hammond prepares one of the guns for the movie "The Frozen Ground" on location in East Anchorage Oct. 19, 2011. They are filming scenes for the movie that will depict serial killer Robert Hansen's Anchorage home. (BOB HALLINEN / Anchorge Daily News)
From Kyle Hopkins
in Anchorage
Three actors playing Alaska State Troopers waited Wednesday in an East Anchorage backyard as a tall man sifted through several cases of handguns.
"I'm a Realtor, actually," said a trooper in a vintage trench coat as Jason Hammond, the film's property master, prepared to hand the men their Smith & Wesson revolvers.
The weapons are fakes, the props supervisor said. All except one. "Nicolas Cage will carry a real gun, as per his request," Hammond said.
Welcome to day three of filming on "The Frozen Ground," a thriller based on the arrest of Alaska serial killer Robert Hansen. The movie spans three weeks in the investigation leading to Hansen's capture as icy fall turns to early winter in 1980s Anchorage.
With no snow yet in the city, the frozen ground in "The Frozen Ground" was played Wednesday by drifts of salt on top of white fabric surrounding a Muldoon home, not far from where the real Hansen lived.
Hansen himself is played by John Cusack, while Cage portrays a state trooper on his tail. Both actors appeared in scenes filmed Wednesday: Cage's character on stakeout in a Cadillac Brougham across the street from the Hansen house. Cusack peeking through the curtains at the suspicious car.
"Basically, any scene that shoots in or around this house, no matter where it is in the script, is being shot today because we're not going to come back here twice," said producer Mark Ordesky.
Just out of frame, trucks full of film equipment lined the street in what is becoming a common sight in Anchorage following the 2010 production of the Drew Barrymore film "Big Miracle." The family-friendly whale rescue tale, also inspired by true events, was the first modern, major movie filmed entirely in Alaska.
"Frozen Ground" is shaping up to be a smaller-scale, faster-paced production.
A producer told the Daily News earlier this year that "Whales," opening in February, would cost in the mid-$30 million range. "Frozen Ground" producer Randall Emmett said his film will cost in the mid-$20 million range.
Emmett, like every film producer to consider making movies in the state, is an evangelist for the 3-year-old Alaska tax credit program that allow filmmakers to recoup up to 44 percent of their spending. The public subsidy is among the most generous in the country.
"When a state gets an incentive at this level, like Alaska has, people now are going to really look to come here," said Emmett, who has served as a producer on more than 60 movies -- released or now in production -- since 2000.
Some of those films feature Emmett's business partner, Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson, who will soon begin filming the part of a pimp in "Frozen Ground."
Emmett said he was the most prolific producer in Michigan before that state gutted its tax incentives, and said he'd be interested in investing in movie-making infrastructure, such as a studio, in Alaska if the state commits long-term to incentives.
While the "Big Miracle" shoot spanned about 60 days and more 20 locations, according to permits the filmmakers filed with the city, "Frozen Ground" will be filmed in 26 days, said unit production manager Tracey Landon.
About 40 Alaskans are working on the movie crew, Landon said. That's about half the total. The cast of 50 includes another 30 Alaskans, while roughly 725 more will appear as extras, she said.
In the backyard of the house, the three movie state troopers were issued their weapons.
"So which one of us gets to tackle Cusack?" the real estate man asked. None of you, the props supervisor replied.
"Obviously, guys, there's no reason to pull these out of their holsters, so please don't," Hammond said.
The men were shown how to attach holsters to their belts. One, Ryan Rockom, ought to know. An Anchorage police officer, his 7-year-old boy plays Hansen's son in the movie and filmmakers offered him a small part of his own.
Rockom worked the night shift the evening before filming and was scheduled to be back on duty Wednesday night.
Read more:
http://community.adn.com/adn/node/158387
