Laura Power
Northern News Services
Published Monday, January 28, 2008

NUNAVUT - In May last year, dozens of young women from around Nunavut had a once-in a lifetime opportunity to attend a casting call for two major film productions.

Ralph Fiennes and Andrew Young, the directors of Snow Country and Julie of the Wolves respectively, were both in Nunavut at the same time in order to cast their films.

Lucy Aqpik of Kimmirut goes through a pre-screening last year in hopes of landing an audition for the role of Alma in a Ralph Fiennes movie that may be filmed in Nunavut. - NNSL file photo

"We had a very successful and productive scout when we were up there ... met a lot of people that were very interesting to us," said Young.

But now, it's come to light that the leading lady in Julie of the Wolves will not be from Nunavut.

"As far as our Julie is concerned, we do think that we have her but I can't really say who she is," he said. "At present, we did not find someone from Nunavut to cast for the part."

The company cannot reveal the name of the actress as they are still in negotiations.

Though he doesn't feel his trip to Nunavut helped him find the perfect candidate for this role, Young said he is still interested in some of the actors he met.

"We did meet a number of people in Nunavut who we're interested in casting in supporting roles," he said.

The plan is to begin shooting the film in May 2008, but Young said some funding needs to be sorted out before the plan can go ahead.

"If financing happens for us in the next month, we will be making another trip to Nunavut and we'll be having a second interview with people we've met," he said.

While scouting for actresses last May, Young also scouted for filming locations around the territory. He said part of the production will be filmed in areas around Nunavut, but couldn't specify exactly where. The rest of the film will be shot either in Alaska or Western Canada.

"There's one sort of section of the story that we think would be best done in Nunavut," he said.

Based on a novel by Jean Craighead George, the film is about a young Inuk woman, Julie, who doesn't feel connected to her culture.

"In the story, she gets caught in a bad domestic situation and runs away, and she gets lost on the tundra and is basically struggling to survive, starving to death," he said.

But for now, as Young waits to sort out some financial details, he said "nothing is really happening until it's actually happening."

"I'm hoping that we'll have our financing worked out within a month and that very soon after that we'll be in Nunavut finalizing the casting," he said.

Ralph Fiennes could not be contacted for an update on Snow Country.