‘MOOSE’ a movie made by a community

WASILLA — “We got plenty of water bottles and sunscreen, don’t forget to use ‘em,” assistant director Warren Foster told the crowd of 100 gathered to film the Gangrene Gulch town barbecue.

After more than two months and 40 different locations, shooting for MOOSE the Movie is expected to wrap in early August, producers said this Tuesday during a daylong shoot in Old Town Wasilla.

Chad Carpenter and his brother Darin Carpenter co-wrote “MOOSE” the story of a fictional half moose, half human — “moose-ataur” — that is terrorizing the small town of Gangrene Gulch. MOOSE was first released as a graphic novel illustrated by artist Robert Duckett of Wasilla with the intention of following up with movie based on the same story, Chad Carpenter said Tuesday.

Since Tundra was first printed in the Anchorage Daily News more than 21 years ago, more than 630 newspapers in the U.S., Europe and the Caribbean have added Carpenter’s self-syndicated comic.

Carpenter said it is surreal to see the scenes, costumes and actors come together and bring to life this story he wrote with his brother. He said the project raised $64,185 via Kickstarter to fund the project and also received a grant from BP Alaska recently, too.

“It’s the hardest project I’ve ever worked on,” he said, before admitting he plans to ask his wife if he can make a second MOOSE movie.

Carpenter said it’s been amazing to see so much support for the project from individual community members, as well as from the city of Wasilla, the Dorothy Page Museum and the Greater Wasilla Chamber of Commerce.

“I really had no idea it would get like this,” he said. “This is a movie made by a community.”

Tuesday about 110 people — including Wasilla Mayor Verne Rupright and local musicians Scott Foster and Adele Morgan — gathered in Old Town to film the grand finale for MOOSE the Movie.

One of the project’s daunting parts was a list of more than 1,000 props. Carpenter said it was a daunting task until someone hit on posting it to the project’s Facebook and asking fans to help. He said he’s borrowed everything from barbecue grills and propane to vehicles, signs for the buildings and even the use of Old Town as a location for the film.

“One missing prop can derail the whole scene,” Carpenter said.

He said 98 percent of the film’s cast and crew are Alaskan.

“I can’t imagine doing this without community support,” Carpenter said.

One of the exceptions to that all-Alaskan rule is Director Logan Dellinger and his team — Michael Heath, Raymond Chapman and Andrew Phillips — from Sons of Winter Productions.

Another is Carpenter’s long-time friend Tom Gammill, whose writing credits include The Simpsons, Late Night with David Letterman, Futurama, Saturday Night Live, Monk, and Seinfeld.

Puppeteer Randy McNair has one foot in each camp. He lives in Salt Lake City, Utah where he owns a touring puppet company. But his family lives in Wasilla. He created and built the puppet characters in MOOSE.

McNair said it is nice to be home for the summer. “Fish, do puppets and be with family. What else can you ask for?”

Shooting on the project should be complete by early August and it’s tentatively planned for a March release at the theater in Wasilla, Dellinger said

Extra and volunteer Heidi Kelly describes the movie as a spoof on a horror film. She drove in from Anchorage to part of the big barbecue scene.

“I’ve been waiting 30 years to do this,” she said. “I’ve wanted to be in acting since I was 12. Go after your dream no matter what it is. It’s never too late.”

Carpenter said he wants to do the same thing with this independent movie that he did with his self-syndicated comic.

“We hope it will change lives. I know we’ve all learned a lot,” he said.

Contact Heather A. Resz at 352-2268 or heather.resz@frontiersman.com.