IT'S A TOUGH JOB

Wonder why Christian Bale and his fellow actors in "3:10 To Yuma" look angry? Seems they suffered for their art.

Director James Mangold says: "The idea was to begin shooting last summer but when Sony pulled the plug, the western didn't start filming in New Mexico until October. The weather stayed relatively stable until January; then on New Year's Day it snowed for five straight days."

"There were so few scenes under a roof that there were days we had to deal with whatever nature was throwing at us. The cast and crew would come home, and you would think we were people who had just come off of Everest. You are out there in 6 degrees cold with equipment -- your hand freezes to anything that is metal. And you are up to your knees in mud."

"There were also environmental issues the production had to address. We were shooting in a lot of locations that were very restrictive. Access getting in and out was very challenging, because there were certain safety issues with horses -- what terrain can a horse gallop on -- where you can have a fire, where you can fire a gun. There was a lot of stuff logistically going on. It was very rustic and very primal. We were out there -- us, the land, the weather and the cows and the horses."

"There were locations we hiked to with mules. There were no trucks anywhere nearby, and you had the water you carried."

"We were faced with a lot of daylight issues. Because it was winter, we only had nine hours of usable daylight. Three of those were carved out for lunch and driving, so you had 5 1/2 hours to shoot."

"The weather and logistics also conspired to make the shooting of the climactic arrival of the train especially difficult. About half a mile of track was built on site, but there were only two operational steam engines available to use, Mangold says, and the one in the movie came from Arkansas."

"We had to time the building of the track to the arrival of the train. And it was en route when the snowstorm hit. We had to dig everything out virtually by hand and shut down for almost two weeks to come out of the 3 1/2 feet of snow."

"At one point, the production ran out of money, so they couldn't complete the building of Contention, the bustling town where the train station is located."

"If you notice, there are some buildings in Contention that are half-built, that's the reason why."

"But it looks great," offers Mangold. "Some of the things that happened unfolded so organically in the right way, we were pleased with the results.”

Filed September 18, 2007