STORY BY KAREN BOSSICK

PHOTOS BY KIRSTEN SHULTZ

The Sun Valley Film Festival brought some serious star power to the stage this week with 2025 Golden Globe recipient Demi Moore and Ali Larter who co-stars with Moore in the hit series “LANDMAN.”

But it was a little star who weighs all of about a pound who got the most “ooohs” and “awwws” from a full house at The Argyros in Ketchum.

“I think, ‘How lucky I am to be on a show that people are watching,” Ali Larter tells George Prentice of Boise State Public Radio as Pilaf snoozes on her Mom’s lap.

That would be Pilaf, a Chihuahua born in Thailand who accompanies Demi Moore nearly everywhere she goes. Moore’s daughter Tallulah found the peanut-sized pooch on Facebook during the COVID-19 pandemic. And, since, “Little Mouse Moore,” also known as the “Scorpio Pooch,” has been photographed with Moore in the world’s most famous museums, its fanciest restaurants and even on The Late Night Show with Stephen Colbert” and other talk shows.

“She looks stressed, doesn’t she?” Moore quipped, as Pilaf took one look at the audience, yawned and snuggled up against Mom.

The appearance of Moore and Larter coupled with a screening of an episode of “LANDMAN” was sort of like having a coffee klatch with neighbors. Only, in this case, it came with complimentary ginger-spiked cocktails as part of the holiday week event put on by the Sun Valley Film Festival.

Moore has lived in the Wood River Valley for decades, having come here with her former husband Bruce Willis. Together, they raised three daughters here while contributing to the cultural fabric of the community, what with Willis’s occasional appearances with his band and their invitation to Company of Fools to start up a theater company in the historic Liberty Theatre that they eventually gifted to the theater company.

Moore noted that her three daughters, all of whom grew up and attended school in Sun Valley, still have a love affair with the area.

“They’re all here now. My granddaughter goes to preschool in the school my children attended. It’s almost a little surreal.”

Larter bought a home here with her husband--actor Hayes MacArthur--during the COVID pandemic. It’s been refreshing, she said, to be able to be outside in the fresh air, around real people, enjoying connections in a place where “you don’t care what someone thinks about you.”

“We came with our children and skied and went home and said, ‘Is it possible that we could live there?’ ” recounted Larter, who with her husband has gotten involved with the Higher Ground therapeutic recreation program. “We made the choice to do it our way, to raise our children the way we wanted. We never guessed this is where we’d be raising our kids, but we feel very lucky to be here in this amazing magical town.”

Of course, the thing that brought them together on the stage of The Argyros was their roles in “LANDMAN,” a Paramount+ series directed by Taylor Sheridan who oversaw the wildly popular “Yellowstone” series and its “1883” and “1923” prequels.

“LANDMAN” is loosely based on a popular “Boomtown” podcast set during the Permian Basin oil boom in West Texas that took place in the early 2010s following new developments in oil drilling technology.

A man in the audience who is familiar with the oil industry said the oil scenes are pretty accurate. The show also evokes the memory of “Dallas”--the Ewing family, their massive empire and their decades of backstabbing, lust and greed.

Moore plays Cami Miller, a steel-nosed socialite wife who must deal with the possibility of losing her family ‘s M-Tex Oil Company following the death of her husband played by Jon Hamm. This year’s second season opened with her lashing out at skeptical oil company executives and bankers in a “Don’t f-k with me” moment, even as she learned her dead husband had been cooking the books.

Billy Bob Thornton plays Tommy, the man who went to work for Cami’s husband after the crash of 2008 bankrupted him. He must deal with his wild, fun-loving wife Angela (Larter), who likes to parade around in a shirt that barely covers her bright yellow bra, hold pirate-themed dinner parties and entice senior citizens to get drunk and live it up when they’re supposed to be exercising.

He also must deal with his estranged father played by Sam Elliott, a somewhat hot-tempered man who is dealing with the loss of his wife, and a cartel boss/investment banker who saved him from torture and death played by Andy Garcia.

The series is filmed in and around Fort Worth, Texas, shot like a movie thanks to its massive budget. While it gets hot there during March it’s a gift to work in the culture, Moore and Larter agreed.

It’s not just about the cowboys, said Larter, who debuted in “Varsity Blues” and became known as a scream queen after jumping into horror genre in “House on Haunted Hill” and such movies as “Resident Evil: The Final Chapter,” in which she teamed up with others to save the remnants of humanity.

“I’m talking about the women of Texas—how much they own their femininity,” she said

Most everything is shot in real locations.

“I think the whole community there takes a great pride in us being there,” said Moore, who starred in “GI.I. Jane,” “Ghost” and “A Few Good Men.”

The first season, which premiered in 2024, was action-packed and full of danger. This season is about family—not always a functional family, but a family with heart, said Moore.

“We talk a lot about legacy from the first episode--what Monty Miller and his wife built together—they started with nothing.”

It takes a lot of energy to play Angela, said Larter. “She’s so emotional…She wants to be accepted despite all the craziness.”

Both said they were jazzed to have Sam Elliott join the cast.

“Dancing with him was a dream,” said Larter. “He’s such a gift to the show. We love him.”

“He brings authenticity…such gratitude. And it’s such a treat working with Andy,” said Moore. “Everyone is so generous working the long hard hours in heat, whatever the challenges.”

Both had praise for Sheridan.

“There’s humor, action, drama but also an incredible ability to make each of our characters so unique.”

The director is incredibly demanding-like a helicopter parent, Moore said. “I don’t know how he’s standing at the end of the day.”

“LANDMAN” is about to wrap up season two of streaming on Paramount+. Filming is set to begin soon on season three.

“What makes the show work so well is we’re like a family. We enjoy each other’s company,” said Moore.

“It’s our show,” added Larter. “And I think people can feel when they watch it that we ‘re all there for each other, making it the best it can be.”