SEE COLUMBIAN.COM ARCHIVE VIDEOS from the movie’s filming in Vancouver at: http://www.columbian.com/extraordinary-measures-movie/
Movie shot at sites in Vancouver set to debut nationwide
Vancouver’s brush with Hollywood is coming to the big screen this week in an extraordinary way.
“Extraordinary Measures,” starring Harrison Ford, Brendan Fraser and Keri Russell, is set to hit theaters nationwide on Friday. And a contingent of Vancouver-Portland metro area residents who served as extras during the filming last spring are gearing up for their own publicity party.
Plans are in the works to have extras appear Friday at one of the Vancouver cinemas to answer questions about the filming.
Jill Bingham, an administrative assistant in the city’s economic development department, said the purpose of the Q-and-A session is to “generate a little bit of a buzz” in the community.
“They’ll be like mini stars and the general public can ask what it’s like to be an extra and how they became one,” said Bingham, who is helping organize the party at the request of an extra.
Bingham expects at least 50 extras to gather to watch the movie at the theater before or after the session.
Exact plans are still in the works.
Originally, extras were trying to secure a private showing at downtown Vancouver’s Kiggins Theatre, which isn’t featuring the movie, and have a “rose carpet” party, but those plans fell through.
The movie was shot at locations around the Portland-metro area, including Big Al’s bowling center off Northeast 162nd Avenue and the former offices of The Columbian across from Esther Short Park. The Columbian office building was used for interior shots of a pharmaceutical company’s headquarters; Big Al’s served as a birthday party scene. The scenes were shot in May and June.
Among the extras who appeared in the Big Al’s scene was James Clark of Vancouver. Earlier this month, Clark was invited to a sneak preview of the movie at Lloyd Center, and was surprised to find his brief cameo made the final cut.
In the shot, he’s in the background giving a fellow bowler a high-five as he’s walking back from the bowling lane.
“It was not even an entire second I was on the screen,” he said. “I was sort of taken aback by it. I didn’t think I was going to be in the shot.”
The exterior Big Al’s sign also made the final cut, and is easily recognizable in a shot of Fraser and Russell pulling up to the parking lot.
Clark’s overall impression of the movie?
“I liked it. It was really good,” he said. “It moved at a good pace. You really cared about the characters. It’s very touching. Very heartwarming.”
Clark said viewers should be prepared for a surprise ending.
“There’s definitely a twist at the end that you don’t see coming,” he said. “I won’t give it away but you begin to wonder, ‘How is he supposed to save his kids now?’”
The movie, inspired by a true story, features Ford playing Dr. Robert Stonehill, an unconventional scientist who teams up with Fraser’s character, John Crowley, to develop a drug to save two of Crowley’s three children from a fatal disease.
Budgeted at $31 million, the movie is CBS Films’ first motion picture. The average major motion picture costs around $70 million to produce, according to Internet movie sites.
It’s tough to predict how it will fare at the box office. Critics’ reviews are generally not released until the day the movie debuts. But a spokeswoman for CBS Films said “the response has been overwhelmingly positive at consumer screenings across the nation.”
In Vancouver, Regal Cinemas and Cinetopia will feature the movie, as will Battle Ground Cinemas.
As far as whether the movie will propel Vancouver to more popularity in Hollywood, Bingham said that remains to be seen.
An upcoming independent feature, “Bucksville,” was partly filmed in Washougal in November. No other major motion pictures have expressed interest in filming here. But city officials have created a film manual with catering and lodging outlets, among other vendors, so production companies can have one-stop shopping.
“Extraordinary Measures” proved that filming here is “a revenue maker for the city by getting us on the map and providing awareness of Vancouver, Wash.,” Bingham said.
Laura McVicker: 360-735-4516 or laura.mcvicker@columbian.com.
