Behind The Scenes Hayden Lake Art Directors Apply Movie Production Skills To Local Projects

For two decades, Pat Tagliaferro has built imaginary worlds - the stuff of movies.

He transported audiences to 1970s small town America in “My Girl,” to the terrifying depths of a killer’s mind in “First Power,” and to an out-of-control locomotive careening through the Alaskan wilderness in “Runaway Train.”

“You have to be able to do anything, at any time,” said Tagliaferro, a Hollywood art director with two dozen movies on his resume.

Now, in modern day Spokane, he whisks diners away to the cobblestoned streets of New Orleans in the new Bayou Brewing Co. restaurant, a themed restaurant which Tagliaferro designed.

The tinsel town pro is applying his Hollywood-honed skills to new sets - and these are closer to home. He’s helping to remake the look of the Inland Northwest.

“We’d like to bring Pat’s creativity to the area,” said Debi Tagliaferro, his wife and partner. “Maybe people will see that their environment can be entertaining.”

In addition to Bayou Brewing, Tagliaferro has designed and built props for Heroes, the themed restaurant at NorthTown Mall which celebrates the region’s sports stars.

Bayou Brewing’s owner, Steve Livingstone, has consulted Tagliaferro about designing other entertainment complexes, and Silverwood Theme Park management has asked for his help in designing attractions.

Tagliaferro’s talents also have been enlisted in developing a new themed restaurant in Coeur d’Alene.

“This is a great place to do all this stuff because there’s nothing here,” said Debi Tagliaferro.

“It’s a blank canvas,” added Pat. “If Coeur d’Alene wants to survive, it needs to come up with some interesting places. It’s crying for it.”

The desire to develop a local reputation led Tagliaferro to turn down a movie that could have scored him an Oscar nomination. “William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet” was nominated, but did not win, an Academy Award for art direction this year.

Tagliaferro was offered the movie, but turned it down to complete work on Bayou Brewing.

Tagliaferro’s children still are upset that their father didn’t do “Romeo and Juliet.” Daughter Brittany, 15, has a crush on starring actor Leonardo DiCaprio and son Patrick (Packy), 13, on actress Clare Danes.

“So they’re both kind of angry with us,” Debi Tagliaferro said.

It’s obvious that movies are Tagliaferro’s life. Though he prefers Hayden Lake over Hollywood, his reputation is solidly in L.A.

“I always call him first and he always comes through with flying colors,” said Joe Garrity, a production designer who has worked with Tagliaferro on about 20 movies.

“I wish I had him around now,” said Bill Badalato, a 20th Century Fox producer.

But after growing up in Southern California, both Pat and Debi Tagliaferro vow never to move back. They love movies, but not L.A., and they built their Hollywood career from North Idaho.

Some 22 years ago, Pat was a sculptor, and Debi, a potter. They sold their wares at art shows and moved to North Idaho after falling in love with the area while visiting a friend.

When a low-budget movie production enlisted their help with art direction on a film being made locally, they jumped at the chance.

The movie was never finished, but it helped Tagliaferro break into his dream job. He’d wanted to make movies since his childhood days of hanging out on the sets of westerns filmed in his hometown of Lancaster, 60 miles north of L.A.

Now the family of four has a beautiful home overlooking the Avondale golf course. Framed movie posters throughout the house provide a guided tour to Tagliaferro’s resume.

In the foyer, it’s “Runaway Train,” starring Jon Voight and Eric Roberts. In the TV room, it’s “Benny and Joon,” “The Son-in-Law’ and “My Girl.” In the hallway, “First Power” and “Firebirds.”

“Jason,” a pea-green 1963 Ford pickup driven by the homicidal maniac of the same name in Friday the 13th VI is parked in the driveway, filled with hacked up … yard debris.

“You always wind up with lots of memorabilia,” Tagliaferro said.

One wall of a downstairs room is covered with personal photos of movie stars. Notes from actor/director Christopher Guest are scattered on a bookcase.

But those mementos are the only part of Hollywood the Tagliaferros allow to seep into their home. The rest is solidly North Idaho - fishing boat, hunting rifles, pickup parked in the driveway.

“I think he just wants not to be here (L.A.),” Garrity said. “I think for the sake of his family, he prefers to be up there.”

Movies are a six-month long family affair for the Tagliaferros. Brittany and Packy have attended school in eight or nine different states and have grown up on the sets of a dozen movies.

First encounters with movie stars are old-favorite family stories told around the dinner table.

Like the time 2-year-old Packy met Ernie Hudson, the fourth and least famous of Hollywood’s Ghostbusters.

“Ghostbuster, Mom, Ghostbuster,” the child said.

And actor Nick Nolte was quickly reminded of his role as a bum in “Down and Out in Beverly Hills” when he met 4-year-old Brittany.

“Weren’t you the guy who ate dogfood?” she asked.

Art directors are involved in the look of a movie from every angle, including helping to choose the city or town where it’ll be filmed.

The fact that the Tagliaferros live in the area is part of why “Benny and Joon” was filmed in Spokane.

Badalato, the movie’s producer, has been a close friend for years and had visited the Tagliaferros in Hayden Lake. That’s how he became familiar with Spokane and thought it would be perfect for a movie.

Shortly after his visit, the Benny and Joon script landed on Badalato’s desk.

“I said to the director: ‘I know exactly where to shoot this.’ We never visited any other city or looked anywhere else,” Badalato recalled.

As art director, Pat Tagliaferro is second in command in designing a movie’s overall appearance. Known for his attention to detail, Tagliaferro goes to great lengths to create the right look.

When the 1991 movie “My Girl” called for the perfect weeping willow climbing tree next to the perfect lake, Tagliaferro found the lake quite easily near the Orlando, Fla., set.

Trouble was, the lake was missing a climbing tree. So Tagliaferro went out and found the climbing tree (an oak), bought it, had it cut and moved to the lake, and had it draped with fake willows.

“His great talent is to bring the idea into reality,” Garrity said. “I just pray to God he can figure it out.”

Tagliaferro said there are two reasons why he will agree to do a movie: if it’s a good art direction movie, meaning those in charge will let him do anything he wants, or if it’s a chance to make important connections and establish new contacts.

“It gives me the opportunity to really be around creative people,” he said. “That’s a great feeling. It’s one that gets in your blood and doesn’t get out, as crazy and neurotic as the business is.”

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: 2 color photos

MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: TAGLIAFERRO’S CREDITS Among the movies featuring Pat Tagliaferro’s art direction: Edwards and Hunt, starring Chris Farley and Matthew Perry, filmed in Los Angeles, to be released this summer. The Son-in-Law, starring Pauly Shore, filmed in Los Angeles, 1993. Benny and Joon, starring Johnny Depp, Mary Stuart Masterson and Aidan Quinn, filmed in Spokane, 1992. My Girl, starring Dan Aykroyd, Jamie Lee Curtis, Macaulay Culkin and Anna Chlumsky, filmed in Orlando, Fla., 1991. First Power, starring Lou Diamond Phillips, filmed in Los Angeles, 1989. Weeds, starring Nick Nolte, filmed in Wilmington, N.C., 1987. Runaway Train, starring Jon Voight, Eric Roberts and Rebecca De Mornay, filmed in Alaska, Montana, and Los Angeles, 1985.