Holy Matrimony
An entire Hutterite colony was built for this film, shot near Great Falls, and represented Alberta, Canada on screen. Hutterites are a religious group, living together in colonies, and are very successful farmers. Although they are sometimes confused with the Amish or the Mennonites, Hutterites have many modern conveniences including the most up-to-date farming equipment.
Although the story concerns Hutterites, the movie also had an "alien" connection. It was directed by Leonard Nimoy, who played Spock in the Star Trek television series and seven Star Trek movies and Joseph Gordon-Levitt, who played an alien on the television program 3rd Rock From The Sun. Coincidentally, this wasn't Joseph Gordon-Levitt's first time acting in a movie filmed in Montana. He played young Norman Maclean in the movie A River Runs Through It.
The production designer for Holy Matrimony had quite a challenge to re-create a Hutterite colony, a place he likened to a different world where time has stood still for 300 years. Colonies are very striking places, with each colony having a central building that houses the kitchen, dining room, and chapel. Next to that is the school house, and on either side of it are the long houses where people live. The crew met the challenge of constructing an accurate replica of a Hutterite colony in six weeks. Built on a ranch outside of Great Falls, it consisted of six buildings and six interiors. The set was torn down after the movie had finished filming.