SAN MIGUEL DE ALLENDE, Mexico -- Just a short stroll from the cobblestone streets of this well-preserved colonial city, the old Rancho San Ignacio presents a breath-grabbing vista right out of the movies.
Hardy cactus and gnarled mesquite trees etch the foreground as grassy plain dissolves into the shadows of distant sloping hills.
Producer-director Francesca Fisher thinks movies -- and money -- when she gazes out over a desert scene in central Mexico that has served as the backdrop for dozens of films starring the likes of John Wayne and Antonio Banderas.
With the help of other investors, the New Zealand native bought the 250-acre ranch from Javier Origel -- a one-time cowboy extra in many Wayne westerns -- and has started work on a studio complex to be known as The Film Colony.
Scheduled to open fully in 2007, the $48 million project is designed to be a full-service, "one-stop shop" for foreign movie productions -- and to boost Mexico's respected, but resource-starved film industry, responsible for recent international hits like "Amores Perros," "Y Tu Mama Tambien," "El Crimen del Padre Amaro" and "21 Grams."
Fisher estimates the Film Colony will create about 650 temporary and full-time jobs. And she plans to operate a film school to expand the number of Mexico-based cinema technicians.
"We've come up with what we believe to be a world-class design," Fisher said in a telephone interview from New Zealand.
Mexico has lured many a foreign filmmaker with its beaches, jungles and deserts. In the 1960s and '70s, northern Durango state hosted westerns featuring John Wayne, Burt Lancaster and Ernest Borgnine.
More recently, the Baja California peninsula has provided dramatic land- and seascapes for such films as "Titanic," "Tomorrow Never Dies," "Deep Blue Sea," "Pearl Harbor" and "The Weight of Water."
This city of 76,000 people -- known for its "wedding cake" church spires, quaint byways and colonial architecture -- has been an enchanting backdrop for Mexican and foreign feature films as well as domestic soap operas and music videos.
Robert Rodriguez used San Miguel to film most of the third installment of his mariachi trilogy, "Once Upon a Time in Mexico," as well as a good portion of the second, "Desperado," both starring Banderas. Another Banderas movie, "And Starring Pancho Villa as Himself," produced by HBO, also was shot in San Miguel.
Robert Mitchum, Kim Novak, Rita Hayworth and Anthony Quinn were among the stars who could be found relaxing at the famed La Cucaracha cantina between shoots here or in Mexico City, 150 miles to the south.
Mexico already has two movie studios -- the capital's historic Churubusco studios used since the 1940s and Twentieth Century Fox's enormous Fox Studios Baja, built in 1996 just south of the California border for the filming of "Titanic."
San Miguel lacks that infrastructure, so filmmakers "haven't been dropping the kind of money in the state that could have been captured had there been more comprehensive facilities available," Fisher said.
The movie producer is among thousands of artists, writers and retirees who have been drawn to San Miguel. Many of the city's numerous art galleries, bookshops, restaurants and bed and breakfasts are owned by expatriates like Fisher, who says she "totally fell in love with San Miguel from the moment I stepped off the bus in 1984."
Banderas and members of the Rockefeller family are just two examples of the rich and famous with vacation homes here. Mayor Luis Alberto Villarreal estimates expatriates make up 10 percent of the population.
Fisher insists her aim is to build a business that is compatible with the natural beauty and cultural integrity of San Miguel and that will benefit area residents as much as tourists and movie makers.
The Film Colony will develop only 50 acres of the San Ignacio ranch, with the rest maintained as an ecological reserve, Fisher said. The project's initial phase is focused on rescuing distressed trees and threatened cacti, cleaning up polluted fields and educating neighbors on environmental protection.
A manmade lagoon surrounded by tropical plants and featuring a simulated Aztec pyramid -- which can double as a rock-climbing wall -- will serve both as movie backdrop and a weekend retreat for area families, Fisher said.
She said the Film Colony also plans to share water and power from its onsite plants with adjacent neighborhoods and will open its soccer fields and amphitheater to the people of San Miguel.
"This would be very important for the city's economy because we live off tourism, and the project would bring more," said Jesus Garcia Gonzalez, whose family has run a clothing shop in the city's historic center for 84 years. "There is no other source of work."
On the Net:
Fox Baja Studios: http://www.foxbaja.com
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