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Thursday, January 3, 2008

Tijeras Girl Finding Success In N.M. Films

By Laura Nesbitt
Mountain View Telegraph
    So far the bright lights, cameras and action of films are a lot of fun for a young girl from Tijeras.
    "After we got dressed up, they had to sprinkle dust on us. That was fun because you got to get all dirty. And they had to put tears in our eyes. But it was just drops," says Melanie Lindahl, 9, about her part in "Comanche Moon," a six-hour miniseries based on Larry McMurtry's novel, shot in spring 2006 in New Mexico.
    "Comanche Moon" is scheduled to air on CBS on Jan. 13, 15 and 16 and stars Val Kilmer. "Comanche Moon" is the prequel to the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel "Lonesome Dove," according to the CBS Web site.
    Lindahl's non-speaking role in the Paramount/CBS film is only one of many credits dating back to 2004 on the young girl's resume.
    Lindahl also had a small role as an immigrant child in "Into the West," another miniseries filmed in New Mexico that was produced by Steven Spielberg, and "Motel Man," a Lions Gate film, said Lindahl's agent, Janice Lujan, owner of The Phoenix Agency, an Albuquerque creative talent service with more than 500 film and television models and actors.
    After filming "Comanche Moon," Lindahl became eligible to sign up with the Screen Actors Guild, Lujan said. SAG is a union for film actors that operates "almost like a point system," Lujan said.
    Lindahl will be able to act in a few more projects before having to pay to join SAG, which is expensive, but she will get benefits like health care, Lujan said.
    Lindahl is also Miss Sweetheart New Mexico, a title she won in July 2007 in Albuquerque, said Marla Lindahl, Melanie's mother.
    "Comanche Moon" required three days of Melanie Lindahl's time in three different locations in the Santa Fe area.
    On a permanent set in Galisteo, Melanie spent eight hours being filmed getting captured by Plains Indians along with two other actresses playing her sister and mother, said Marla Lindahl.
    In La Cienega, off I-25 just south of Santa Fe, the three actresses were rescued, and in Bonanza Creek, about 20 miles south of Santa Fe, "the girls and the mom were filmed riding into town," Marla Lindahl said.
    Neither Melanie nor her mother see too many negatives associated with acting.
    "The downside is if I have to take off work, I don't get compensated," Marla Lindahl said.
    But Melanie Lindahl gets paid.