Filming the movie “Iron Will” required iron wills on the part of actors and filmmakers. To achieve authenticity for the reality-based Walt Disney action/adventure movie, director Charles Haid took actor Mackenzie Astin, who plays title character Will Stoneman, and company to the “Land of 10,000 Lakes” in Minnesota, and neighboring Wisconsin from Jan. 9 to April 1, 1993, for a 12-week shoot when temperatures plummeted to minus-40 degrees Fahrenheit.
“We were covered real well,” reported Astin, son of Patty Duke and John Astin and brother of actor Sean Astin. “There was no frostbite. Nothing close to it,” he added.
“Iron Will” is based on a 522-mile dog-sled race, the Red River-St. Paul Sports Carnival Derby, which took place in 1917 from Winnipeg, Manitoba, to St. Paul, Minn.
The real-life young man on whom fictional Will Stoneman is based was Fred Hartman, 26, who entered the race with a team of five dogs. Hartman, a native of Troy, N.Y., attended the University of Saskatchewan. He moved to Manitoba to make his fortune in the booming gold-mining region.
After that didn’t pan out, Hartman entered the dog-sled race, promoted by Louis W. Hill Jr., whose father was president of the Winter Carnival and whose grandfather was railway magnate James J. Hill. Louis Hill utilized the many railway lines (built to transport the Iron Range’s rich supplies of ore, taconite and timber to Lake Superior ports) to publicize the race. Newspaper and movie studio cameramen stood atop Hill’s railroad flatcars to record the race.
The 10-day race began Jan. 24, 1917. Unlike the fictional Stoneman, however, Hartman had especially bad luck. His dogs began fighting and his lead dog was killed. Hartman had to lead the team himself.
However, the press did pick up on his plight — as the movie depicts through the character of newspaper reporter Kermit Kingsley (Kevin Spacey) — and made him a hero. Cheering crowds greeted him along the way. Hill offered Hartman $1,000 to finish the race.
The movie, with a screenplay written by John Michael Hayes (nominated for an Academy Award for his screenplay for Alfred Hitchco*ck’s “Rear Window”), mirrors other aspects of the real story.
Hartman did rise early to get the jump on his competitors. He escaped a near-fatal accident with a train. And a crowd estimated from between 5,000-15,000 greeted Hartman at the St. Paul finish line. However, Hartman finished last. The race was won by a Native American, Albert Campbell, 25, a Cree from Manitoba.
Dog-sled racing is popular in Minnesota. A marathon is run in January from Duluth to the Canadian border and back. The most well known race in the United States is the Iditarod, run each March from Nome to Anchorage, Alaska.
Astin and other actors arrived in Duluth in late November 1992 to attend mushing camp, starting with the basics of handling a sled, pulled at first by snowmobiles, and later by teams of sled dogs. Well-known animal trainer Joe Camp brought 20 “animal actors” from California to mix with some 80 sled dogs. The breeds included Siberian and Alaskan huskies, along with malamutes. A representative from the American Humane Society was on the set throughout the production.
“Dogs are amazing anyway,” reported Astin. “And these had been trained so amazingly.”
In addition to being one of the few movies with dog-sled racing as a theme, “Iron Will” reflects the age of steam locomotives. A recently rebuilt 1916 steam engine based at the Lake Superior Musuem of Transportation was used.
Director Haid said that Disney was the movie studio for which he wanted to make “Iron Will.” A veteran television show director and father of two teen-age girls, he listened to his daughters concerning his first feature movie when they told him, “You don’t have to do movies that are violent against women.”
Calling “Iron Will” a sort of “Horatio Alger turn-of-the century” type of story, Haid said, ” ‘Iron Will’ is mythology. There is not one culture which doesn’t have a long race.” Haid said he’s happy with the results. “I would like to make a Disney movie again.”
Added Haid: “I did this movie because children who are of that age will get something out of it. I wanted to make a movie that said if you worked hard, you could succeed.”
“Iron Will” has been described as an inspirational movie by many who’ve seen it. Astin draws comparisons between it and another Disney release, “White Fang”:
“I appreciate what that movie (‘White Fang’) gave to me, and I hope that everyone who sees this one will be equally impressed.”
“Iron Will.” Rated PG. Now playing at Tilghman 8, South Whitehall Township; General Cinema Lehigh Valley Mall; United Artists Easton 6, and AMC Quakertown 6.
