About the production . . .
Over the years, Marshall Stouffer (Jonathan Taylor Thomas) had become accustomed to playing victim to the imaginative and spirited bullying by his big brothers, Mark (Devon Sawa) and Marty (Scott Bairstow).
Mark and Marty made countless 8mm films for the delight of their
friends that featured Marshall being dropped into pools of water,
yanked up into trees, hauled behind cars and enduring any number of
other hair-raising stunts. However, the summer that Marshall turns 12,
all of that changed.
When their father, Marty Sr. (Jamey Sheridan), and their mom, Agnes (Frances Fisher),
buy the older boys a used 16mm camera, their eyes are opened to
subjects beyond the light-hearted taunting of Marshall. In the woods
around their home, some extraordinary things come into focus in the
boys' lens: a menagerie of graceful and powerful animals existing in
their natural habitat. Unexpectedly moved by their discovery, the
Stouffer boys recognize a calling to document the vanishing wildlife of
America.
Marty and Mark hit the open road with
their camera to search out the dwindling populations of some of
America's most awesome creatures. The boys soon discover an unexpected
stowaway -- Marshall, who couldn't let his big brothers leave him at
home while they embarked on such an adventure. The older boys
reluctantly agree to take him along. Marshall's fearlessness, learned
over years of being picked on, proves to be an invaluable addition to
the summer's adventures.
Over the course of the summer, the
three Stouffer boys have a remarkable series of encounters with
magnificent, dangerous animals and bizarre, colorful humans. The boys
narrowly survive some of their confrontations in the wild, but they
manage to keep the camera rolling throughout their adventures. As
Marshall is caught in the antlers of an enraged moose, Mark is nearly
devoured by a hungry alligator, and the boys accidentally wake a cave
full of hibernating grizzly bears, the Stouffers record their
life-endangering odyssey with images no one had quite accomplished
before.
"Wild America" is a Morgan Creek Production directed by William Dear and produced by James G. Robinson, Irby Smith and Mark Stouffer. The executive producers are Gary Barber, Steve Tisch And Bill Todman, Jr. David Michael Wieger wrote the film based on conversations with the real-life Mark Stouffer and his brothers.
To capture the Stouffer brothers' trek
across the country and their many breathtaking encounters with
wildlife, the filmmakers assembled a top-of-the-line creative team,
including director of photography David Burr ("The Phantom"), production designer Steven Jordan ("Clueless") and editor O. Nicholas Brown ("Free Willy").
More about the production . . .
"Have Camera, Will Travel"
"My Three Sons"
"Southern and Northern Exposure"
"W.C. Fields Knew a Thing . . . or Two"
