RitM: The Perfect Hanging Tree

Yesterday we went on a location scout to the Mima Prairie Preserve and surrounding environs.

The Mima [MY-muh] Prarie is, in my opinion, one of the most exciting locations in this film. It isn't open to the general public and has never been captured on film. The first thing that strikes you about it is ...

Read more...how quiet it is. The further in you go, the further back in time you seem to be traveling. Nothing to hear but the wind in the tall grass and the warbling of the prairie birds. There's a mystery at the heart of the prairie, or rather, everywhere you look. Mounds like pitcher's mounds, spaced with near regularity, undulate all the way to the treeline. Joel says that no one knows exactly what the mounds are, or where they came from, though there has been much speculation. Were they built by Native Americans? Left by a glacier's withdrawal? After noticing the plentitude of ants crawling everywhere, I speculate that they are centuries old ant hills.

Whatever they are, they lend the prairie a spiritual dimension, an all-pervading sense of something else that was once here and perhaps never left. But of course there isn't anyone here. Not even the regular volunteers, some of whom travel from other states for the pleasure of weeding out Scotch broom and paring back non-native trees. [View a panorama]

One tree in particular caught Joel's eye on an earlier scout. He parks the car in the middle of the road that cuts through the prairie and pulls the 'hanging kit' out of the trunk. He cuts into the field. Christine, Lillian and I wade after him until we come to the treeline and this:


The result of an ongoing 20+ year restoration of the native prairie ecosystem, the Black River-Mima Prairie Glacial Heritage Preserve (it's full name) will provide several locations for the the film. But the key one -- the one that will be featured in the very first scene and that will make or break the movie -- is this one: the hanging tree.

Joel, always a hands-on guy, commences to testing the hanging kit on himself. It's a climbing harness that attaches to a rope with a fake noose. The harness tends to dig in on the sides, so Joel has repurposed some old soccer shinguards to shore up the ribcage. It isn't comfy, but it gets the job done. We'll only have to do a few shots with Joe Heldman (aka "Dead Man") hanging. The rest can be cheated with him standing on a ladder.

Seeing Joel dangle brings a smile to our faces. This movie is going to be awesome.