New Montana Movie is First to Come From New Production Studio
Montana has become the destination for a lot of television and movie productions lately. It pretty much goes without saying that Yellowstone is probably the show everybody thinks of when the conversation turns to Hollywood taking over the state.
While it's true that Yellowstone continues to film locally (and they're still looking for extras,) there have also been plenty of movie projects in Montana over the last couple of years. Nicolas Cage actually filmed two movies in the state last year and a new film starring Gina Carano as a frontier woman in Montana was just released last week.
Today I saw news of another new Montana-based movie that's set to open in theaters and OnDemand tomorrow (June 24.) And there's a pretty cool backstory behind it as the film is the first to come from a new production studio that was built to capitalize on the state's current popularity as a filming destination. The project is called Murder at Yellowstone City and it was produced at the Yellowstone Film Ranch in Paradise Valley, Montana.
The movie-making facility is located next to Chico Hot Springs near Livingston, Montana, and includes everything needed to film a western.
Our western backlot is styled after a late 1800s gold rush town that uses five fully functional interior/exterior sets with some support buildings and facades to create the look of 28 unique structures set amongst rolling hills, highlighted by the dramatic backdrop of Emigrant Peak. From studio pictures, to independents, to television series and commercial shoots, the western town is available for many types of shoots.
The website for Yellowstone Film Ranch is pretty neat and you can look through photo galleries of the exteriors and interiors of the sets that can be used in projects. Who knows, the next time you watch a western film you might recognize a room or a building.
Murder at Yellowstone City stars Gabriel Byrne, Thomas Jane, Isaiah Mustafa, Anna Camp, Nat Wolff, and Richard Dreyfuss. And when you get right down to it, Isaiah Mustafa is a perfect fit for a western after all the time he's spent on a horse.
The YouTube page for the Murder at Yellowstone trailer says the following about the movie's premise:
In a gold-rush boomtown that has gone bust, a prospector strikes gold - and is murdered. Sheriff James Ambrose (Gabriel Byrne) assumes the killer to be a newcomer, a former slave who calls himself Cicero (Isaiah Mustafa), because "he's the only man who doesn't know what I'll do to him." But as it becomes clear that Cicero is innocent, and as the mystery of the prospector's death deepens and puts the whole town in jeopardy, the town's new minister, Thaddeus Murphy (Thomas Jane) must stand up to Sheriff Ambrose and bring the true culprit to justice.
Learn more about the movie HERE.