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Even before Shiloh became a success as a film, producers Dale Rosenbloom and Carl Borack hoped to make the second in the series.

"While the second film complements the first, each stands on its own," says Borack. "In a sense the themes of Shiloh 2 are broader in scope. The first film is about a boy saving a dog; it’s about honesty and responsibility and doing the right thing. The second deals with a boy’s maturing and how he sticks by a decision to help another human being no matter how undeserving the person appears to be."

Shiloh 2 is also about redemption, exploring Judd’s mental turmoil much more deeply and how he develops the ability to change," elaborates Rosenbloom.

As Rosenbloom began adapting Shiloh Season, he again had a clear picture of how to translate Naylor’s intricately woven narrative into words that wouldn’t talk down to young audiences and would be a unique experience for both parent and child. "As with the first film, Carl and I are making a different brand of family film. We want our films to be real, to be well-acted and to treat children with dignity.

"Phyllis’s novels contain rich character drama that could easily be centered around two adults, instead of a boy and his dog. Unlike a lot of children’s authors, Phyllis Reynolds Naylor understates her morality lessons and in no way impedes one’s sheer enjoyment of reading," Rosenbloom says.

As pre-production for Shiloh 2 approached, Rosenbloom found that he had too many other projects on his slate to be able to write, produce and direct. So he and Borack brought on Sandy Tung, with whom he’d worked on two previous films and who shared his and Borack’s view that Shiloh 2 had a depth not usually found in most movies to which parents take their kids.

Says Tung, "Here’s a 12-year-old boy, instinctively wiser than even his own parents, deciding by himself to change Judd Travers not by hating him, but through love. It’s a very powerful moment when this cantankerous individual - who’s suffered through so much pain since his terrible upbringing - allows himself to express love.

"Marty shows an innate sensitivity missing in most young boys. I love having the chance to help show parents and kids that such a thing is possible," concludes the director.

The New Marty

In preparing Shiloh 2, the filmmakers agreed that as good as Blake Heron was in Shiloh, he was now too old for the part of Marty; so, along with casting director, Laura Schiff, they began seeking new youngsters.

"At the audition, Zack Browne seemed kind of familiar," Rosenbloom recalls. "It turned out he had read for the first Shiloh but at 10 was just a little too young then . Three years later, he was the right age and he gave us a great reading. And he’d seen Shiloh five times!"

Tung, who had worked successfully before with young talent, was also strongly in favor of the new casting choice. It was in the Rosenbloom-produced "Across the Tracks" that the director cast a young Brad Pitt in his first starring role.

"Frankly, I think Zack is headed for big things. In every scene he just lights up the screen."

The Returning Cast

Golden Globe, Tony and two-time Emmy winner Michael Moriarty reprises his role as the strong, but understanding father, Ray Preston. "Michael is so good at bringing his own personality to a role," says Sandy Tung. "He always find the essence of any character and blends it into the emotional side of his own life."

Judd Travers is again played by Scott Wilson, one of Hollywood’s acting treasures who began his career with a startling performance as Dick Hickock in Truman Capote’s classic thriller "In Cold Blood" and went on over the next 30 years to work with some of the best known filmmakers in the business: Sydney Pollock, John Frankenheimer, Walter Hill, Ridley Scott, Richard Brooks, Robert Aldrich, Tim Robbins, Norman Jewison, Francis Ford Coppola, to name a few.

A significant aspect of Shiloh 2 is the "relationship between Judd and Marty and how he brings out the humanity in the old guy. Judd realizes that it’s never too late for anyone to have a change of heart and that caring about your fellow human beings isn’t such a bad thing."

Wilson thinks it’s almost ironic that in his last two feature films he’s gone from saint to sinner. Recently, he starred in "Our God’s Brother," written by Pope John Paul II before he became Pope. "I play Brother Albert who eventually becomes a saint," says Wilson. "Before starting the film, I had an audience with the Pope and later sat right behind him during a screening at his summer residence outside Rome. Pretty exciting - especially when he complimented my performance. I’m not a Catholic but I knew I was in the presence of a Holy man. I think He’d like the values in Shiloh 2.

One of Shiloh 2’s most poignant scenes is the Prestons’ sympathetic visit to Judd Travers. When asked how he prepared for such an emotional scene, the actor was reluctant to share any performing secrets.

