A piece of Sicamous wound up being part of a Hollywood production filmed recently in the North Okanagan.
To be exact, there are eight pieces, painted by Eagle Valley Brush and Palette club members, which were selected for an interior setting in the film Go With Me, starring Sir Anthony Hopkins, Ray Liotta and Julia Stiles. Also in the movie is former Shuswap Totems player Lochlyn Munro.
How did the paintings – largely scenics and florals – come to be in the film? Club member Amy Boutwell explained the club displays its paintings in various places, and one of them happens to be Enderby’s River Rocks Bistro. Someone with the production saw the paintings and decided they were right for the film. Next thing, club members received a visit by a production-team member, asking for permission to use their work.
Boutwell says none of the artists whose work was chosen wish to be singled out, that this is an honour shared by the club.
“It’s a very small deal. Yes, they’re using our paintings, but it’s just part of their sets,” says Boutwell.
“It’s a great honour for us, of course it is.”
Another perk of having he club’s work selected was the opportunity it provided to sell Sicamous to the visiting production member, who Boutwell said was very impressed by what she saw.
“She had never been here and didn’t realize how beautiful it was, and she said can I come live in your basement and that sort of thing. I said, well for Heaven’s sake, promote it to the people who are doing the filming,” exclaimed Boutwell with a laugh. “Sicamous has a lot to offer compared to Enderby and Lumby. We’ve got the lakes and much more scenery… so anyway, I did talk it up to her.”
Go With Me was produced by Enderby Entertainment’s Rick Dugdale, a native of that community.
Boutwell says she and her fellow Eagle Valley Brush and Palette Club members will be sure to see the film when it comes to the silver screen.