Terrace Standard from Terrace, British Columbia, Canada • 17

The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, June 27, 2001 Bl 1 nn LOMM 1 INSIDE COMMUNITY EVENTS B2 SECTION JENNIFER LANG 638-7283 i 1 i. Stardust EST- III falling on ''jSS" By JENNIFER LANG A BUSTLING American movie set was rocked by two small avalanches as production on the thriller's final scenes began early last week. A loud, crashing sound could be heard coming from the steep mountainside above the small city of tents and trailers that formed Insomnia's temporary production unit, set up near the Bear Glacier outside of Stewart. "We turned around and looked up and there was snow," the movie's executive producer Charles Schlissel told the Terrace Standard in an interview on location a few hours after the avalanche. Fortunately, no one was injured and the set and equipment was untouched.

Production manager Wendy Williams said a team of avalanche technicians from Terrace had already performed avalanche control in advance of the production's arrival. "We were safe," Williams said. More than 160 people involved with the $50 million production arrived in Stewart via Terrace -two weekends ago for the four-day shoot. Various locations in B.C. are standing in for small town Alaska, where the movie is set.

"We've been to Port Alberni, Squamish and Indian Arm," said unit publicist Julia Frittaion. "'Outward Bound: The Movie', I call it." Indian Arm, a fjord near Vancouver, is completely inaccessible by road. The production required 287 helicopter line lifts to shoot there. But it was Stewart's Bear Glacier, conveniently located next to Highway 37a, that lured the production here. "The reason we're here is because this is the only glacier not under 40 feet of snow in Canada" at this time of year, Schlissel said.

When asked what it's like filming in a location so far north, Schlissel laughed and said: "This isn't remote!" Still, long hours of daylight and a jam-packed production schedule no doubt contributed to a number of new cases of insomnia in Stewart, located far enough north that the sun didn't set until well into the evening. It wasn't supposed to be sunny. Insomnia, a remake of a 1997 Norwegian film, is a psychological thriller about a cop (played by Al Pacino) who's sent to solve a murder in small town, where he pursues suspect (Robin Williams). The movies EV BISHOP Child's play HE'S THE spitting image of his father. (Whenever I hear those words I have to check to make sure my son isn't actually at five, he's really into that.) It's not that Topher looks anything like his dad really.

The same shaved hair but that's it. He looks more like me, a copy of my childhood pictures, except I had hair. But I know what people mean. My skinny, short in height but big in attitude little boy acts just like his daddy. Tells the same jokes, adores the same sense of humour and mimics him in speech and action.

They're like a cartoon, big hulk of dad and little trooper of a boy acting identically. My friend's son is the same. He opens his mouth to speak and his dad's voice, mannerisms and opinions come out. It's hilarious and his mom and I laugh about it. "Gee, who on earth could his dad be?" "I have no When my daughter gets together with her friends and they start playing Barbie, I see the same phenomenon again but in play.

Although Riah cleverly changes the names to things like Harriet or Tracy, I often hear myself in the voices of her dolls and I bet I've learned a thing or two about other people's families as the Barbies are given life and conflict and struggles with brothers and chores. The storylines that my kids and their friends weave are amazingly complex, often hilarious and just as often, thought provoking. I love to eavesdrop on the ongoing Barbie sagas and make believe animal games where for hours, the kids will be wolf cubs or ponies or kitties with people-like personalities and problems. Although much of their play is a simple search for fun and laughs, a lot of times I think that there is some serious learning going on. Over and over again, the things that anger or confuse my kids come out in their play.

It's common for something to die and then they have a multitude of responses to the tragedy. Another favourite is the orphan game where something horrible has happened to the parents and they (be them puppies or kids during the game) are left to fend for themselves. Their lines, and the way that they parrot things that they've heard about various topics, blow me away. "Don't worry, Muffy. If mommy and daddy don't come back, they've arranged for our auntie and uncle to take care of us.

