''Moondance Alexander'' is a 2007 American

comedy-drama film Comedy drama, also known by the portmanteau ''dramedy'', is a genre of dramatic works that combines elements of comedy and drama. The modern, scripted-television examples tend to have more humorous bits than simple comic relief seen in a typical ...

directed by

Michael Damian Michael Damian Weir (born April 26, 1962) is an American actor, recording artist, and producer, best known for his role as Danny Romalotti on the soap opera ''The Young and the Restless'', which he played from 1980 to 1998 and again in 2002-2004, ...

and written by Janeen Damian. The film was released in North America in October 2007. The story is shot on location in

Okotoks Okotoks (, originally ) is a town in the Calgary Region of Alberta, Canada. It is on the Sheep River, approximately south of Calgary. Okotoks has emerged as a bedroom community of Calgary. According to the 2016 Census, the town has a population ...

High River High River is a town within the Calgary Metropolitan Region of Alberta, Canada. It is approximately south of Calgary, at the junction of Alberta Highways 2 and 23. High River had a population of 14,324 in 2021. History The community take ...

and

Calgary Calgary ( ) is the largest city in the western Canadian province of Alberta and the largest metro area of the three Prairie Provinces. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806, makin ...

Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

and is based on actual events from the life of Janeen Damian. It stars former ''Summerland'' co-stars

Kay Panabaker Stephanie Kay Panabaker (born May 2, 1990) is an American zoologist and retired actress. She is best known for her roles as Jenny Garison in the 2009 reboot of '' Fame'', Debbie Berwick on ''Phil of the Future'', and Nikki Westerly on '' Summerla ...

as Moondance Alexander and

Lori Loughlin Lori Anne Loughlin (; born July 28, 1964) is an American actress. From 1988 to 1995, she played Rebecca Donaldson Katsopolis on the ABC sitcom ''Full House'', and reprised the role for its Netflix sequel '' Fuller House'' (2016–2018). Loughlin ...

as Gelsey Alexander. The movie co-stars

Don Johnson Donnie Wayne Johnson (born December 15, 1949) is an American actor, producer and singer. He played the role of James "Sonny" Crockett in the 1980s television series ''Miami Vice'', for which he won a Golden Globe, and received a Primetime Em ...

and Olympic-skating silver medalist

Sasha Cohen Alexandra Pauline "Sasha" Cohen (born October 26, 1984) is a retired American figure skater. She is the 2006 Olympic silver medalist, a three-time World Championship medalist, the 2003 Grand Prix Final Champion, and the 2006 U.S. Champion. S ...

Plot

Moondance (Kay Panabaker) is faced with the difficulties of her father's passing and her overprotective mother (Lori Loughlin). When she finds a lost pinto horse and discovers his jumping abilities, she convinces his owner Dante Longpre (Don Johnson) to train them to compete in a mop show. With a lot more to think about, Moondance has to worry about her enemy Fiona Hughes (Sasha Cohen) putting her down constantly with her fancy horse Monte Carlo. When they do a surprisingly good job at the show, Dante isn't questioned anymore about his ability to train riders and horses. Everybody is shocked when Moondance ties Fiona, the reigning Bow River Classic champion.

Cast

as Moondance Alexander *

as Dante Longpre *

as Gelsey Alexander *

James Best Jewel Franklin Guy (July 26, 1926 – April 6, 2015), known professionally as James Best, was an American television, film, stage, and voice actor, as well as a writer, director, acting coach, artist, college professor, and musician. Duri ...

as Mr.McClancy *

as Fiona Hughes *

Whitney Sloan Whitney Sloan (born 21 August 1988 in London) is a British actress known for the role of "Hollywood Henderson" in the Disney Channel Original Movie '' Go Figure''. She has appeared in stage productions of ''West Side Story'', 'Fiddler on the R ...

as Megan Montgomery * Joe Norman Shaw as Ben Wilson *

Aedan Tomney Aidan or Aiden is a modern version of a number of Celtic language names, including the Irish male given name ''Aodhán'', the Scottish Gaelic given name Aodhan and the Welsh name Aeddan. Phonetic variants, such as spelled with an "e" instead o ...

as Josh Wilson *

Mimi Gianopulos Mimi Gianopulos is an American actress. She is best known for her supporting role as Molly in the 2012 film '' What to Expect When You're Expecting''. Career Gianopulos' first screen acting role was in the 2007 film ''Moondance Alexander'', starr ...

as Bella *

Landon Liboiron Landon Liboiron (born March 10, 1991) is a Canadian actor. He is best known for playing Declan Coyne in '' Degrassi: The Next Generation'' and his lead role as Peter Rumancek in Netflix's original series ''Hemlock Grove'' (2013–15). Early life ...

