Everybody loves good PR

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osted: Thursday, February 2, 2012 12:00 am | Updated: 3:57 pm, Thu Feb 2, 2012.

By Victoria Barber

Last weekend movie folks rolled out a long red carpet for the Anchorage debut of Big Miracle -- the film formerly known as Everybody Loves Whales, or, that movie that brought Drew Barrymore, Ted Danson and the like to eateries and coffee shops across our fair city.

None of those luminaries were on hand for the event, but there was modest pomp nonetheless, with in-state celebrities like Mayor Dan Sullivan and a handful of Alaskans who'd snagged roles in the film. It was a matinee showing and around 1 p.m. the invitation-only crowd of about 750 -- primarily people from the State of Alaska, GCI, the National Guard and assorted production workers -- filed into Anchorage's newest cine-mega-plex, the Regal Tikahtnu "Stadium" in Muldoon.

They dressed mostly in jeans and down coats—in other words, like Alaskans on their way to a movie in January—and walked somewhat tentatively down that ruby-colored rug to claim their seats.

(“Where do you get a red carpet in Anchorage,” we wondered aloud to the supremely nice PR guy from Los Angeles. “Did you have to fly it in?” “It’s a rental,” he said without a blink. You can get them in town for your next prom or Hollywood movie premier).

Around 1:26 p.m. the hustle of cameras signaled the entrance of the afternoon's first home grown star. Wearing a lavender button-up shirt, a tie and standing just over five feet tall was Ahmaogak Sweeney, age 12. Sweeney, who's Inupiaq and Yupik, plays a local boy who befriends John Krasinski in the film. Sweeney is in fact a sixth grader in Anchorage whose family is from Barrow.

As far as Alaskan actors go, Sweeney scored big time -- he's right there huddled on the ice with Drew Barrymore in the movie poster. And it's easy to see why: the kid is a natural. Just finishing elementary school, he's already handling the press with aplomb.

Five red-carpet minutes with Ahmaogak Sweeney

Anchorage Press: What was it like to be in a movie?

Ahmaogak Sweeney: I had a lot of fun. I learned a lot.

A.P.: What's it like seeing yourself on the big screen?

A.S.: It's a little creepy.

A.P.: Would you want be in a movie again someday?

A.S.: I hope so! It was great.

A.P.: What kind of movie would you like to be in?

A.S.: I like action movies. I'd like to be in one of those.

A.P.: What's your favorite action movie?

A.S.: That's hard... The Terminator.

A.P.: Would you want to be the Terminator or the boy who fights the Terminator?

A.S.: hmm. I guess... the Terminator.

A.P.: So which of those big movie stars is the most fun to hang with?

A.S.: John Krasinski.

A.P.: "Everybody Loves Whales" or "Big Miracle"?

A.S.: I actually like the original title better.

A lot of films about Alaska make it look like everything takes place near a hunting lodge in Southeast, and Big Miracle does a good job avoiding that. The Barrow scenes were filmed mostly in the Port of Anchorage, which is to say it could have been anywhere that's snowy, treeless and flat. But it's clear production designer Nelson Coates did his homework, and the set looks convincingly Barrow-like. Locals will get a chuckle at the nod to Pepe's Restaurant, and this film may also signify the biggest cinematic moment yet for Sorel, bunny boots and Carhartt jackets.

Big Miracle is about the effort to rescue three韩国热片 California gray whales stranded in the ice off Barrow back in 1988. You might suppose the central problem facing filmmakers would be this: how do you endow three, computer-generated cetaceans with enough personality that people will care about their fate?

As it turns out, you don't have to do much. Everybody loves whales, Krasinski's rural reporter observes, and mostly the sea mammals just bob to the surface to have their noses pet, like bulbous grey Labrador retrievers. Even Big Oil, as played by Ted Danson, will by the end of the film stare frantically at the icy ocean water, and yell passionately, "Surface, damn you!"

But beneath the warm, family-friendly exterior of whale love, things made possible through working together, and the anthropomorphizing of sea mammals, Big Miracle is surprisingly cynical. The way the movie tells it, the whales' fate rested primarily not on mankind's generosity, but on our hunger for good PR (with an occasional assist by our fear of losing face): The reporters, the oil industry, the Reagan administration, the U.S.S.R., local Inupiaq whalers, even (one character argues) Greenpeace, whose membership jumped as a result of the whales' plight.

That was 24 years ago, but the hunt for good publicity never ends. In present day Alaska, some are hoping the story of the three gray whales, and the悬疑电视剧 timing of that its wide-release, will be a PR gift that keeps giving.

Out in force at the Alaska premier were supporters of the State's film and television production incentives program, handing out buttons and pamphlets. Big Miracle is the first large-scale Hollywood feature film to come out of the effort, which is now facing some scrutiny. A bill to extend the program for 10 years is waiting on a hearing in the State House. While MacDowell Group report commissioned by the AEDC concluded that the Big Miracle production funneled 16.5 million to the state, critics argue that continuing the tax incentive will mostly benefit out-of-state workers and production companies.

Wanetta Ayers is the division director of the State's Office of Economic Development. Ayers said she hopes people enjoy the film and "share their thoughts with legislators" about what they see. Aside from the money spend in-state on production costs, Ayers reasons the incentive program will help promote tourism as well. If more people see the real Alaska in movies, she said, they'll be more willing to come here and spend money.

"Well, have you ever stuck around (after a movie)古装悬疑电视剧 to see where something was filmed? I think it makes a difference," she said.

Apparently people and whales aren't the only ones who could use some good PR on occasion.