Netflix thriller Hold the Dark films Alberta as Alaska
Thriller Hold the Dark filmed the western Canadian province of Alberta as the US state of Alaska to tell a wilderness-based story.
By Nick Goundry 1 Oct 2018
Netflix's thriller Hold the Dark filmed the western Canadian province of Alberta as the US state of Alaska to tell a wilderness-based story.
Jeremy Saulnier’s movie follows a writer and hunter as he travels to Alaska to track the wolves blamed for the death of a small boy in a remote village.
In the context of the story, Hold the Dark takes place in the Alaskan wilderness several hours’ journey from the nearest major town.
Saulnier in fact chose scenic filming locations in the Kananaskis park system and the towns of Morley and Drumheller, all near Calgary, and in the town of Lethbridge closer to the US border, according to a report from news outlet Postmedia.
“We wanted the elements to be present,” said actor Jeffrey Wright, in comments to the outlet.
“We wanted the steam vapour to push from the mouth with each breath and we wanted to have driving snow. A major character in this story is the laws of nature. So the more Alberta it was, the better for us.”
Alberta has been building its production profile in recent years and is particularly popular given that wilderness locations are available within a short distance of Calgary.
The province got a boost hosting much of the shoot for Alejandro G Inarritu’s Oscar-winning movie The Revenant and has since stood in for northern US story settings in three seasons of the acclaimed TV drama Fargo.
Other recent shoots have included prehistoric movie Alpha and the UK TV drama Tin Star, while the second season of Netflix series Lost in Space filmed in the province for a couple of weeks last month.
Alberta offers a 30% Screen-Based Production Grant with funding of up to CA$7.5m per shoot.
See KFTV's production guide for more on filming in Alberta.
In the context of the story, Hold the Dark takes place in the Alaskan wilderness several hours’ journey from the nearest major town.
Saulnier in fact chose scenic filming locations in the Kananaskis park system and the towns of Morley and Drumheller, all near Calgary, and in the town of Lethbridge closer to the US border, according to a report from news outlet Postmedia.
“We wanted the elements to be present,” said actor Jeffrey Wright, in comments to the outlet.
“We wanted the steam vapour to push from the mouth with each breath and we wanted to have driving snow. A major character in this story is the laws of nature. So the more Alberta it was, the better for us.”
Alberta has been building its production profile in recent years and is particularly popular given that wilderness locations are available within a short distance of Calgary.
The province got a boost hosting much of the shoot for Alejandro G Inarritu’s Oscar-winning movie The Revenant and has since stood in for northern US story settings in three seasons of the acclaimed TV drama Fargo.
Other recent shoots have included prehistoric movie Alpha and the UK TV drama Tin Star, while the second season of Netflix series Lost in Space filmed in the province for a couple of weeks last month.
Alberta offers a 30% Screen-Based Production Grant with funding of up to CA$7.5m per shoot.
See KFTV's production guide for more on filming in Alberta.
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