Stars take a shine to Manitoba – Winnipeg Free Press

When someone famous is looking for a bite to eat or somewhere to check out in Winnipeg, Kenny Boyce is frequently the guy to ask.

Boyce has led the city’s film and special events team for nearly 30 years, so he usually has a tailor-made answer at the ready.

He’ll consider a variety of factors, including the neighbourhood they’re in, the time of year and weather, their tastes and dietary restrictions, if any.

Boyce likes the classic spots — Rae and Jerry’s, India Palace, among others — but he’ll sometimes surprise guests with a spot a little more off the beaten path, like Luda’s Deli or Baraka Pita Bakery.

“I grew up in the North End, so if I can ever take them back into my neighbourhood, I will,” he says with a laugh.

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Kenny Boyce, manager of Winnipeg’s film and special events, says it’s still a thrill to provide personalized recommendations to big stars.

Lately, it feels like Winnipeg has been teeming with film sets and the actors that come with them.

Some have embraced the city with open arms: most recently, American actor Blake Anderson, 41, extolled the fatboy-style burger, a local staple, and called VJ’s Drive Inn’s version “one of the top five burgers” he’d ever had in his life on a podcast he co-hosts with his Workaholics co-stars.

During a podcast with Seth Myers last summer, Bob Odenkirk, 63, who was in the city filming action flicks Nobody 2 and Normal in 2024, called Winnipeg “an amazing, interesting place,” recommending a walk through “beautiful” Wolseley and the Exchange District. The Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul actor took in a Jets game, threw out the first pitch at a Goldeyes game and, generally, made himself at home.

It’s hard for Boyce to pick his favourites among the celebrities he’s met and hung out with over the years, but he fondly remembers a late-night meal with Kiefer Sutherland in the late 1990s, a visit from Malcolm McDowell that’s turned into a years-long friendship, and taking the Kids in the Hall to a downtown nightclub.

“It feels good. It instils civic pride.”

It’s not all restaurants and nightlife, either: Boyce says he’s been asked for all kinds of recommendations, including where Ed Sheeran could buy a guitar and where Eric Clapton could rent a bicycle.

Manitoba might be a popular place to shoot films and TV series because of its generous tax credits, but making famous people who are working here temporarily feel welcome and comfortable is gratifying, Boyce says.

“It feels good. It instils civic pride,” he says.

“You’re talking about my town, what a great experience you’re having, and it’s something that I already know, right? It warms my heart.”

A few local businesses — and an entire rural town — have made lasting impressions.

A peek into the kitchen at Deer + Almond reveals a wall that, at first glance, appears to be filled with indiscriminate scribbles.

Owner and chef Mandel Hitzer points out the scrawls are meaningful; autographs, accolades and gratitude from a lengthy list of famous diners who’ve enjoyed their visits to the popular restaurant.

A favourite, but faded one is from Samuel L. Jackson, thanking the restaurant for its “dope-ass dishes.”

MIKE DEAL / FREE PRESS

Chef and owner Mandel Hitzer, showing off the celebrity wall in his restaurant Deer + Almond, which contains at least one signed endorsement he’s considering keeping for himself.

“One day, when my time has come and I move on from the space, I might try to cut out a piece of it, frame it and take it with me, or something,” Hitzer says.

The Exchange District spot has become a go-to for visiting actors, musicians, artists and other chefs over its 14 years. Hitzer rattles off a list of past patrons: actors Elijah Wood, Jennifer Tilly, Woody Harrelson and Sean Penn; musicians Sheeran and LCD Soundsystem’s James Murphy, and the Barenaked Ladies.

Henry Winkler of Happy Days fame, and more recently, Barry, called the restaurant “out of this world delish” on social media after ordering lobster, scallops and schnitzel in November 2024. He, too, was in town shooting Normal and, on more than one occasion, tweeted about enjoying the city, including the Winnipeg Art Gallery.

Hitzer has a method, recommended by a staff member, for breaking the ice with a recognizable diner: he’ll tell them they look familiar, and then ask if they went to high school together.

