Alberta has attracted some big film and TV productions over the last couple of years, bringing small acting roles and background work to the province.
One local 10-year-old boy from Langdon, Beau McHattie, nabbed a role as the son of one of the main characters in a soon-to-be-released series on Hulu called Under The Banner of Heaven.
The Mormon murder mystery features the likes of Andrew Garfield, Wyatt Russell, Sam Worthington, Denise Gough, and Rory Culkin. The story of polygamy, delusion, and violence follows the real-life 1984 tragedy of Brenda Lafferty as told by true-crime novelist and journalist Jon Krakauer.
With all of the filming taking place in several locations across southern Alberta, including Calgary, Crossfield, and Rocky View County, it was easy for the McHattie family to be part of the production.
Beau’s mother Jayme McHattie noted the farthest they ever travelled for filming was 40 minutes.
“It was neat he could do it, but it was also neat that the whole thing was filmed right here, from Vegas sets to Florida sets,” she said, adding 40-foot palm trees were brought in for one of the scenes to make it appear they were actually in Florida.
After receiving the opportunity to submit for the role by their agent, Beau auditioned for the part under the assumption it was just for background work.
"And then I crushed that audition,” Beau said.
Several days before filming was scheduled to start, their agent called with the news that Beau’s background work was cancelled. After some initial disappointment, the agent went on to explain that it was cancelled because he actually had landed the bigger role of Ron Lafferty’s youngest son.
“We were pretty excited. It was overwhelming. We had no idea what we were getting into,” Jayme said.
In the series, brothers Ron and Dan Lafferty are both charged with the murder of their sister-in-law Brenda and her infant daughter. Jayme noted that some of Beau’s most impactful scenes are with his character's dad, Ron Lafferty, who is played by Sam Worthington.
With a couple of lines throughout the series, Beau can be seen in several scenes of every episode, he said.
His mom noted that he took on some very serious scenes through his role. But though the series contains some heavy material, the crew always made sure to check in on the kids on set, Jayme explained.
Academy Award-winning filmmaker and series writer for Under the Banner of Heaven, Dustin Lance Black, would often give Beau pointers and go over expectations with him before shooting every scene.
“There's a fairly heavy domestic violence scene and Lance and the cast were very aware that it might be a little tough on some of the younger cast members there,” Jayme explained. “They would just take their time and after each take, they would talk to Beau and make sure that he understood that they're just acting and that nobody is actually getting hurt.”
Being on set for what could be 10-hour days, Beau also needed to manage his school work. Thanks to an on-set teacher, he was able to keep up his academics throughout several months of filming.
“I was actually pretty nervous until I met the teacher and she was actually really funny and nice,” Beau said.
An additional benefit for his family was that Beau’s grandpa, who is retired, became his stage person, bringing him to set and staying with him all day. The grandpa-grandson duo allowed his family to continue on with everyday life.
Beau’s favourite part of filming was meeting actors including Worthington, Daisy Edgar-Jones, and Denise Gough, he said.
“It was a really cool experience seeing how the shows are actually filmed and how it comes together – how the sets come together, and even how the camera's work,” Beau said. “It's just really awesome.”
Beau first became interested in acting when he wanted to be in the show Stranger Things, a science fiction horror drama television series on Netflix. His mom had to explain that Stranger Things was “a little out of our realm,” and that maybe they could take a look at local productions instead.
The 10-year-old took on a bit of background work the year prior before landing the role on Under the Banner of Heaven.
“I just want to be a main character in a movie or a show,” he said of his future aspirations. “Everyone's gonna know me.”
