Director Cameron Labine & Chase Crawford at Whistler Film Festival World Premiere.
Mountain Men – A sibling survival thriller with Tyler Labine and Chace Crawford as estranged brothers? Saw it at its World Premiere at the Whistler Film Festival last December and it ranks among my favourite films of 2014. Writer/director Cameron Labine’s movie is about two brothers who trek to their remote Rocky Mountain family cabin to evict a squatter when a fire leaves them exposed to a harsh winter and forces them to get along in order to survive. Produced by Jason James, the movie shot in Revelstoke in April 2014.
How did Gossip Girl/Blood & Oil’s’s Chace Crawford get involved in the project? Script came from his agent. Crawford gave script to his father — “He loved it”. Crawford called his father from Whistler last December and Dad asked why he wasn’t invited to world premiere. Crawford says he was inspired by the “story of two brothers who become survivalists”.
The burning cabin gets the biggest laugh in the movie because the editor subverted expectations by cutting to shot of brothers staring at burning cabin. Writer/director Cameron Labine recalls calling the Revelstoke fire chief to tell him they planned to burn down cabin. Did they need a permit? Nope, go ahead. When other film crews heard about this, they wanted to film in Revelstoke, too. Mountain Men was also allowed to film in downtown Revelstoke without a permit, which wouldn’t happen in Vancouver.
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Chace Crawford was familiar with Tyler Labine’s work and recalls meeting the Labine brothers and eating “lots of peppers at a burger place in L.A….which didn’t have real food”. Revelstoke was scouted in winter because they wanted lots of snow. Movie shot at the tail-end of Winter. Crawford had been based in New York for years with Gossip Girl and was happy to get out of his urban world for a while and spent time with “a great Canadian crew”. The first weekend in Revelstoke they sang karaoke. And several of the crew showed up at Whistler for the world premiere.
The Mountain Men was shot with mostly handheld cameras for daytime exteriors. For a pivotal cave scene, the Director of Photography stood in the water in the cave.
Chace Crawford. Writer/director Cameron Labine. Producer Jason James. At World Premiere in Whistler.
Check the VIFF website for screen times from August 28th to September 3rd and to buy tickets.