DAVID MANZANARES had just finished college and was back at the family ranch in Abiquiú when a London-based photography crew showed up, hoping to shoot fashion stills. They were drawn to the centuries-old ranch by its flaming red willows, but Manzanares also wanted to help them scout other cool backgrounds—old trucks, horses, and weathered buildings. That was 1989, and Manzanares was so good at the job that he’s now spent more than three decades working in New Mexico’s film industry as a top location scout and locations supervisor/manager. He’s also a producer, actor, and musician. He’s had a hand in music videos, commercials, and some 50 indie and blockbuster films. Manzanares and his wife, Andie, were inducted into the New Mexico Film and Television Hall of Fame in 2023. They serve as the field producers for Ghost Ranch, the primary location for Oppenheimer.
TODD CHRISTENSEN, FORMER DIRECTOR of the New Mexico Film Office, called me in October 2021 and said he was working on a project in New Mexico that needed a cliff overlooking a big valley. I told him I needed a little more detail: “Is it a period piece, a sci-fi?” He said, “I can’t talk about it.” In this industry, we have nondisclosure agreements, so this is a back way into it.
Finally, Todd said, “It’s a period piece set in 1940s New Mexico, and somewhere in New Mexico, we need a main site to build.” Without that main site, the project would have moved out of state. I had a few places in mind, including one at Ghost Ranch with a wide-open vista. Once Todd and I were standing at that panoramic, sweeping, cinematic location, we FaceTimed Thomas Hayslip, the executive director of Oppenheimer, to show him. When he saw the view, he said, “This is it. This is what’s needed to help support the narrative of the story.”
I oversee everything at Ghost Ranch. A gazillion department heads are hired, and they all have their requests pointed at me, from the initial light studies to the surveyors surveying the whole town. The builders come in and fabricate on set, then the art department paints, and the prop people make it all look real. The set took three months to build.
We kept the cabins, but not the white buildings. So now we have a movie set that can be used for Westerns. That’s the beauty of filming in New Mexico. For me, it’s always amazing to see Ghost Ranch on the screen. But to be part of the picture that wins Best Picture at the Academy Awards, that’s incredible. I’m so proud of working with the amazing New Mexico crew.