Tonight, it's time to fill the rink for a hockey game that isn't really happening.
It's a movie that's happening.
The cameras roll from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. at CN Centre and the filmmakers need the place as sold out as possible.
The film Hello Destroyer is an ambitious made-in-Canada movie starring some name actors and some breaking some new ground. Not many films have ever been made that are dramatic in nature and use hockey as a primary backdrop.
Hello Destroyer has been operating in the city for a couple of weeks, easily the longest film shoot in Prince George anytime in the past 10 years. The cast and crew have been living, shopping and recreating all around the city during their off hours. Now they are hoping local residents will come be part of their efforts. They require game action scenes for the film, so the biggest crowd they can muster at the rink would be helpful for their finished product.
Most films that involve hockey are either comedies (Slap Shot, Goon, Score: A Hockey Musical, Mystery Alaska, Mighty Ducks, etc.) or biopics (Miracle, The Rocket, Net Worth, Mr. Hockey, etc.) or documentaries (The Last Gladiators, Red Army, Punched Out: The Rise and Fall of Derek Boogaard, etc.).
This one is all about a junior hockey player coming to grips with personal issues as he tries to live his NHL dream. The issues he faces spill over from his on-ice life to his off-ice life, and vice versa.
Hello Destroyer is just the latest hockey-themed film to have worked in the city.
Prince George was home to some of the prep work done for the Herb Brooks biopic Miracle and was also the site of an episode of TV reality show Road Hockey Rumble hosted by former local boy Calum MacLeod.
Legendary Canadian film director Atom Egoyan used Prince George to film part of Gross Misconduct: The Life Of Spinner Spencer largely because it was a big part of Spencer's actual upbringing in Fort St. James.
Speaking of Fort St. James, that town was home to NHL brothers Larry and Jim Playfair. The latter star's son Dylan Playfair played in the BCHL before going on to an acting career, and his credits include the stereoscopic 3D film Stanley's Game Seven and Mr. Hockey, both of them focused on Canada's national winter sport.
Prince George was also included in the documentary of former Cougars player Derek Boogaard, and the national lens also focused here for the Hometown Hockey television event with Ron McLean and a segment of Hockey Day In Canada, both done within in the past two hockey seasons.
There was also the controversial video production called Hockey Enforcers filmed in Prince George in which known hockey tough-guys duked it out for prize money and video fame.
Prince George is also well known for its hockey fans.
MasterCard came here to film a commercial centred on hockey fans, and it is partially why Prince George won the bid to host the 2015 Canada Winter Games.
Anyone interested in being an extra for these hockey scenes is encouraged to wear red and blue (the Cougars third jersey, any Spruce Kings garb, any combination of Canada's NHL teams, or just random stuff out of the closet in either of those two colours) but it is not required. There is no admission cost. Just come to the rink this evening like it was an actual sports event, and give your real cheers to the simulated hockey action. It will form a cinematic imprint that will last forever, with Prince George's passion and personality all over it.
