WEST TURIN — A bit of Tug Hill is trumping the Hollywood Hills.

Directors of a movie that will star Angelina Jolie, looking for a snow-covered area for one scene, are focusing on a farm in Lewis County as a possibility. Jolie won’t be on hand for the shoot.

Mark Higby, owner of 250 acres of farmland and four blue landmark silos on Crofoot Hill Road, said he has been approached by Columbia Pictures to use his property for the backdrop of a movie scheduled to open in 2010.

"Salt," with Jolie as its star, is a spy thriller about a rogue CIA operative who tries to clear her name after she is accused of being a Russian agent — perhaps falsely, perhaps not. You have to see the movie.

Higby’s property was chosen by the film production company for a scene for the film, after a movie scout visited to the area.

It may only be seen for an instant, he noted. But whether Columbia Pictures makes the trip back to Tug Hill for filming is all dependent on the snow, Higby said.

Originally production crews were scheduled to arrive in the Boonville, West Turin and Port Leyden areas last Friday, but due to scheduling conflicts, everything was placed on hold, Higby said. Now the latest plans, Higby said, are for Columbia to begin filming sometime late next week. He said he understood the cast members and crew would be staying at the Edge Hotel in Lyons Falls.

"They’ve been calling me every day to ask how much snow we have, and I’ve e-mailed pictures back to them," Higby said of Columbia. "I even went out to measure it yesterday. We do still have snow here, but it’s getting quite thin. We have everything from 2 feet to bare spots."

Dan Welch, a location scout for Columbia Pictures, had been surveying the area and several local farms for the ideal place for the shoot.

"They told me they went on some major weather or oceanic website looking for an area that had the most snow for this time of year, and the Tug Hill came up in their search," Higby said. "Then they came up here to check things out."

Higby’s farm totals 250 acres, but Columbia is only interested in filming on 70 acres of vast, bare property, he said. With the magic of computers and special effects, a Russian monastery will be placed on Higby’s 70 acres. The scene is supposed to show a flashback to a time when Jolie’s character is just a child, so Higby said he’s sad to say he’s expecting no visit from Jolie during filming.

"The land is going to be set with a Russian monastery in the middle. I guess in the movie there are orphans who are staying there who are actually training with KGB agents," Higby explained. "It’s supposed to be looking back at the spy’s life. There’s supposed to be children hiding in the snow. They will be coming with some child actors to shoot the scene. So Angelina won’t be here."

Asked how much his property would be used in the movie, Higby laughed.

"I actually asked them how long the scene would be, and they said just about an instant," he said.

But to film that instant, Higby said movie crews are expected to be at his property for at least two days. They may also need another day just to pack up their heavy equipment and move it out on the big trailers, he said.

Higby said he is receiving some kind of compensation for Columbia’s use of his land, but he wouldn’t disclose that figure.

"It’s not as much as you think it would be," he laughed.