The Highwayman Motion Picture Blog

Join the Adventure!

2011-03-18T18:15:00.000-06:00

The Highwayman continues!

2010-07-03T10:11:00.005-06:00

After shooting 1 day in the Louviers Village Clubhouse in Louviers, Colorado, 2 days in the Zang Mansion in Denver and two more days at Asgard Entertainment's studio in Denver, we are now 1/3 of the way through principal photography. In July we have 2 days scheduled to shoot at the Denver Botanical Gardens Chatfield location and 3 days at Boettcher Mansion. This will bring us past the halfway point.

Recently shot footage shows the personal transformation that Will Stiles goes through as well as the dark forces swirling around him.

The Highwayman is mobile!

2010-02-06T10:16:00.002-07:00

The Highwayman now has a mobile version of our website at m.thehighwaymanmovie.com.
It is a simplified version of our website with large text to make it easy to read on your phone or I-pod. It has links to production stills, cast and crew lists and the mobile versions of some of the pre-production videos (via Youtube).

The Highwayman is everywhere!

2009-10-19T14:20:00.003-06:00

There will be a panel about The Highwayman plus some sneak preview footage at Milehicon this coming Saturday at noon. For details on location and tickets for Milehicon visit www.MileHiCon.org

The Genre Traveler has a nice article about the movie and the panel out today:
"SF Literary Con Features Movie Cast,"

Last week Don Kraus ("Lord Shafton") did an interview about the movie and being an actor on Tongue & Axe podcast.

Martin Kove Joins the Cast of The Highwayman

2009-09-24T11:38:00.000-06:00

We are pleased to announced that actor Martin Kove ("Karate Kid") has joined the cast of The Highwayman.

We shot a scene with Martin Kove and actor Macleish Day on September 21st. In this scene Martin plays a blacksmith named Roan Blackthorn. Will Stiles, played by Macleish Day, asks Mr. Blackthorn for work and is rather rudely thrown out by him.

Actor Macleish Day Featured on Tongue & Axe

2009-09-10T11:34:00.001-06:00

Listen to the podcast interview with actor Macleish Day on Tongue & Axe.

Conspiring at the Governor's Residence

2009-09-08T11:10:00.002-06:00

We spent Labor Day conspiring with Lord Shafton (actor Don Kraus) pictured above.

Or at least Lt. Cardwell (actor Trygve Lode) and Magistrate Quentin (actor T. David Rutherford) did. (Soundman David Schaaf is seen putting a lav mike on Don Kraus. That's Jon Firestone as the private in the background.)

Since Trygve Lode is also directing The Highwayman he sometimes had to run in the other room to check play backs...

or consult with Director of Photography Edward Done while in costume for his role as Lt. Cardwell.

Denver's Channel 9 covered The Highwayman production on the evening news on Labor Day: Video of 9News E-block

More Filming at the Governor's Mansion

2009-09-06T20:05:00.001-06:00

Production continued at the Colorado Governor's Mansion with Magistrate Quentin (actor T. David Rutherford) consulting with Lord Shafton (actor Don Kraus) in his library about the "menace" plaguing the area: the highwayman.

During their discussion of the matter, Hansen (actor Mike Ballard), Lord Shafton's secretary, interrupts to deliver some bad news.

In the afternoon we flashed back 40 years to the arrest of Sir Malcolm Stiles (actor Macleish Day) and the reaction of his wife Lady Catherine (actress Christa Cannon) and their son, Henry (actor Tom Place).

The Moon was a Ghostly Galleon...

2009-09-05T14:00:00.005-06:00

As The Highwayman began production under a full moon the night of September 4th.

The screams lasted throughout the night and disturbed the residents... even the residential ghosts... at the Governor's mansion. Cast and crew members reported strange cold spots or cold waves that passed over them when the moon was high.

But that did not dissuade the Colorado Film Commissioner, Kevin Shand, (pictured at left talking to Digital Effects Supervisor Jon Firestone) from visiting the set that first night of production.

Most of the dastardly deeds going on were those captured by the RED camera in the dark staircase between the ground floor and the landing above that once went to the servant's quarters.

And most of the screaming was done by veteran actor Don Kraus, show here (at the right) with his stunt double, Will Beckingham, (at the left) in their twin nightshirts.

The Highwayman to Film at Colorado Governor's Mansion

2009-09-01T10:19:00.002-06:00

The Highwayman will start principal photography by filming 4 scenes at the residence of the Colorado Governor over Labor Day Weekend. The Highwayman is the first movie ever to be filmed in the Governor's Residence at Boettcher Mansion in Denver.

Follow this link to the Denver Business Journal article about it.

The cottage

2009-08-17T21:31:00.006-06:00

Ever tried to find an 18th century English cottage in Colorado? I have and even with the help of the Colorado Film Commission and their network of contacts one could not be found. So we are building one.

It is designed to look like a cob-walled, thatched cottage common in many parts of England at the time. "Cob" is a mixture of clay, sand and straw which is dried in layers. It is similar to adobe except that adobe is dried into brick and build up. Cob is dried in the place you want the building to be. It is not very portable which ours needs to be. Ours is really made out of a lumber frame with OSB (like plywood but out of chunks of wood) walls. The walls are painted white to look like limed washed cob but straw and oats have been added to the paint to added to the naturally rough texture of the OSB. Every part of it can be unscrewed and taken down, and yet even though it have only 3 sides it is strong enough to stand up to Colorado thunderstorms.

We had just started putting up the thatched roof in that picture. Normally you apply the thatching to the roof one bundle at a time. In this case the thatching is formed on vertically hanging chicken wire which is then attached to screws on the rafters of the cottage. Each 4x6 section weighs about 20 lbs which isn't too heavy until you try to heft it 12 feet in the air.

The door is also under construction. It is being made from well-weathered fence wood, which has its own challenges. The wood has a lot of cracks in it and more try to form. So we have been adding a lot of wood glue to make sure it holds together. The original nails were all removed and replaced with square nails that had aged.

Meeting at the Governor's Mansion

2009-08-13T19:55:00.002-06:00

Today Darlene Cypser (producer), Trygve Lode (director), Ed Done (Director of Photography), Nelson Goforth (Gaffer), Nancy Snyder (Assistant Director), Mark Grove (2nd Unit Director), Jon Firestone (Digital Effects Supervisor) met with the director at the Colorado Governor's mansion for 2 hours going over the scenes to be filmed there over Labor Day weekend.

We filed our Letter of Intent to Film in Colorado.

Final Edits on Script

2009-08-07T23:17:00.002-06:00

Ran through all the little changes needed in the script today. Still need to massage the text in two spots but the rest is done. Back to working on the cottage tomorrow.

Stand and Deliver!

2009-08-06T20:51:00.002-06:00

The Highwayman is an action/adventure movie with a bit of a twist: It turns into a ghost story. It is based on the famous poem by Alfred Noyes and the romance is still there played out to perfection by Macleish Day and Marianne Page.