Mickey Dumont

The Portage Citizen —

20th Century Fox film crews are back on Crescent Lake this week shooting additional scenes for a film called “The Impossible”.

On March 14, 20th Century Fox film crews were on Crescent Lake shooting scenes for a film called “The Impossible”. Portage la Prairie is doubling as St. Louis, Missouri. Two days — March 14 – 15— of shooting out on the ice on Crescent Lake has already happened.

20th Century Fox says the film will shoot for approximately 31 days in various locations around Winnipeg, Selkirk, and Portage la Prairie.

The Impossible is based on an incredible true story and follows John Smith (played by Marcel Ruiz), a 14-year-old boy in St. Louis, who after crashing into a frozen lake is pulled out after 15 minutes. John’s mother, Joyce (played by Chrissy Metz), fights for his life against all medical advice and wisdom, and in the moment of her deepest despair her anguished cry to God brings John back to life.

DeVon Franklin, producer of Miracles From Heaven is producing The Impossible. Roxann Dawson is directing.

“Last summer Portage played host to camera crews who turned the former Campbell Soup building into a set for the movie “Break My Heart a 1,000 Times”, said Vern May, PRED executive director. May has not heard of any other movie crews scouting Portage la Prairie and area, but they will be coming.

“One thing that’s really interesting about Portage is we’ve got a variety of areas that make us attractive to movie production companies. We’ve got vintage brick buildings for period pieces, scenery which isn’t typical for Manitoba in terms of our water features and it all adds up to being very attractive for a wide range of productions.”