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December 08, 2004
West Wing veers north
by Bill Brioux
Calgary Sun
TORONTO — When Hollywood needs snow, they get snow. The promise of plenty of white stuff (the legal kind, please) drew Jimmy Smits, Tim Matheson and several other stars and crew members from NBC’s The West Wing north to Ontario this week and next.
Normally shot in L.A., the White House drama needed to approximate a snowy New Hampshire setting. The storyline finds Smits’ character, Texas congressman Matt Santos, working the winter-months presidential primaries.
West Wing location scout Drazen Baric found what he was looking for in the (now slightly) lower dollar the likelihood of snow in four nearby towns — Dundas, Carlisle and Ancaster in the Hamilton area, and Port Perry in the Kawarthas — which landed the two-week, three-episode shoot.
As it turned out, snow actually had to be trucked in (from a local hockey rink) for scenes shot this past weekend in Dundas.
The Ontario West Wing episodes will air in late January and early February. (An episode featuring bad-boy magicians Penn & Teller airs Dec. 8 at 10 p.m. on channel 16).
On Dec. 5, about 200 onlookers saw Smits and Bradley Whitford (Josh Lyman) work the Dundas Town Hall and a nearby restaurant. The main street got an instant Yankee makeover. American flags and U.S. election signs were hung in windows. Newspaper boxes for USA Today and The Manchester Leader were placed in the street.
Series regulars Janel Moloney (Donna Moss) and Joshua Malina (Will Bailey) are being joined this week by Gary Cole (vice president “Bingo Bob” Russell). Martin Sheen (president Josia Bartlet) did not make the trip.
The West Wing is enjoying a ratings lift this season. Since Smits arrived, the numbers are up 18% over last season.
Production on the show continues in Ontario through Dec. 19 — bad weather permitting.
2004-12-08
Posted by Jo at December 8, 2004 08:05 AM