It worked, most recently, on Stranger Things star Natalia Dyer. But it’s rare for other people in the restaurant to get worked up over a famous visitor, he says, because Winnipeggers are, typically, low-key and polite, waiting until their prey has finished the meal to ask for a photo or a signature.

Winnipeg Beach is on its way to a much-needed revitalization. Just ask the mayor.

In the past, the Lake Winnipeg cottage town slowed down after the Labour Day weekend, when a big chunk of the summer population heads back to school and work. But lately? Not so much.

The last few years have instead been abuzz with campers, food trucks, set dressings and props. After Nobody 2 wrapped production in summer 2024, Normal began shooting in the fall. People working on the upcoming film Sticks and Stones were in the area last month, checking out the local curling rink.

MIKAELA MACKENZIE / FREE PRESS FILES

Bob Odenkirk on the Nobody 2 film set at Winnipeg Beach back in August 2024.

“We’re having a bit of a boom right now, which is a good thing,” Mayor Stan Potten says.

Potten, who has been mayor for less than a year, says he didn’t expect encounters with Hollywood location scouts would be part of the job.

“Some of them, they just come and drive around, then they come to the town office and say, ‘Hey, would you be interested?’” he says.

The Hollywood-heads-to-the-lake novelty has sparked what Potten describes as a uniquely new interest in the town. Visitors drove in from Winnipeg and beyond to sneak a peek at Odenkirk and the filmmaking process from the boardwalk.

While the action hasn’t been limited to Winnipeg Beach — a massive movie studio opened in Niverville last year — Potten says he hopes his town and other rural communities become destination spots for studios looking for places to film.

Potten says getting tourists to come back and attracting businesses to set up shop permanently is a priority for him. It’s hard to say if movie magic will help, he says, but it can’t hurt, either.

“The more attention you can get, the better it is,” he says, sounding like a politician… or a celebrity. “There’s never any bad publicity, as long as they’re mentioning your name.”

Jon Hamm seemed to be everywhere in town in November and December.

While filming upcoming true-crime series American Hostage, the 54-year-old Mad Men star and other cast members were photographed at 529 Wellington, a Jets game, the 2025 Grey Cup and — road trip! — a family-owned movie theatre just outside the city.

A month after Hamm, with actors Paul Walter Hauser and Johnny Pembleton, caught The Running Man at Flicks Cinema in Stonewall, co-owner Griffin Levenec said he’s still taking questions about meeting the trio.

“It’s been cool because a lot of people are coming in and asking about it,” he says. “I don’t mind telling the story.”

RYLEY BUCHALTER PHOTO

Flicks Cinema co-owner Griffin Levenec (second from left) says word of the visit by actors Paul Walter Hauser (from left), Jon Hamm and Johnny Pembleton has boosted business.

Levenec, who operates the theatre with his family, said the visit created a new market for Flicks; some Winnipeggers have decided it’s worth the trip to screen a movie in Stonewall.

“We were trying to find our moment, like, how are we breaking into the city?” he said. “Because around town here, pretty much everyone here knows we’re back… our main goal is trying to get people from outside of the immediate area, and it’s definitely helped with that.”

Back in Winnipeg, Hamm riffed with a server and cook at Vera Pizza after stopping by for a meal in November: when they asked for a photo, Hamm jokingly asked the pair — both mustachioed men with similar looks — if they were brothers.

Owner Terik Cabildo says there weren’t many famous faces in the south Osborne Street restaurant during the decade after it opened in 2014. But in the last year, there have been celebrities aplenty, he says.

Vera hosted a private dinner for the cast of American Hostage, including Hamm, Giovanni Ribisi and director Adam Arkin in November and, in September, actors Joe Pantoliano and Jared Harris visited while filming Violent Night 2.

Cabildo isn’t sure how his eatery got on the A-list.

“I think all it takes is one person that likes your restaurant and then recommending it to whoever’s in production,” he says.

The visits have been especially exciting for staff and regular customers, he says, describing the feeling as a “Winnipeg-ism” — the underdog quality that compels Winnipeggers to prove how great the city is to visitors.

“Which is funny, because, on a side note, I think we don’t need to do that,” Cabildo says.

“But I think we have that in us of wanting to show outsiders it’s great here. I hope you like it just as much as we do.”

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