On Location in Santa Fe: halflife* and Jane Got a Gun

Westerns have a way of finding their way to halflife* — and Jane Got a Gun (2016) gave us the chance to work alongside another high-profile cast on New Mexico soil. The film, a Weinstein Company release starring Natalie Portman, Joel Edgerton, and Ewan McGregor, was shot on location in Santa Fe, and halflife* was brought in to produce the EPK, sitting down with Ewan McGregor and Rodrigo Santoro on camera.

Jane Got a Gun tells the story of a frontier woman who calls on an ex-lover to help defend her wounded husband from a gang of outlaws bent on revenge — led by McGregor's menacing John Bishop. The film also features Noah Emmerich and Boyd Holbrook, with cinematography by Mandy Walker that leaned into the rugged beauty of the New Mexico landscape the production called home.

The film had a long and well-documented road to the screen, surviving director changes and a distributor's bankruptcy before finally landing in theaters — and critics took note of what made it through the other side. Variety praised Natalie Portman as "persuasive and compelling" in the lead role, and reviewers across the board pointed to the cinematography as a standout, capturing the same New Mexico terrain halflife* calls home.

For our team, it was another chance to do what we do best: get behind the camera with A-list talent and help tell the story of how a film comes together — on the ground, in the dirt, in the middle of the New Mexico high desert that keeps drawing Hollywood back.