Emmy Award® Nominated Director Ken Kwapis made a personal appearance for the showing of his new film Big Miracle at the Cinémas Palme D’Or in Palm Desert last Saturday evening. The event began with a viewing of the film and at the conclusion of the film Mr. Kwapis joined Cinémas Palm D’Or host and co-owner Steve Mason (Mason & Ireland, 710 ESPN) for a live and Q & A and questions from the audience.
Ken Kwapis, known for directing the very successful television show “The Office” and the film The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, has a new film released just last weekend: Big Miracle. This film was inspired by a true event that occurred when two California grey whales were trapped in artic ice in Barrow, Alaska. But this event happened about twenty-five years ago, and had a long journey before making it to the silver screen.
This story first appeared with a much more sarcastic and cynical tone in “Spy Magazine.” When Kwapis took on the project for a feature film, it was first going to be produced by Warner Bros. Pictures, but for an unexplained reason Warner Bros. dumped the picture. Kwapis remained working on the project with no studio backing for a while and eventually he was able to get Universal Pictures to back the film.
Kwapis was insistent on the movie being filmed entirely in Alaska, and the film did receive tax incentives for this decision. As some of the film does include shots directly from Barrow, most of the film was shot in an icy rink in Anchorage. Shooting on real icy locations was too dangerous due to shifting ice and threat of Polar Bears.
Drew Barrymore seemed like just the right woman to depict the Greenpeace activist in the film and Kwapis had known Barrymore when he directed He’s Just Not Than Into You, which was produced by Barrymore. He claimed that Drew was very eager to play a role that wasn’t vested in “good looks.” Drew has just won several awards for her work in the HBO special “Grey Gardens.” And according to Kwapis this had given her a new direction for her future projects.
John Krasinski is also very familiar with Kwapis with their connection with the very popular NBC series “The Office.” Kwapis directed the pilot episode and also helped to cast the show. He calls Krasinski “the classic movie star persona similar to Gay Cooper and James Stewart.”
But the real stars of the film were the whales - depicted in the film as a mixture of animatronic whales (built in all places – New Zealand), real footage of whales and very impressive CGI creations.
All in all, Kwapis is known for letting actors do their work with little interference. “I like to throw up a cloud of possibilities and then let them make their own choices.”
Kwapis’ next project is a single-camera television show that will feature actress/comedian Sarah Silverman.
See here for my review of Big Miracle
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Whatever your movie choice this week, please remember your movie theater etiquette: silence your cell phones & no texting, please don't talk during the film and remove your children if they become a distraction to other audience members. Don't forget that laughing, crying and cheering are always approved behavior and even encouraged.
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-Kay Shackleton is a film historian with special focus on Silent Films, see her work on SilentHollywood.com
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