ON LOCATION STUNTMAN'S STUDIO GREAT FOR LOCAL FILM PROJECTS.Byline: Andrea Cavanaugh Staff Writer SIMI VALLEY Simi Valley (sē`mē, sĭm`ē), city (1990 pop. 100,217), Ventura co., SW Calif. in an oil, fruit, and farm region; laid out 1887, inc. 1969. - Raliegh Wilson left Hollywood for Rollywood two years ago and hasn't looked back. Wilson, who made his name in the film industry as a stuntman stunt·man n. A man who substitutes for a performer in scenes requiring physical daring or involving physical risk. stuntman n → especialista m stuntman and horse wrangler Noun 1. horse wrangler - a cowboy who takes care of the saddle horses wrangler cowboy, cowhand, cowherd, cowman, cowpoke, cowpuncher, puncher, cattleman - a hired hand who tends cattle and performs other duties on horseback in more than 20 feature films, launched his production company, Rollywood Studios, in Simi Valley because he liked the city's small-town atmosphere. ``Film crews who come out here feel more relaxed and at ease, away from the Hollywood hustle-and-bustle,'' he said. Although Simi Valley is no stranger to the screen - it's been used for on-location shooting for television shows like ``The Lone Ranger'' and ``Little House on the Prairie'' - the rest of the production typically took place at studios in Burbank or Los Angeles. Wilson, 49, started Rollywood Studios with the goal of providing special-effects like green screen, a technique that films an actor or stunt performer on a neutral background and adds the scenery later. But advances in computer technology have made feature filmmakers less reliant on green screen. ``Audiences are so much smarter now,'' Wilson said. ``All those things that were awesome two years ago are now ho-hum.'' So Wilson diversified, finding a niche market in smaller productions and offering his green screen to makers of local advertising. ``It's the only one in town,'' said David Hartline, who owns a Simi SIMI Sea Ice Mechanics Initiative SIMI Search for Intelligent Monkeys on the Internet SIMI Students Islamic Movement in India SIMI Society of Irish Motor Industry SIMI Smallholder Irrigation Markets Initiative Valley-based production company and shot an advertisement for a local restaurant at Rollywood. ``It's convenient, and we were able to make a very unique commercial because of it.'' Rollywood also makes its studio available to film students from University of California, Los Angeles UCLA comprises the College of Letters and Science (the primary undergraduate college), seven professional schools, and five professional Health Science schools. Since 2001, UCLA has enrolled over 33,000 total students, and that number is steadily rising. , California State University, Northridge CSUN offers a variety of programs leading to bachelor's degrees in 61 fields and master's degrees in 42 fields. The university has over 150,000 alumni. It's also home to a summer musical theater/theater program known as TADW (TeenAge Drama Workshop) that leads teenagers through an , and the American Film Institute American Film Institute (AFI), nonprofit organization established in Washington, D.C., in 1967 by the National Endowment for the Arts to preserve and catalog American films and television, to provide work grants for new and established filmmakers, and to increase . James Armstrong, an assistant film director who worked with Wilson on films like ``Charlie's Angels,'' ``Planet of the Apes,'' and ``Four Feathers,'' said Wilson gives budding filmmakers a chance to practice their craft straight out of film school. ``I think it's wonderful, the chance he's giving kids,'' Armstrong said. ``It's a hard business to get into.'' Wilson's own career started in the early 1970s, when he went on the rodeo circuit from his hometown of Kalispell, Mont. In 1982, Wilson's craggy crag·gy adj. crag·gi·er, crag·gi·est 1. Having crags: craggy terrain. 2. Rugged and uneven: a craggy face. visage was splashed across magazine pages in the 1980s and '90s as a Marlboro Man, after he was spotted at a rodeo. The work, which paid about $350 per day, was a godsend god·send n. Something wanted or needed that comes or happens unexpectedly. [Alteration of Middle English goddes sand, God's message : goddes, genitive of God, God for Wilson, who had scratched out a living with rodeo prizes for more than a decade. ``For once in my life, someone was paying me to go somewhere,'' Wilson said of the photo sessions. ``Rodeo life was hand-to-mouth.'' Wilson started taking acting and modeling classes, then moved to Los Angeles in 1989. He landed several bit parts and shot 25 commercials before turning to stunt work in 1992. He still does stunt work on the big screen, even though three decades of horse wrangling and rodeo riding have started to take their physical toll on him. Andrea Cavanaugh, (805) 583-7604 andrea.cavanaugh(at)dailynews.com CAPTION(S): photo Photo: Stuntman Raliegh Wilson, at his Simi Valley studios, shows how to fly, green-screen style. Joe Binoya/Special to the Daily News |
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