Snippings from the Net 2008

Movie filmed at Grace Foundation

Actress DeDee Pfeiffer mounted up at the Grace Foundation in El Dorado Hills for a Hallmark film where scenes were shot last week.

The Grace Foundation Ranch in El Dorado Hills turned into a movie set Oct. 15 and 16. Actress DeDee Pfeiffer, sister of actress Michelle Pfeiffer, mounted up on one of the horses kept by the ranch and loped past cameras.

"The crew was here because of the amount of horses we have in one location - 109," said Nancy Conley, director of volunteers for the ranch. "They were supposed to visualize a stampede. They brought their own cowboys. It was quite amazing to watch them work."

Conley said the Hollywood cowboys were adept at creating the impression of a stampede without scaring the ranch's horses.

Ranch director Beth DiCaprio said her impression was not of a stampede but more of a simple transfer of a mass of horses from place to place. DiCaprio said filmmakers had humane officers on hand to ensure animal welfare.

The film by the Hallmark studio, to appear in about a year, is titled "The Wilderness Family." It concerns a family, jaded by modern society, who inherit a rural cabin, go to live there and gradually recover their natural humanity.

Also cast in the film are actors Jonathan Silverman and Peter Strauss. DiCaprio praised Hallmark officials for being fun and easy to work with. "They even wrote us into the film," she said.

Known for mostly tending to horses, the Grace Foundation provides medical attention and care for abused and neglected animals.

The El Dorado Telegraph 20081016 --Roger Phelps, Photo -- Joe Ajax