Dave Maxwell Teenage Italian actress Chiara Stella Riccio gets ready for a driving scene in an Italian language kids movie being filmed, in part, in and around Rachel.
“Little Tito” is the working title of an Italian language kids feature film that was shooting scenes in and around the Rachel area last week. Executive producer Eddie Fickett, along with producer/production supervisor Amy Murphy, both of Las Vegas, took a lunch break from the shooting schedule for an interview at the Lil’ A’Le Inn.
Murphy said the movie is about two Italian kids who lose their parents and are taken to live with an uncle in the U.S. who also happens to be a professor and research scientist at Area 51. “It’s mostly a kids movie,” she said, “with a little bit of science fiction and some comedy thrown in, too.”
However, it is primarily an Italian language film and may not be released in the U.S. The kids in the film do not speak English, and the uncle is bi-lingual.
The two adult actors, Valrio Mastandrea, a well-known Italian actor, and French actress Clémence Poséy, who was in two of the Harry Potter films, were not at the shoot in Rachel.
Pickett said the Italian film crew hired a large number of production staff from Las Vegas and did some scenes in Las Vegas, on the strip, and at McCarran Airport. Much of the movie he said, was done in Spain (doubling as Nevada), and is already completed. The film’s director, Paola Randi, was not available for an interview.
What was being done last week around Rachel were a few scenes involving the kids, a teenage girl and her seven-year old brother, riding in a truck along the E.T. Highway, plus a few shots in other places nearby.
A specially equipped Chevy pickup truck was being fitted with a camera on the hood to do the driving shots of the people inside riding with their uncle named “Big Tito.” An actor double was standing in for Big Tito in the scene.
While in the county, the film company took up most of the available rooms in Alamo at all three motels and Cowboy’s Dream.
Murphy said they had to work around the weather over the weekend, which did provide a few showers and filming had to be put on hold.
Matilde Barbagallo, executive producer from Italy, said the two kids roles were being played by newcomers to Italian films. She said filming was done at Rachel and on the E.T. Highway because it was the actual location of where the film supposedly takes place.
Fickett said he loves coming to rural areas. “The people are so friendly and it gets us away from the hub-bub of Las Vegas. Local authorities, permitting offices, and law enforcement are very helpful and easy to work with.”
A visit also made to the set by the Nevada Film Office, Murphy noted. “They wanted to take the opportunity to visit Lincoln County and see what other areas they could offer when people call the Film Office inquiring about future locations.”