as Freddie

Behind the scenes

''Moondance Alexander'' was not well received by ''HorseChannel.com'' for storyline believability reasons. However, the story is closely based upon Janeen Damian's childhood experience of befriending a horse that she had found, receiving help from a trainer, and entering the horse in the Memphis Classic. ''Moondance Alexander'' is a true family film, written by Janeen Damian and husband Michael Damian (born Michael Damian Weir), Damian, a

Daytime Emmy Award The Daytime Emmy Awards, or Daytime Emmys, are part of the extensive range of Emmy Awards for artistic and technical merit for the American television industry. Bestowed by the New York–based National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences ...

winner, was also the producer of the film. Much of the music was written by Damian's brother, music producer and ''

New Music Weekly ''New Music Weekly'' is a nationally distributed trade magazine for the US radio and music industries. Following the tradition of Bill Gavin Bill Gavin (November 6, 1907 – January 27, 1985) was an American radio personality and publisher of th ...

'' editor,

Larry Weir Larry Anthony Weir (born April 11, 1952) is an American songwriter, composer, producer, promoter and managing editor of ''New Music Weekly'' magazine. Weir is best known for songs in the musical ''Teen Witch'' (1989), which has become an annual Ha ...

Emmy Award The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the calendar year, each with the ...

winning

Tom Weir Thomas Weir MBE (29 December 1914 – 6 July 2006) was a Scottish climber, author and broadcaster. He was best known for his long-running television series ''Weir's Way''. Early life and career Weir was born in Springburn, Glasgow, and the ...

was the mixing engineer at

Studio City Sound Studio City Sound is a recording studio located in Studio City, California. Grammy Award winning mixer, Tom Weir, purchased Fidelity Studios from Artie Ripp in 2002 and has updated and operated the facility as Studio City Sound since that time. Wei ...

. Checkers the horse was played by three horses, a horse for tricks, a horse for jumping and a horse for

to ride. Michael Damian recalled two of the horses names as Picasso and Trigger. The third horse's name is Spook.Ending credits of the movie names all three horses. ''Moondance Alexander'' received a U.S. General Audiences rating and was filmed in

Alberta, Canada Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada, provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three Canadian Prairies, prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to t ...

. , + , - , 2007 , ''Best Picture'' , Dixie Film Festival , , - , 2007 , ''Best Actress'' (

) , Dixie Film Festival ,

Soundtrack

The ''Moondance Alexander Original Soundtrack'' was the second soundtrack released under the Caption Records label.

Featured vocalists

* Mimi Gianopulos * Lea Herman *

Tessa Ludwick Tessa Ludwick (born October 5, 1988) is a Korean-born American actress from Apollo Beach, Florida. She began acting at the age of 5, when she held a lead role in ''Allegra's Window'', a Nick Jr. children's television program show taped at Univers ...

* Buck McCoy * Monét Monico *

Sara Niemietz Sara Niemietz () (born June 7, 1992) is an American singer/songwriter and actress based in Los Angeles, California. She has performed on Broadway, at Radio City Music Hall, and the Grand Ole Opry. A substantial portion of her YouTube offerings ...

* Ian Walsh * Laura Wight *

Heather Youmans Heather Youmans is an American dancer and singer-songwriter known for her soundtrack work on the feature films, ''Moondance Alexander'' (2007), ''Flicka 2'' (2010) and ''Marley & Me: The Puppy Years'' (2011). Youmans recently appeared on ...

Musicians

* Bernie Barlow, Vocals * Paul Bushnel, Bass * Michael Chaves, Guitar * Jorge Costa, Vocals (Background) *

, Percussion, Vocals (Background) * Milo Decruz Bass, Guitar, Keyboards, Percussion, Producer * Burleigh Drummond, Percussion * Blake Ewing, Vocals (Background) * Josh Freese, Drums * Joshua Grange, Guitar * Lea Herman, Keyboards, Vocals (Background) * Matt Laug, Drums * Lance Morrison, Bass * Ginger Murphy, Cello * Leah Nelson, Viola * Michael Parnell, Keyboards * Tim Pierce, Guitar * Cam Tyler, Drums * Ian Walsh, Bass, Guitar, Piano, Vocals (Background) * Kevin Walsh, Guitar * Larry Weir, Percussion, Vocals (Background)

Personnel

* Jorge Costa, Audio Engineer, Engineer * James Gaynor, Audio Engineer * Josh Mosser, Audio Engineer * Luke Tozour, Audio Engineer, Engineer * Tom Weir, Audio Engineer, Engineer

References

External links

Moondance Alexander
on Facebook * * * {{Michael Damian 2007 films 2007 comedy-drama films American comedy-drama films Films about horses Films set in Colorado American films based on actual events Films directed by Michael Damian Albums produced by Larry Weir Sara Niemietz songs 2007 comedy films 2007 drama films 2000s English-language films 2000s American films