Graham Northrup and Laurie Clemens Maier of Northrup Studios recently wrapped shooting for a feature film, “Aspen Christmas Conspiracy,” a rom-com set in Aspen which tells the story of an idealistic social worker and a cut-throat prosecutor who by many mishaps and touches of mystery fall in love. They hope to release the film to audiences in November.
For Maier, this was her first time producing a feature film in addition to being the assistant director and provider of craft services. While those positions were a lot of work to undertake for one person, she said it made sense for her and she is proud of the results it brought.
“I did my best with what I knew how to do, and we made it through,” Maier told The Sopris Sun. “You learn so much when you’re doing feature films. I’ve acted in them before, and helped produce others 20 years ago, but this one was full on. Graham and I both jumped in and said, ‘Let’s get her done.’ We work really well together, so it was great.”
The project came about while Northrup was hoping to launch another feature-length project, a supernatural-themed screenplay called “The Pass.” Due to budgeting and time constraints, he returned to the drawing board. Northrup looked at his options for storytelling and felt that Aspen, a place where he taught theater for many years, made the perfect backdrop to the story he would later put in front of a camera.
“I thought, ‘How about I write something easier to produce that I can tap the local talent for? What can I leverage about where I am and who I know that would make an interesting film?’” Northrup said. “I worked in Aspen for many years, and Aspen in the wintertime is gorgeous. Everything in Aspen at Christmas is special. So I thought to write a romantic comedy set during Christmas and then leverage all the production value I can get from shooting there and try to engage as many local artists, performers and technicians as possible.”
Acting talents were sourced from the Valley’s thriving theater community: Consensual Improv, Thunder River Theatre Company, Aspen Community Theatre and others. Appearing in the film, varying between lead and minor roles, are Jack Trembath, Wendy Perkins, Nina Gabianelli, Owen O’Farrell, Sonya Meyer, Gerald Delisser, Emily Henley, Jeff and Kristin Carlson, Jeff Patterson, Mike Monroney, Morgan Walsh, Trary LaMee and many others. Additionally, Ryan Honey joined the cast and also served as the consulting producer.
Additionally, Northrup cast two former students of his from his time with Theatre Aspen, Maura Fawley and Lyon Hamill, as the film’s leads. Northrup said this locality element made the working environment a breeze.
“I wrote it with the local talent in mind,” he explained. “Every day we’d get together on set and be, you know, it was like a family reunion. It was easy because I knew all these performers, and worked with almost all of them in some capacity before, which was fantastic.”
His sentiments were echoed by Maier, who said, “We’re so honored to have so many great people in the film that were willing to come in for a day or two and play smaller, but no less important roles. You need all those small roles in the film. The best part was being surrounded by a cast and crew that was so dedicated to making this awesome.”
Speaking of the crew, there were many locals behind the scenes as well, including Sean Jeffries as the production designer, Van Wampler as the camera operator, Willow Poschman as a production assistant and Northrup’s daughter, Eva, who served as set decorator production assistant. Additional workers were either Colorado-based or were brought in from Northrup’s Detroit, Michigan network acquired on the film festival circuits.
Discussing his hopes for audiences seeing the film, Northrup said: “I want the audience to have fun. I want them to laugh. But there’s moments in there that hopefully will make you think, ‘How do we get along with people that are on the other end of an ideological spectrum and how do we move forward together?’ It’s light, fun, Christmassy, there’s romance, it’s all those things. I certainly hope that the locals will have a great time seeing it.”
For more information or to support upcoming projects visit www.northrupstudios.com
