Hos, here's a story from Tuesday's Las Cruces Sun-News about the filming in the area.....
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Indiana Jones returns to whip up New Mexican-flavored adventure
By Doug Pullen For the Sun-News
The various plot twists and turns of "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" remain closely guarded secrets and the subject of much Internet speculation, days before the first Indy movie in 19 years opens Thursday on 4,000 screens across the country.
Keeping the presence of stars Harrison Ford, Cate Blanchett and Shia LaBeouf, director Steven Spielberg and creator George Lucas from the folks of Deming last summer? Not so easy.
"It was a top-secret project, for security purposes, in a small town. Spielberg comes in, and they don't want the Looky Lous, and they don't want to be filming and somebody jumps up and takes a picture," said Brad Barrett, the Luna County film liaison. "But everybody knew. The word got out so fast. In 10 seconds, the whole town was buzzing about it."
There wasn't very much to buzz about. Most of the filming was off-limits to the public, and just about anyone who worked on the movie had to sign confidentiality agreements.
"I signed about five of them," said Carlos Cisco, a New Mexico State University senior who worked as a production assistant.
But locals did have some close encounters of the celebrity kind in Deming. Construction crews spent more than a month, and filming ran about 10 days, including June 21-26 at the sprawling Corralitos Ranch 15 miles west of Las Cruces. "It takes on a life of its own," Barrett said, laughing, "with people saying Harrison Ford was here, (and) Calista Flockhart (Ford's partner), Shia LaBeouf, Cate Blanchett, but then all of (a) sudden people are seeing other stars that weren't here."
But we do know the opening sequences were shot during the last two weeks of June "in the stunning and desolate desert landscapes of New Mexico," according to production notes provided by Paramount Pictures.
Filming began on June 18 at Georgia O'Keeffe's old stomping grounds, Ghost Ranch near Abiquiu in northern New Mexico (Spielberg's traditional champagne toast is posted on YouTube).
It moved 300 miles south to Deming, where the Municipal Airport and Industrial Park, a former World War II Army Air Force base, was converted into a Cold War-era air base circa 1957, when the sci-fi-influenced film is set.
Cast and crew spent six days at a remote location on the 180,000-acre Corralitos Ranch, where owner and general manager Brian Foster said a concrete slab and a track for a rocket sled were constructed, and some scenes, which included explosions and other pyrotechnics, were shot at night.
"I'll be interested to see what shots come out of there," Foster said.
The first three "Indiana Jones" movies — "Raiders of the Lost Ark," "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom" and "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade" — have grossed more than $1 billion worldwide since their releases in the 1980s (the last scene in 1989's "Last Crusade" was shot near Lubbock).
"Crystal Skull" takes place 19 years later, when the Cold War, McCarthyism and fears of a nuclear holocaust helped shape the culture and inspire the low-budget sci-fi films that influence the new Indy movie.
Rumor has it that those New Mexico landscapes are stand-ins for Morocco, and that some of the area scenery may be subbing for Roswell and Nevada's mysterious Area 51.
All the secrecy hasn't stopped locals from talking about their brushes with Hollywood. Van Jacobsen, who owns the 120-seat Adobe Deli steakhouse 10 miles outside of Deming, called Ford "a super nice guy."
Jacobson's restaurant was a popular hangout for some of the 300-member crew, a large number of whom arrived earlier to build sets, including a house that the city of Deming will use as a tourist attraction. He was hired to help feed the cast and crew, estimating he whipped up more than 1,650 meals, most of which he prepared on a 20-foot cooker.
"Harrison Ford came up and said, "Do you think this is a big enough cooker?' And do you know what I said? "I've got a bigger one at home,' " Jacobsen recalled with a laugh. "He just kind of shook his head, rolled his eyes and walked away."
Ford also drove up in a Cadillac Escalade for a quick meal.
"He grabbed two hot dogs and jammed them down his face," Jacobsen said. "He was starving to death."
Jacobsen was working in the kitchen of his restaurant when Flockhart, Ford's longtime love, poked in her head to say some customers thought she was the hostess. "(I) told the waitress that she is not getting paid to be a hostess," he joked.
Cisco served Ford dinner on the last day of shooting in New Mexico.
"He was really nice, but really kind of standoffish," said Cisco, a student in NMSU's Creative Media Institute digital film program. "When he was not on camera, he was joking around."
Jacobsen also saw Spielberg and Lucas several times.
"There was no real chit-chat. They did not stop and say, "How's the family or anything,'" he said. "They were strictly down to business."
Their business was good business for the locals. Barrett couldn't say how much money filmmakers poured into the local economy — those darn confidentiality agreements — but he noted that the economic impact "was very good."
Foster expects more film crews to use his ranch.
It's no secret, though, that Deming doesn't have a movie theater, leaving locals scrambling to see the movie in which they took part.
"There's no movie theater in the town," Jacobsen laughed, "where the biggest movie was made."
Doug Pullen writes for teh El Paso Times, a member of the Texas New Mexico Newspaper Partnership, and can be reached at
dpullen@elpasotimes.com; (915) 546-6397.
. The crew was having a party, so it's possible she could have met some of the cast. I told her she should have gone. That might have been her big break.
