North Bend is back in the movie business, at least until the end of the week. Friday is the last day of filming in rural North Bend for the independent film “Mine Games,” due to be released early next year.
The movie, billed as a “Deliverance meets Donnie Darko” atmospheric thriller, is the first major film production to come to North Bend since the 1992 Twin Peaks movie “Fire Walk with Me,” and a real coup for the city, says realtor and North Bend City Councilmember David Cook.
“We’re pretty proud that we were able to grab this from Enumclaw,” he said before a visit to the set, a spectacular log home that Cook helped to locate for the filming. The movie had been scheduled to start filming two weeks ago in a house in Enumclaw, but changed to the North Bend home just a day before they were scheduled to start, because of the advantages North Bend had to offer.
Director Richard Gray raves about the locations he’s been shooting at, from Valley Camp and Snoqualmie Point, to Rattlesnake Lake which so impressed him, he decided to extend the scene they were filming.
“Rattlesnake Lake was just phenomenal,” says the Australian-born director. “It was a typical summer day when we went there, raining and overcast, but it worked out beautifully, because the water was a particular green,” and a sunny day would have caused too much glare for the filming.
“Actually it’s more beautiful to photograph when it’s overcast,” he said. “Less fun for the actors in the water, though. We didn’t know it was glacial runoff when they got in, so they’re all in their bikinis, having a good time, freezing.”
The log home also allowed Gray and crew to change the script, to take full advantage of the space in the $2.75 million home, something that was lacking in the other site they’d considered.
“Obviously, when you have a crew of 45 people, even a big house becomes very small,” Gray said.
Co-producer Virginia Kay, who’s worked with Gray on “Summer Coda” soon to be released in the U.S., said more space meant “…more opportunities to light in interesting ways. It’s such a pleasure to have the room to move, and to get the angles that you want to get.”
Assistant Director Dan Dusek is busy coordinating the setup for a scene inside, but he takes a few minutes to completely agree with Kay.
“I love this house!” he says. Dusek is a Northwest native and Hollywood veteran, working all five years on the TV series “Northern Exposure.”
Although the set is remote, the crew, including some local film workers hired through Washington Film Works, have had opportunities to visit North Bend, for supplies, to meet people, and for a little entertainment.
“We haven’t, unfortunately, had as much free time as we’d like, but we have had a few drinks, a few meals in town,” said Gray. “Over the weekend, it was beautiful and whatever that was downtown (the North Bend Downtown Block Party, July 23) was fantastic!”
The movie
“Mine Games” stars an ensemble cast of seven rising young Hollywood stars: Joseph Cross of “Milk,” “Flags of our Fathers,” and “Running with Scissors”; Briana Evigan of “Step Up 2,” “Sorority Row,” and “S. Darko”; Alex Meraz of the “Twilight” film series, and “The Roommate”; Julianna Guill of the 2009 “Friday the 13th,” “Altitude” and the TV series “Glory Daze”; Rafi Gavron, of “Inkheart,” “Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist,” and “Breaking and Entering”; Rebecca Da Costa of “Entourage,” “L.A., I Hate You,” and “Freerunner”; and Ethan Peck of “Sorcerer’s Apprentice,” “10 Things I Hate about You,” and the “Gossip Girl” TV series.
They play a group of friends on their annual summer trip to… somewhere in Washington.
“We’re not pretending it’s somewhere else. It’s Washington,” said Gray, but almost none of the film takes place in a town, so North Bend will probably not be mentioned specifically.
Most of the action will be in an abandoned mine, where a group of young friends make an incomprehensible discovery. “The more they try to change the future, the more they seal their fate,” press materials for the movie state.
The filming
When filming wraps up at the house in North Bend Friday, the production will move south Black Diamond, for footage of the ’30s-era mine entrances there, and also to the Ape Caves at Mt. St. Helens, and also to Enumclaw.
Cook contacted the Snoqualmie Valley Chamber of Commerce to create a warm welcome for the cast and crew, and he has enjoyed VIP access to the set during filming, for his help in finding the location. “It’s a once in a lifetime opportunity,” he said. “Hopefully the show will be successful and North Bend will have another cool movie to its name.”
It’s already been a success in at least one sense.
“It’s just so beautiful, we feel pretty lucky,” Kay said. “You stand here at sunset, and watch the sun setting over the mountains, and you can see deer, and eagles, and bears…. we’re excited to be filming in all these great locations, and will be listing them in our credits.”