Hollywood North? How about Hollywood North Okanagan?
Word comes from Enderby that shooting on a major movie – with “a healthy budget,” said producer and Enderby native Rick Dugdale – could begin in Enderby and other North Okanagan locations as soon as Nov. 10.
The movie, Go With Me, is based on a best-selling book that, in print, is set in a Vermont logging town. Dugdale, president of his own Hollywood production company, Enderby Entertainment, was given an adapted script which set the movie in Oregon. Reading the script, Dugdale realized immediately he could shoot the movie in his hometown and surrounding regions. Jon Summerland, of the Okanagan Film Commission film commission, agreed.
Director Daniel Alfredson is signed on for the project. So is Oscar winner Sir Anthony Hopkins, and Dugdale said the movie has four lead parts with the other roles currently being cast. The actors, he said, are of the same level as Hopkins.
Of course, it isn’t 100 per cent official yet that the movie will be shot in the North Okanagan, like Disney did in 2013 with Tomorrowland starring Oscar winner George Clooney and Hugh Laurie. It could move to the U.S.
But the signs point toward Dugdale being able to capitalize on his hometown and, of course, that would be significant for the North Okanagan region in terms of exposure, film infrastructure, a boost for the local economy, and the chance for Okanagan Valley residents to land jobs on a major motion picture.
The film would bring more kudos to the OFC, who continues to strive to bring such projects to our region.
—The Morning Star
