The West is finally making its way north.
Into The West, a six-part, 12-hour mini-series from Steven Spielberg, debuts Sunday at 8 p.m. on CBC a year after it was filmed in the Calgary area.
For Calgarian Wendy Hill-Tout, whose Voice Pictures co-produced the sprawling saga, the premiere is welcome and overdue news.
After all, in the U.S., Into The West has already aired on the cable network TNT -- where it won rave reviews and spectacular ratings. Now the local crews who worked to make the project a reality will get to reap the reward of seeing it for themselves.
"It was very successful and it's really exciting to be part of something that was so special. We were basically in preproduction and production for six months on it last year."
Three of the instalments were shot here while the remaining three were filmed in New Mexico for weather considerations.
"Most of the crew was from Alberta. It was a very difficult project because it's like a series of movies. It always seemed like we never had enough time," says Hill-Tout. "It was a very big, big project and it's to the credit of the team from here and the people here that they handled the adversity they faced.
"I think it's a tribute to the entrepreneurial spirit and great attitude crews have here. Even with a difficult project like this, they hung in there and worked to the best of their ability."
Certainly, there is no denying the size or scope of the epic. It spans 65 years of U.S. history -- 1825 to 1890 -- embracing big U.S. events like the Gold Rush, the building of the transcontinental railroad and the Indian massacre at Wounded Knee.
It cost $50 million US and encompasses some 250 speaking roles, including Tom Berenger, Beau Bridges, Josh Brolin, Keith Carradine, Jessica Capshaw, Matthew Modine, Keri Russell and Skeet Ulrich.
Equally colossal? The scenery: Big skies, plains, mountains and vast thundering herds of buffalo.
But the series' big idea is its dualistic structure. Into The West looks at Old West life from both sides, now: From the perspectives of Easterners intent on conquering the frontier, and of American Indians struggling to hold onto their values and traditions.
"I like Westerns that delve into the characters of the time in a real way -- not so much about an overblown hero and a bad guy," says Matthew Settle, whose past projects include the similarly-ambitious HBO miniseries Band Of Brothers.
The second part of West airs Monday night.
The remaining four chapters will be broadcast over the following two Sundays and Mondays.
-- with files from AP
