Posted on 09/25/2021 10:10:39 PM PDT by nickcarraway
A Netflix film crew sets up for a scene Monday along N.M.-16 for the movie Chupa. A publicist for the film said the road was not supposed to be closed, but signs indicated the road would be closed from 6 a.m. to 11 p.m. Monday through Friday.
Intermittent closures of N.M. 16 during the filming of Chupa — a Netflix film about a boy who discovers a mythical creature living on his grandfather’s ranch — riled nearby residents who said the production kept them from accessing Interstate 25.
“We don’t want to mess with the film; we just want to go out to town to get ice cream,” Donnamarie Jones said Monday, adding residents on Red Rock and Baja Waldo roads had been told to take an alternative route while on more serious business, such as going to work in Santa Fe, traveling to care for an elderly person in the East Mountains and catching a flight at the airport in Albuquerque.
Larry Kurtz said Camino Cerro Chato, the only other way in and out of the area, is a rough road that would have routed residents of the remote community locals call “Waldo Baja” through Madrid — about an hour out of their way.
Claire Raskind, a publicist for the movie, said the complaints may have risen from some sort of confusion, because N.M. 16 was never fully closed, adding residents were merely asked to wait a few minutes while cameras were rolling.
“Today was our first day,” she said Monday, “so maybe there were some growing pains.”
Raskind referred questions to Santo Domingo Pueblo Lt. Gov. Herman Tenorio, who did not respond to messages seeking comment.
Santo Domingo Pueblo tribal officials stopping traffic on N.M. 16 — which crosses tribal land — allowed The New Mexican to drive in and out at midday but halted a reporter’s vehicle headed back toward the interstate for about five minutes.
A sign posted by Netflix Productions, LLC along NM-16 warns of possible road closures from Monday, Sept. 20, through Friday, Sept. 24, for production of the movie Chupa.
A sign posted on a cattle guard between Red Rock Road and the freeway may have contributed to the confusion: It said the road would be closed from 6 a.m. to 11 p.m. Monday through Friday.
Kurtz and Jones said filming in the area has resulted in temporary road closures in the area before but said they’d heard from neighbors — some who complained about the issue in a group email thread — that tribal officials stationed at checkpoints during the production seemed less amiable than in the past.
Kurtz and Jones said the Netflix location agent they’d spoken to had been very courteous, but they were concerned about not having quick safe access between the interstate and their 40-acre property.
The couple said the delays other neighbors faced in the morning seemed to have been resolved by afternoon when traffic was being allowed in and out of the area.
Kurtz said he had a “Twitter relationship” with House Speaker Brian Egolf, D-Santa Fe, and sent the lawmaker a message about the road earlier in the day but noted he wasn’t sure what role, if any, Egolf played in resolving the issue.
Egolf said in a phone interview Monday afternoon he had heard from Kurtz and passed the message on to his chief of staff.
“I’m not sure how it was resolved,” he said. “I presume the [state] film office was able to step in and address the problem. I did hear from a constituent, and I’m glad it got sorted out.”
No one from the state film office could be reached after business hours Monday.
A tribal official manning one of the posts on N.M. 16 said Monday he was told the filming would last about three weeks.
The state Film Office announced last month that filming Chupa would take place in Estancia, Zia Pueblo, Mesilla, Santa Fe and Albuquerque.
The production is employing approximately 300 New Mexico crew members and 650 New Mexico background performers and extras, according to a film office news release.
A chupacabra is a creature that appears in legends, primarily in the Americas. It is said to attack and drink the blood of animals.
Did they really have to call the movie “Suck”?
Why post this? Being held up on NM’s
remote roads is commonplace. The locals
are used to it, and can deal with it
accordingly. It may be inconvenient,
but there’s usually a way around.
> Did they really have to call the movie “Suck”?
Came here to say this, but you beat me to it. Just shows how dumb Netflix is, AGAIN
Womder if the closure is really for a movie...
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