We'll be sad and miss them but we'll be loved and be OK." Shortly after this I get the inevitable question, Which auntie and uncle would we live with again? 'It makes me want to really watch what I say and how I say JV Sometimes the grimness of their make believe gives me the creeps but I think it helps them problem solve and work out questions they have about life. It also proves that they actually listen to me sometimes! That children are sponges isn't a new thought. Most people would agree that kids soak up their surrounding environment and look to the people closest to them for ways of behaving, talking, even thinking. And yes, it is cute to see a little kid who seems to be the miniature of his parent but is also suggests an awesome responsibility; we have so much power over who our kids become. They definitely have their own personalities and temperaments but what they see helps mold what they will do with their individuality.

Whether they become tyrants or leaders, pushovers or tenderhearted, victims or survivors, whiners or doers, pessimists or optimists, the list could go on and on, has so much to do with us. It's intimidating to see myself imitated in play or in the personalities of my kids because it makes the huge role that I have in influencing how they perceive life and respond to situations undeniable. I also find it inspiring. It makes me want to really watch what I say and how I say it. It makes me take a hard look at myself and the attitudes and beliefs that I'm passing on to my kids, intentionally or not.

It makes me want to really listen to their questions and to answer them sincerely so that for whatever trauma they create, they'll have ideas on how it can be resolved. Hopefully this will give them reassurance that real life's hard circumstances can be worked out too. It makes me want to get down and play with them. After all, if mama Barbie has to give a lecture, she wants to look good doing it. I love those fire engine red stilettos! If llf DOUBLE TAKE: This is Billy, Al Pacino's body double.

The crew and at least one of the movie's stars, Robin Williams flew into the Terrace-Kitimat Airport and used rental cars to make the drive to Stewart. Williams, who arrived on the set June 18, enthralled everyone he encountered with his trademark improvisational genius, making jokes about the reliability of the bear in nearby Hyder, Alaska, that shows up on schedule for tourists. Williams also seized on the rivalry between northwest communities, joking that three hours away is too far for any animosity to exist. Insomnia, scheduled to be released next year, is just the latest movie to film in Stewart, a town that's already had its share of the limelight in the movies Bear Island (1979), The Thing (1982) Iceman (1984), and Leaving Normal (1992). But Ken Veldman of the Terrace Economic Development Authority, the agency that helps sell our region through the Prince George Film Commission, said Terrace may be next.

A project that was shelved more than a year ago is now being picked up again, Veldman said. "It looks like we're definitely a contender." Having Insomnia on the region's resume certainly won't hurt, particularly since the production was able to obtain supplies and services (everything from mobile homes to physiotherapists) locally. "It's the first feature that's been in the area for a long time. I hope it opens people's eyes of what the potential could be." ZANY ROBIN Williams is one of three Academy award winners in the film. Hillary Swank and Al Pacino also star.

including three people from New Aiyansh and three more from Hazelton. Terrace's Mark Lindsay of Rain Coast Cranes spent several days in Stewart to assist with the special effects crew's rain tower. Accommodations and food for the large crew formed the biggest expense. tower we'll make our own rain," Schlissel grinned. They had to make their own gloom, too: a camera car carrying the cameramen, director Christopher Nolan, and dolly operator Ryan Monro, who's originally from Terrace, towed along a vehicle covered with dark cloth and flanked by yet more cameras so actor Al Pacino could enact a scene inside.

Schlissel and the production manager both praised the people "The reason we're here of Stewart, a town Ti mm with just 91 hotel rooms that had to final scenes a climatic showdown on the pitching rooftop of a cabin are is because this is the only glacier not under 40 feet of snow in Canada at this time of year." make way for more than 160 out-of-town 1 guests, not counting tourists, last week. "They've done everything they could to make us happy and comfortable," Williams said. The production created a temporary population boom in Stewart and a mini-economic boom for companies in Terrace and the region. Between 20 and 30 locals were hired for construction, locations assistance, and to provide security supposed to be dark and gloomy. In an ironic twist of fate many northwesterners will relate to, the crew was forced to wet down the highway to make it look like it was raining when impossibly sunny skies prevailed during day one of the four-day shoot.

Fortunately, plan was ready. "We have rather a large rain THIS IS HOW they film a driving scene. This one featured Al Pacino, who managed to keep well out of sight on the set..