Check out this article from the Regina Leader-Post, October 9 2024, written by Greg Harder:
Saskatchewan’s sprawling landscape might be a punchline for some visitors, but the joke fell flat with Carrie-Anne Moss.
The Matrix star was introduced to Canada’s rural heartland — some urbanites call it the middle of nowhere — when she spent about a month in the Regina area last summer to shoot a post-apocalyptic zombie movie called Die Alone.
It was Moss’s first-ever visit to Saskatchewan, but perhaps not the last.
Asked for her impression of the so-called flat, boring prairie, the Vancouver native flipped the script with a heartfelt endorsement of her Saskatchewan safari, which included several days of shooting in the picturesque Qu’Appelle Valley.
“It’s so beautiful there,” Moss said in a recent phone interview. “I really did love working there — fell in love with it. Such a beautiful landscape.”
OK, but did we mention the winters?
“I’m a winter person,” continued Moss, who has travelled the world during her celebrated acting career. “I’d never been (to Saskatchewan) but I always wanted to so that was cool. I love what I do for work because I get to go to these locations, set up a little house and pretend I live there for a minute and get to really feel it.”
Die Alone debuted Sept 27 in theatres across Canada and is set to conclude a two-week local theatre run on Thursday at Regina’s Southland Cinemas. It’s scheduled to open in U.S. theatres on Oct. 18, followed by a future release on Crave.
The movie, produced by Regina-based Minds Eye Entertainment, was written and directed by Regina’s Lowell Dean, who wanted to highlight the “vastness and beauty of Saskatchewan … not just the cliché of ‘it’s a flat place.’ We wanted to show hills and valleys and obviously those gorgeous sunsets.” When it was all said and done, he described the finished product as a “love letter to Saskatchewan.”
“I think Lowell and the cinematographer really captured it in a beautiful way,” Moss said. “It’s just stunning. I love being in nature so it reminded me of my life where I live (in New England). Of course it’s different but similar in certain ways. The people were really lovely. We had an amazing crew of local people but also people from all over. I love the community vibe of coming together to tell a story. I had a really great time. I could have stayed a little longer — wasn’t looking to leave.”
“Lowell wrote this really incredible story that definitely has the zombie or the apocalyptic kind of theme in it, but it definitely is a love story. I would say as someone who’s not really into the horror genre personally, it’s so much more than that,” said Moss, whose character — a “salty survivalist” named Mae — helps Smith on his journey.
“I loved everything about (Mae). She is so funny, she is so capable. She’s eccentric and free in that eccentricity and she’s not taking any shit from anybody. I really enjoyed (making the movie) and I’m looking forward to people seeing it. I look forward to Lowell being recognized as a great director, because he is. He has a strong vision and he’s a gentleman. He cares a lot, he has a beautiful heart and he’s also creatively very talented. So (with) that combination, I think he’s going to go really far.”
Likewise, Dean was thrilled to work alongside Moss, whom he described as a “dare-to-dream” actor for the role.
“Carrie-Anne Moss was the first person we even considered going out to (recruit) for the role and she responded very positively in a way that made me very excited,” Dean said. “Never in my wildest dreams would I have assumed we would get her in this film but I couldn’t imagine the film without her. She is just so amazing. We’ve all seen Carrie-Anne Moss as formidable and strong and such a good actor but I think this movie shows a very interesting, different side of her that I hope people are really blown away by.”