Acting like Wyoming in a Hollywood hit may prove to be a hot ticket for Alberta.
At least that's what folks in the tourism and filmmaking industries around here are saying as they hope to ride on the success of Brokeback Mountain, an award-winning and critically acclaimed film about the love affair between two Wyoming cowboys, which was actually filmed around Wild Rose Country.
"We're leveraging this every way that we can," says Dan Chugg, Alberta's film commissioner.
The film, which is based on an E. Annie Proulx short story, has already picked up a truckload of prizes and is now nominated for eight Academy Awards, including those for acting, directing and best picture.
Alberta's Film Commission has taken out full-colour ads in industry bibles including Variety and The Hollywood Reporter congratulating those involved in Brokeback and pointing out that Alberta provided the backdrop for the story. At the annual Locations Expo in Los Angeles in April, the commission hopes to reel in even more production work capitalizing on Brokeback's anticipated success at the Oscars.
But as far as moviegoers are concerned, it is Wyoming that is benefiting from the buzz around the movie.
Michell Howard, manager of the film program for travel and tourism with the Wyoming Business Council, said as distribution widens, her office has been flooded with calls from around the world -- from tourists, the media, and gay and lesbian groups.
"We tell people that Brokeback Mountain is fictitious and that the scenes were actually shot in Alberta," Howard says.
"It's not deterring people. We haven't had people hang up and say, 'Oh I'm changing my travel plans. We're going to Canada.' "
Mostly people want to know where Brokeback Mountain is. Proulx set the story in the Big Horn Mountains in the north of the state near Sheridan, but the mountain itself doesn't exist. But when director Ang Lee visited the state to get a sense of place, he was attracted to the Wind River Mountains, to the southwest of Sheridan. The low cost of production in Canada eventually transplanted the film to Alberta.
But that's not stopping Wyoming's tourism industry.
"Wyoming inspires heralded movie's look," notes the state's tourism website.
In a bid to woo visitors, the office quotes Lee, who recalled some supervising notes he wrote on the script when he was shooting some mountain peaks in Alberta.
"I said, 'A cheap imitation of Wyoming,' " Lee recalled.
Ouch.
"The thing we're up against is the Wyoming factor," says Derek Coke-Kerr, managing director of Travel Alberta, "Millions of people will see the movie and believe it was filmed in Wyoming."
Now, Alberta is busy trying to tell media and potential visitors in key markets -- Germany, Britain, Australia and South Korea -- that it is Alberta that is so beautifully framed in the movie.
"Alberta is doing stunt-double for Wyoming," Coke-Kerr says.
Alberta faces a marketing hurdle in attempting to capitalize on Brokeback, unlike places featured in other hit movies such as Sideways, where the California wine region provides a backdrop for a movie about wine tours in California. Indeed, Howard points out that every time Close Encounters of the Third Kind airs on televisions her office gets calls from people interested in seeing Devil's Tower, where the movie was shot.
Still, Chugg's office has already seen a dramatic increase in those seriously interested in filming in Alberta, which he chalks up in part to Brokeback.
Normally, each year, the commission issues about 100 location packages, which can include hundreds of digital images and information on places that work with the scripts.
(A hefty locations package was successfully used to woo Brad Pitt's western outlaw picture The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, which was filmed around Alberta last year.)
But in the past few months, Alberta's film office has issued 63 location packages, which also highlight the province's filming incentives and built-in infrastructure of equipment and experienced crews.
Still, the Oscar nomination for cinematography in Brokeback will provide the biggest boost for Alberta's film industry.
"In many respects, that's where we get noticed," Chugg says. "But I'd love to have an Oscar for best location. Hey, there's an idea. Maybe we should go after that."