The director of the recently released feature film, "The Witch," said producing the project in the North was a great experience and is recommending other American filmmakers do the same.
Robert Eggers told BayToday that shooting in Kiosk, just outside of Mattawa, was "great."
The horror flick, which opened in theatres across North America Feb. 19, came in at No. 4 at the box office this weekend, making $8.7 million from 2,046 theatres. The plot follows a 17th century Puritan family encountering forces of evil in the woods beyond their New England farm.
The film won the U.S. Directing Award, Dramatic category at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival.
"We had tremendous support from the community," said Eggers. "The whole crew and actors have very fond memories of being in Mattawa."
Part of the success was getting the right actors to work in a remote location.
"I was very lucky in getting to cast who I wanted to cast. I was looking for good actors but also good people; people who aren't going to be fussy about silly things," Eggers explained.
"Everyone cared about the film and the story, and they were happy to be in a small town. Ralph Ineson and Anya Taylor-Joy live in London and are used to the finer things in life, but they were just excited to be making the film."
In fact, the director said having all the crew and actors in a small community, as opposed to a large city, actually helped everyone bond as a team, and that's reflected in the film.
"I think that had we shot this in New England, which was my original intention, anywhere that would have looked like this would have been much more populated, and I don't think we could have been quite as close as we became by shooting in Northern Ontario," Eggers said.
The film received $1 million in assistance from the Northern Ontario Heritage Fund, and that played a large part in the decision to come north.
"Very much so,” Eggers said. “We were shooting in Northern Ontario because we could afford to do the film the way we wanted.”
Jeff McGirr, Mattawa-Bonfield’s director of economic development, said "The Witch" is the first feature film shot locally to be released across North America.
He said the success of The Witch is creating more interest among filmmakers in coming to the Mattawa-Bonfield area.
"What we are finding is the film industry, like a lot of niche industries, is very small and tight-knit," McGirr said.
"A lot of producers and directors know each other and word of mouth is actually travelling and we are getting contacted by more and more directors, producers and film scouts. They are taking a look at our area to see how it may suit their scripts."
"There's an immediate economic impact for the hospitality industry in feeding people, catering and putting them up in a place to stay, building supplies to build all the sets, actors and extra jobs," McGirr added.
"When 'The Witch' was here, they spent upwards of half a million dollars in the community in six weeks. So that's a major impact. They took two of our accommodators and rented their whole facility for the better part of six weeks."
Even so, there were some difficulties that you wouldn't find producing a movie in a larger centre. For example, in Kiosk there is no cell service or Wi-Fi.
"For a film production being made in the 21st century that was not easy," said Eggers. "But we were making a film that took place in an isolated farmstead in the 17th century, so it all kind of helped with the atmosphere of the film."
And Eggers said the whole experience has left him with a positive feeling for Northern Ontario.
"I've been recommending to other filmmakers in the states that they should do this."
– BayToday.ca
