Where Even Mavericks Have a Home

Page 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Rod McCall used historic Hillsboro, his adopted hometown, as the setting for Paper Hearts or Cheatin' Hearts (1993), a tale of marital discord starring Sally Kirkland, James Brolin and Kris Kristofferson. McCall segued with Lewis & Clark & George (1997), an absurdist road movie he describes as "a template for a live-action cartoon about three comically obsessed characters whose desperate measures compare to those of Wyle E. Coyote." Set in New Mexico's remote southwestern Bootheel region and showcasing the vivacious Rose McGowan, L&C&G won best picture honors at the Austin Film Festival. Emboldened by the warm Texas welcome, McCall is distributing the movie himself, opening with playdates in Austin.

Both McCall and Medoff cite the personal and artistic rewards of independent filmmaking, even if they have scored more lucrative studio deals. Says Medoff, "Making movies in New Mexico is an absolute pleasure. The whole state rallies to support its artists. It is without compare in that regard."

McCall dreams of establishing a barebones production facility in Hillsboro. "My large-range plan is to do a series of small films here," he says. Among his upcoming projects is an adaptation of Frank Waters' 1930s novel Lizard Woman, which McCall hails as "a very dark and sexy and mysterious Heart of Darkness set in the desert."

These Southern mavericks can look toward a strong role model in Allison Anders, whose Gas Food Lodging (1992) has attained growing cult status. Set in Deming, the superbly cast drama chronicles the travails of a truckstop waitress (Brooke Adams) whose restless daughters (Ione Skye and Fairuza Balk) are just itching to get out of town and experience the world at large.

Where does the open highway lead? Young turks including Alex George (Cultivating Charlie) and Rex "Hoss" Thompson (God Drives a Pontiac) are just beginning to make a mark, reshaping the course of independent filmmaking in New Mexico. At first glance, their fascination with pungent satire and over-the-top violence appears antithetical to the socially conscious overtures of Salt of the Earth, made nearly half a century ago. But Rob Silberman, writing for the Taos Talking Pictures Festival, says the arc between these two poles might not be as wide as imagined. "The current run of slacker films (Slacker, Clerks, American Job, etc.) may represent a peculiar Generation X version of the older pro-union films, but in what is clearly a different key altogether." In place of activism, these films champion a brash attitude. Welcome, anew, to the Wild West.