Next month, Creede will become the latest Colorado location to get its close-up when actors Johnny Depp, Armie Hammer and director Gore Verbinski ride into the box-canyon town
Set to open in 2013, the Jerry Bruckheimer-produced movie is a bigger-budget affair than film commish Donald Zuckerman is aiming to lure with his film incentive program. But he won’t be running them out of town, either.
Still there’s nothing like a popcorn flick to get the folks all a-twitter about movie production in the Centennial State.
Just read local production house founder David Emrich’s “Hollywood, Colorado,” a history of early moviemaking in the state. Movie rushes were nearly as much a part of the state’s identity as gold rushes. Tom Mix’s star began its ascendancy here.
What follows is a brief gallery of Colorado-shot movies. You won’t find “The Shining.” Stanley Kubrick didn’t shoot that at the Stanley Hotel — though we could have included the Stephen King-approved TV miniseries. And you won’t find works with titles that give this land of ours a dubious spin: “Even Hitler Had a Girlfriend” and “Things to Do in Denver When You’re Dead.” (Both titles come from songs, by the way.)
We went for class acts — and, well, “Dumb & Dumber.”
By no means comprehensive, just a little taste of Colorado onscreen. For more, visit the
: Robert Redford the way he was on the slopes. Shot in Boulder and Durango. Mountains courtesy of the Alps.
“Dumb and Dumber”: Two friends with a brain cell between them ride the Rockies. Shot: Aspen, Breckenridge, Copper Mountain, Estes Park
: Local guy and gal make good fantasy parable, then leave town. Maybe incentives will bring them back. Shot: Denver, Crested Butte, Evergreen, Morrison
“Silver City”: John Sayles set his political satire in a Colorado mining town and his production headquarters on the Platte. Shot: Denver, Idaho Springs, Leadville, Sedalia
“Sleeper”: Woody Allen made the already-commanding even more famous in his . Shot: National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder; Church of the Risen Christ, Currigan Exhibition Hall, Denver Botanic Gardens, Denver; Greenwood Village; Lakewood, Genesee Park
“The Lone Ranger”: Trailers, Teamsters and Tonto head to Creede next month. Can you say “kemo sabe”? Shooting: Creede
