By Alice Bell
Photos courtesy of Stephanie Brown

The owls are ready for their close-up, Mr. Hansanov.

CDHM artist Stephanie Brown of Long Creek Studios was surprised at the mail in her CDHM box requesting a pair of her Barn Owls. She had a private chuckle to herself that surely this was a mistake, a Hollywood director couldn't possibly want scale miniature owls.

Not exactly.

"Director Ru Hasanov contacted me a week before Christmas and asked if I could make him some Barn Owls. He told me who he was and what he wanted and that is when I realized he had no idea the owls he saw in my CDHM gallery were to-scale miniatures. I quickly informed him that these particular owls were only an inch and a half big. I just couldn't imagine him needing miniatures and had a good private laugh to myself about the whole thing. I was correct, he had no idea," she said.

But Hasanov, a film maker from New York, did indeed want the owls. He just wanted them bigger. And better yet, he wanted her to make them. Good news for Stephanie, not so good time frame.

"Ru needed them before Jan. 2, 2010 and ordered them on Dec. 15, 2009. I had items I needed to order for these birds and couldn't start them until those items arrived. So, start to finish, I started them on Dec 20th and finished Dec 29th. I normally don't work so fast on birds but it was such a short time that I needed to work day and night and through the holiday to meet his deadline. The owls were mailed on the 30th of December."

And Stephanie breathed a sigh of relief and celebrated a late Christmas with her family.

Shot in Northern Maine, the film, "Force Majeure", is set for release next month. It was written and executive produced by David Kelley and directed by Hasanov.

According to the website for the film, the plot "manipulates the vehicle of stereotypical family drama to address issues of repression, guilt and familial identity. When the parents depart for a weekend of hunting, their rebellious daughter Sisi is left to care for the beloved family dog. Taking full advantage of her independence, Sisi summons her voracious lover. The parents return earlier than expected to find that something doesn't look right and someone needs to be punished..."

Owls aren't necessarily the first image that comes to mind from such a plot outline. Nevertheless Hasanov assured her they were essential to his film.      Continue the Article