ELY – A film crew used several Ely area locations for the past couple of weeks for the production of “Nobody’s Son,” based on a script written by an Ely native.

“I grew up here in Ely until about third grade and then moved to Embarrass and graduated from Babbitt High School,” said film director Brian Anthony Austin, during a break in shooting late last week on a set near Eagles Nest. “My father has a cabin on White Iron Lake.”

Some 40 cast and crew members joined Austin in the Ely area to film his movie script, written in Los Angeles, but more suited to be filmed in northern Minnesota. “I thought this would benefit the town,” he said. “And I think this is the perfect location for the project.

“Nobody’s Son,” according to Executive Producer Jerry Dahling, is a story about a small boy who has moved from an urban or big city environment in the industrial Midwest to the north woods around the Great Lakes. “The story focuses on what it is like for a boy go from one culture, which is urban, to a rural culture, like Ely,” Dahling said.

“Everything up here is very different,” he said. “You don’t have to worry about bullets at night. We have beautiful lakes and trees and it is just gorgeous – very different from downtown Cleveland.”

Dahling said the script explores the growing pains of the young boy, “and the funny things that happen to him as he copes with that period in his life.”

During the last days of shooting, the film crew rented a beautiful log-beamed seasonal home in the Eagles Nest area. Filming also took place at the Ely High School, Ely-Bloomenson Community Hospital, White Iron Lake, and Grand Ely Lodge, among other locations. “We could have chosen a town in southern Minnesota, but it would not be nearly as beautiful as it is in the Ely area.”

Dahling Productions is based in Rosemount, Minn. “We spent about two weeks filming here, Dahling said, “but much of the leg work and preparation took most of the winter.” The cast and crew came from many areas of the country, including New York, Texas, Minneapolis and Duluth.

Producer Juliette Jordal said she used many extras from around town in some scenes, “You might see staff from the Grand Ely Lodge and a bunch of kids from school, as well as teachers, and hospital staff,” she said. “ We used friends of friends in the area. The Ely community has been great to work with. Everyone has been so hospitable.”

The cast includes East Coast-based actors Shauna Lane, Murial Minoff and Eric Whitten. The star of “Nobody’s Son” is 12-year-old Jared Ivers, of Texas. “This is my first movie,” Ivers said as he relaxed between scenes on a bench swing with a video game. “My mom was an actor when she was a kid, and she got me involved in acting, mainly with commercials, when I was about five years old. “I did work for JC Penneys, Nikon, and other companies in both magazines and television.”

Ivers remarked on the beauty of the Ely area. “I would like to live up here all the time, even in the winter. It sure is quiet.”

The end of filming is not the end of the process by any means, Dahling said. “Post production will take many, many weeks,” he said. “The film editor will take the many small pieces or scenes, and put them together in the arrangement that makes it a movie. Austin and the director of photography, Robert Durland, will work together to flow all the scenes into one story.” Austin also noted that a musical score is added to the scenes. “When we are done here we have another month or two of work before we have a completed movie.”

Premiere dates have not been announced. “We plan to show it at various film festivals to generate interest,” Dahling said. He was intrigued with the possibility of screening “Nobody’s Son,” at the soon-to-be renovated State Theater in Ely.