Despite sweltering daytime temperatures reaching up to the mid 30s, a film crew transformed Hope into a snowy winter wonderland last week for the shooting of a Christmas film.
From July 20 to Aug. 1, parts of downtown Hope were transformed into a Christmas village by the name of Brooklyn, Colorado. Bells and bobbles aplenty could be seen, as well as human-sized nutcracker statues, decked out Christmas trees and ‘snow’ made of plastic carpet-like material. Some real snow was observed as well, as crew members in shorts, t-shirts and surgical masks shoveled the elusive, melty substance from wheelbarrows onto the hot sidewalk as background actors scurried about the set in full winter wear.
The film being shot had the working title ‘A Christmas Tree Grows in Brooklyn.’ Acording to an ad for extras, the film is a ‘love story about a special tree, and a small town in Colorado.’ Filming centred on the Wallace Street area of Hope, as well as outside and inside several local businesses including the Cat’s Meow Toy Store, Hope Mountain Cafe, the Kingpin Lounge and Kimchi Restaurant.
The production advertised for local people to do background acting, also known as extra work, during the 11 days of production.
The film shoot is one of many which have begun in earnest after a near-industry wide shutdown due to the coronavirus pandemic. In early June, as B.C. announced phase three of its restart plan, the industry was given the go ahead to restart productions. Guidelines from WorkSafeBC were produced mandating safety plans and physical distancing, as well as ecouraging several parts of the production process to be done remotely (such as casting and location scouting).
Read more: B.C. film industry given go-ahead to restart productions halted due to COVID-19
All crew on the Hope film set wore masks, as did cast when not in the middle of shooting a scene, and safety signage and sanitizing bottles could be seen on the film set.
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