That’s great, ladies. Let’s do it from the top.
In the somber setting of a Denver hospital chapel, with a stained-glass backdrop and a crucifix nearby, this was the cue for a white-haired nun to say something most unexpected.
“I celebrate the Orange Crush, The Drive and the Mile High Salute,” she said, ending with – what else? – a salute.
“That’s great,” said film director Garron Bateman, who works in the Denver Broncos’ creative services department. “And cut.”
Sister Marie Paula Hardy, 81, was one of three nuns from Exempla St. Joseph Hospital who filmed a 30-second spot Tuesday for the Broncos’ upcoming football season.
She and the other nuns, Sister Mary Rosenda Arkfeld, 78, and Sister Marie de Lourdes Falk, 79, are playing the part of “citizens” of apountry.
“The whole idea is just to show that Broncos fans are from all over, different slices of life,” producer Nick Young said.
These Sisters of Charity are not just acting, though. They are true fans.
On the 11th floor of St. Joe’s, the nuns, who also live and volunteer at the hospital, have set up a “Bronco room,” complete with team memorabilia and a TV to watch the games.
On Sundays, “they say they come on down (to the chapel) and pray for the Broncos and then they come up and party,” Young said.
At the commercial shoot Tuesday morning, the nuns sometimes stumbled over their lines. Sometimes, the director would ask them to repeat with a different inflection or style.
In general, though, they just had fun, laughing between takes and moving on from line to line.
“They were very energetic and feisty,” Young said. “I would say that they are naturals on camera.”
If you’re a Broncos fan, you may be seeing a lot of these television naturals this season. Young said some of their outtakes will probably be shown regularly on the jumbo screen at Invesco Field at Mile High.
