CASTING A SPELL
New Mexico has left an impression on the actors, filmmakers who spent time here in 2017
Plenty of actors and filmmakers make N.M. home for a bit. See a few of their lasting impressions.
“Just awesome!” ACTOR HUGH JACKMAN, while posting a photo on Twitter from atop Sandia Peak “It just has become a community of giving. I love Albuquerque so much. It’s why I have decided to live here. It’s been blessing after blessing after blessing.” ACTRESS ANNE HECHE, star of “The Brave” “I had never been to New Mexico, and when I got there I understood that this was a character that loomed larger than life over this film. As a character, the weather, the sky, the red rock and the gypsum mines, all of it was so specific and unique and compelling to me. I understood the juxtaposition.” DIRECTOR AMY GLAZER on filming “Kepler’s Dream”
“What I will miss about New Mexico is that it’s a super magical place. … What I gained out of ‘Longmire,’ along with work and experience, is knowing about the film industry in New Mexico. People don’t realize how top-notch it is. … Not to mention that you can have 10 different landscapes in one state. It’s incredibly rare.” ACTRESS CASSIDY FREEMON on filming six seasons of “Longmire”
“I enjoyed a lot of my time going to Meow Wolf in Santa Fe. That’s such a fun and interesting place. It’s like another world.” ACTOR EOIN MACKEN of “The Night Shift” “There is a lot you can make Albuquerque look like. We’re in Nigeria for the second episode. Then the Ukraine. Then we’re going to use the old prison out near Santa Fe to play an Afghan prison because it looks like one. Then we have an episode in Mexico and a South America episode. It’s great.” DEAN GEORGARIS, creator of NBC’s “The Brave”
“Here I was filming in my hometown in an area I know very well. And in the show, the bosque is part of the town called Midnight, Texas. It was surreal. My goal has always been to have a career in my home state.” ACTOR BERNARDO SARACINO, New Mexico native on “Midnight, Texas” “THOSE SUNSETS. THEY ARE SOME OF THE MOST BEAUTIFUL AND MAGICAL THINGS I’VE WITNESSED.” ACTRESS ARIELLE KEBBEL on filming “Midnight, Texas” “The film industry is competitive here and there is a real desire to foster the development of motion picture projects from the government on down to the local vendor. Besides, what could be a more beautiful backdrop for a classic Western than the rugged natural landscapes of New Mexico?” PRODUCER DERIN DOPPS of “Hyde Park” “We were filming in the Pajarito area to Los Alamos and the different ranches. We were being chased by lightning storms, thunder and rain. The skies lit up with the most incredible lightning storms. It made for some wonderful times.” PRODUCER MICHAEL MENCHEL on “Only the Brave”
“While I was there, I stayed at a lavender farm and it was beautiful.
I can’t wait to go back.” ACTRESS LAKE BELL, on her experience filming “Shot Caller”
“We went to Santa Fe. The Land of Enchantment.
We stayed at the Inn of the Five Graces.
It’s New Mexican, yet Tibetan. It had a little bit of everything.” TALK SHOW HOST KELLY RIPA on her stay in Santa Fe while her husband, actor Mark Consuelos, filmed “The Night Shift”