'The Wolf People' stalking North Idaho

Movie production set to begin shooting in area in 2006

HOPE -- Something is hiding in the hills of North Idaho, something that's been around for thousands of years ... something with claws and fangs and a thirst for revenge.

"No white person who has ever seen it," says one character in the script of "Wolf People - The Legend," "has lived to talk about it."

And that's how urban legends begin.

Daryl Hemmerich wrote the script for "The Wolf People" movie which is scheduled to begin shooting around Coeur d'Alene, Hayden, and Hope in 2006.

The Hayden man says he wants the movie to scare people -- and he wants them to walk out of the theater wondering if perhaps there's not a small grain of truth buried somewhere in the story that he wrote because he knew horror films can be produced relatively inexpensively.

"I hope we make it well enough so people question whether or not there ever was something like the wolf people out there," says Hemmerich.

"After all, we still question whether or not there's a Sasquatch."

Hemmerich has been acting and writing for 10 years -- his credits include "The End of Violence," "Illusion of Sin" and "Fearless," along with a crew slot on "The Deep End of the Ocean" -- but through it all, he's been looking for something he could finance and shoot himself.

"To do that," he says, "you have to pick a genre that you can shoot low budget and you want to make sure you're shooting something that will appeal to a wide audience. That's horror.

"People, especially young people, like to sit around and watch TV and get scared. What do kids stick in their VCRs at slumber parties? Something that will scare them to death."

And some of those below-the-beam horror movies become classics.

"Some become cult movies that will stay around forever," he says. "Movies that can make you more money than you've ever dreamed of, providing entertainment to generation after generation after generation."

The plot for "The Wolf People", he says, centers around three college couples who rent a house in the shrouded hills above Hope for a couple of weeks.

"One couple leaves from the North Idaho College campus and picks up the other two from the Hayden area before they go up U.S. 95 toward Hope," Hemmerich says.

"Along the way, they stop at a souvenir shop where they meet up with an Indian girl named Maya who warns them to be careful about where they go in the mountains. She tells them about the wolf people -- but they brush it off as a tourist draw."

They wind up hiring Maya, offering her $500 to help find the house they're renting and to cook for them during their week's stay. But Maya also ends up as something else: the sole survivor of the week.

"Because, hundreds of years ago, the Indians shared this land with the wolf people, not hunting them for food or sport, the wolf people let Maya go," Hemmerich says.

"The wolf people only kill white people."

Hemmerich -- and his company, Northwest Picture Company -- are currently negotiating lease arrangements for the house that will be used in the Hope segments. They're also looking to cast five female and three male principals, along with three other people to portray the fur-bearing marauders.

"It could be as many as 10," Hemmerich says. "We're being inundated by talent from California, but I prefer to hire local people with little to no experience because I think it's a great opportunity for somebody right here."

Along with Daryl Hemmerich, the movie's executives include Bill Yotter, associate producer, technical adviser and Web master; and literary and talent agent Jack Scagnetti.

More information about auditions for "The Wolf People" can be accessed at www.northwestpicturecompany.com. No telephone calls will be accepted.

"We came here three years ago," Hemmerich says. "We were in Thousand Oaks, Calif., but crime was creeping in and we started investigating North Idaho. We stumbled onto Coeur d'Alene, and then we stumbled onto Hayden.

"These days, you can write and act anywhere you want -- and this is a perfect example."