"I’m not quite sure how I did it. I may have drawn from something in my past but I’m not going to say what. I think it’s better if audiences just see the character and aren’t thinking of what might have helped an actor do a scene."

Scott says he’ll always be grateful to his longtime friend, Rod Steiger for suggesting him for Shiloh. "We’ve both been through a lot so it was great to work with him again." Scott first met Steiger when the two of them appeared in the 1967 film classic "In The Heat of the Night," for which Steiger was honored with an Academy Award as Best Actor.

"I still remember the first time I saw Scott, running across a bridge during our first scene together on that movie," says Steiger. "Since then, we’ve done ‘Lolly Madonna’ the first Shiloh and now this one. We’ve remained great friends and we share the sentiment that we’re both so lucky not have to toe the line in a 9 to 5 job somewhere!"

Well known for his roles in such classics as "The Pawnbroker," "The Court Martial of Billy Mitchell" and "On The Waterfront," the Oscar-winning actor talks about his decision to play the grandfatherly local doctor in the two Shiloh films.

"There are two very good reasons," says Steiger. "One is so my six-year-old son, Michael, and I can watch them together - family pictures without violence, mayhem or blood. And, frankly, the other reason is they’re darn good scripts."

Steiger explains that he had known Rosenbloom ever since the latter was a kid. After Rosenbloom sent him Shiloh to see if he’d play the role of Judd Travers, Steiger recalls, "I called Dale and told him I was probably a little old for Judd, but if he could build up Doc Wallace a bit, I would do it.

"To play Doc, I drew on my love for Michael," Steiger reveals. "It’s a good thing I’m doing the Shiloh movies. People are so used to seeing me in other kinds of parts. Now I’m more or less playing myself. Well, not quite - but it’s different enough, the kind of thing audiences don’t expect."

Tying it all together was Zack Brown who had fun with both actors. Of his on-screen adversary, Scott Wilson, the young actor notes, "In front of the camera, he was playing a mostly horrible guy," says Zack. "But when we weren’t shooting, he was

always kidding around. He had a way of getting you up even though you might be feeling down sometimes."

As for Steiger, Brown referred to the actor’s classic Playhouse 90 performance: "I didn’t get it at first because I never saw the play, but they kept kidding me every time he called me Marty."

The Author Visits

During the first week before the cameras, author Phyllis Reynolds Naylor paid a visit to the set of Shiloh 2 and had an enlightening experience.

"I wasn’t able to visit the first movie during production and this is really the first time I’d watched the filming of any movie," she remembers.

"I’m fascinated at how you can impart certain things on the printed page that might not have the same impact on film. When I first read the Shiloh scripts, it was a little hard to accept the changes. But when I saw the actual filming and how subtle nuances were captured - even if they had to be shot over and over - I discovered the essence of moviemaking and I ended up loving it," notes the author.

Naylor says when the first film opened, she went to a theater multiplex and stopped into one theater showing an action picture. All the kids were yelling and running up and down the aisles. "Then I moved over to an adjacent screen where Shiloh was playing. Every child was literally planted firmly in his or her seat, eyes on the screen, with no squirming or talking. I knew then my little beagle was in good hands."

While in Los Angeles, Naylor, much in demand as a speaker at schools and libraries throughout the country, was invited by the Wonderland Avenue School to meet third grade children who were studying all three Shiloh books.

"Kids love to compare things," says Naylor. "They want to know how much of Shiloh is real. As always, I tell them about the shy, trembling female dog I found along a river near the home of friends we were visiting in Shiloh, West Virginia, just up the hill from Friendly. My friends adopted her, named her Clover and she’s now the happiest dog in West Virginia - and also a celebrity!

"Children see in Shiloh, a youngster just like themselves, standing up to adults who, by virtue of age alone, hold all the cards. It’s important. It gives them hope – that wrongs can be righted."

Will the filmmakers complete the trilogy with a film version of Saving Shiloh? "Given the standards in some of today’s society, the Shiloh values become more and more important to families," says Borack. "We plan to make Saving Shiloh and we expect, as with the first movie, the entire filmed trilogy to become a permanent fixture with educational systems as companion pieces to the novels."