NEW IN TOWN - Visual Hollywood

- 9 -mined the comic possibilities of Lucy clashing with the small town, rural lifestyle of NewUlm. “The drastic change she undergoes from Miami to New Ulm made the potential forcomedy endless,” says Cox.Hoping to capture the authentic spirit of New Ulm, the filmmakers worked hard tocreate a diverse, believable supporting cast, bringing J.K. Simmons, Frances Conroy andSiobhan Fallon Hogan aboard for major supporting characters. Simmons, widely knownfor his role as the father of a pregnant teen in the indie hit, JUNO, gained 35 pounds toplay Stu Kopenhafer, a New Ulm local and no-nonsense, blue-collar guy who clasheswith Lucy‟s corporate values. Hogan plays the vital role of Blanche Gunderson, acharacter who reflects the town‟s warmhearted community spirit and develops anunlikely friendship with Lucy.One formidable challenge awaited the production when shooting began inWinnipeg: they found themselves in the midst of record-breaking winter temperatures of-47 °C (-52.6 °F). “It was like working on the moon,” recalls Zellweger. “Most peopledon't even know what 57 below feels like. You freeze to death in two minutes. Anythingthat's exposed to the elements you lose.” Equipment literally froze, halting all filming.When they worked, cameras couldn‟t roll for longer than a minute, otherwise the heatthey generated would fog up the lenses.“We launched an entire new vocabulary,” says Zellweger. “Your face is so frozenthat you'll be filming and you don't know that you've been tearing up until your eyelashesare frozen together. Those are lash-cicles. And the guys had beard-cicles. My personalfavorite is when your mouth gets numb and you can barely talk. You have no sensationat all, so you get nostricles. Those are sexy.”In one memorable scene, Zellweger had to brave the worst of the cold in the leastamount of clothes, as Lucy arrives from Miami in Minnesota completely unprepared forthe cold weather. “During Renée‟s scenes, we had people standing just outside of theframe with warm jackets and warm tents,” said Elmer. “It was unbelievably cold for her