FILMING BEGINS
Finally the exciting day arrived in September 2009. The first person from the film that I met is my now wonderful friend Shaun O'Banion (my man!). Shaun and I had a few days to get to know each other before filming started which was fun.
Amanda Plummer came a couple of days before we started filming so we could get to know each other better. We had costume fittings, and just spent time together in town and at our hotel. She is an amazing actress who knew from her experience that this would be very important. I am so grateful and think she was wonderful to take that extra time for us to get to know each other better so we would be better prepared and natural as mother and son when filming started. I am so lucky for all she taught me, but also because now I consider her a good friend.
Working with Jackson Rathbone was so much fun! He came to Boston to film GIRLFRIEND when he was also filming ECLIPSE in Vancouver, so he was on a plane flying back and forth ALOT. He is one busy guy!
The first day Jackson arrived to begin filming his role of Russ was very exciting for me. I actually called it "Rathbone Day!". He worked very hard since he had a lot to do on the days he could be in Boston. I think his performance in GIRLFRIEND is amazing. His character Russ can be a jerk, but in real life Jackson is a really nice and friendly guy, and now I think of him like a brother. I loved working with him. I've also had alot of fun when Jackson and our wonderful producer Jerad Anderson have had me introduce their amazing band '100 Monkeys', who play wonderful, fun music. (They also scored GIRLFRIEND!) I am so glad and grateful that Jackson put so much time and energy into GIRLFRIEND. I know he had to drink a lot of coffee to do it and had to get his sleep on the airplane trips to Vancouver and back to Boston too.
Shannon Woodward is a person with a good heart and is also a talented young woman.
Shannon arrived a day or two after Amanda, so we had a little time to spend together also, so we could get to know each other a little bit, like going out to breakfast with Amanda and to Dunkin Donuts alone. During filming, before our scenes together, Shannon would talk with me about how her character, Candy, was feeling in the scene, in general and also her feeling toward my character, Evan Grey. This was helpful to me when I was acting in the scene with her. I wish her the best on her new show, RAISING HOPE, and on any other future projects too.
The night before filming began, Justin and his family hosted a dinner where all the people who would be working together on GIRLFRIEND got to meet each other. The dinner was so much fun and everyone was so nice. Boy, was I excited for the next day, when filming of GIRLFRIEND was actually going to start!
ACTION!!!
The first day arrived and I was driven to the set, went to see June Suepunpuck for my costume and then Jill Sanders for my makeup (Jill had also done my makeup on THE REPLACEMENT CHILD). I was prepared for my scenes and I couldn't wait to get started. Every day was so much fun. Everyone works very hard when you make a film. Sometimes the days can be long and the weather can be bad, but I don't mind it at all because I love acting so much! I loved the experience no matter how long the days were or how bad the weather was.
I would like to talk about some of the other actors I enjoyed working with very much, besides my co-stars.
First, in a smaller role as a friend of Evan Grey's named Andy, is my lifelong friend in real life, Dan Turnbull. Dan and I met each other in kindergarten and he has been such a wonderful friend who has done so much for me in my life. I value his friendship very very much. Another actor in a small role has been my friend in real life since 5th grade. That is Darren McDonald who plays Andy's brother, Darren. He's a great guy and a good friend too. I think Dan and Darren did amazing work in GIRLFRIEND. Their roles may be small, but there is a saying in acting..."there are no small parts, only small actors". They were so good together. I don't want to give too many details to spoil it, but I know people will see what I mean when they see the movie.
I also got to work with Dan's real life dad, Joe Turnbull again. Joe actually played my dad and boss in THE REPLACEMENT CHILD. I think Joe did a wonderful job in both films. It was very comfortable for me to work with Joe since I've known him in real life for a long time.
Playing the role of my Uncle Jeremy in GIRLFRIEND is Seth Chatfield. It was fun working with Seth. He is such an amazing and kind person. Besides acting, Seth is a talented musician and singer. He was also the Production Designer for GIRLFRIEND.
I first met Harrison Lees, who plays my boss in GIRLFRIEND when I acted in THE REPLACEMENT CHILD, where he was the Production Designer. As my boss in GIRLFRIEND he is not very nice, but in real life Harrison is a very nice person.
Then of course there is Nate Krawshuk who played Simon, Candy's son. I first met Nate when I came to read with the different children who were auditioning for the part of Simon. Everyone did a good job, but I was very happy that Nate was cast. Nate did a great job as Simon and was very well behaved and professional on the set. He is a sweet little boy. We got to know each other a little more in makeup. I learned he likes to play Star Wars and other games as well. Nate and his family are all very nice.
Making a movie takes a lot of people, not just actors. Some people work on a film way before filming starts, a lot of people during filming and others once filming is done. Everyone's job is important, so I wanted to mention some of the other talented people who worked on GIRLFRIEND. Of course there is my friend from junior year of high school, the talented director, Justin Lerner. Our wonderful producers Jerad and Kristina Anderson, and Shaun O'Banion, and Co-Producers Sarah Steinberg Heller and Jackson Rathbone. Associate Producer Scott Kirkley, but there are so many others too. Sweet and loving June Suepunpuck (costumes); wonderful Jill Sanders (makeup); nice and amazingly talented Cinematographer Quyen Tran; Sound Mixer, Eric Bautista who had worked on Steve Carrell's 'Evan Almighty' and was so funny because he'd call me Evan Almighty on the set; 1st Assistant Director Mike Whitecar who I would call Dr. Whitecar because when I had a cold he made sure to get my medicine; gaffer, Tom Clancy who is a really nice guy and would joke with me asking me to sing the morning song ("Oh What A Beautiful Morning" from Oklahoma); sweet and caring Nicole Rivera and Cecilia Chapman; and of course wonderful Kathy Conzen, Kristina Anderson's mom who was in charge of craft services. Not only did Kathy make sure I had nice warm drinks and warm noodle soup on cold days on the set, she became like a surrogate mom to me on set, making sure I got my cold medicine on time. She worked hard and took such good care of everyone.
When filming wrapped there were more people who helped make GIRLFRIEND, like our amazing editor Jeff Castelluccio; Daniel Perlin who did our Sound Design and Mixing in Brooklyn. He also did ADR with me and of course the 100 Monkeys wonderful music. There are so many more people who helped too. Too many to list. I just think I am so very lucky because everyone was so very nice.
Check back for Part III.
Showing posts with label Shannon Woodward. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Shannon Woodward. Show all posts
Monday, March 21, 2011
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
Re: GIRLFRIEND MEETS INDIEGOGO.
Some of you have been wondering why, at this stage, we need to raise funding for GIRLFRIEND...
This may give you some indication: Kevin Smith revealed at Sundance last week that, due to the costs of marketing and publicity, it took 7 years for his first film (CLERKS) to get out of the red and into profit. That film cost, in total, $27,575.00. Think about that. A film which cost under thirty thousand dollars took SEVEN YEARS to turn a profit.
I bring up profit for only one reason: Because the costs of setting bookings, getting prints made, placing ads in local newspapers, buying ad time on tv, cutting a new trailer and making new versions of the poster... are in many cases more expensive than making the actual film.
Those of us who make indie films are used to the numbers that Kevin Smith spoke about. DAKOTA SKYE is not in profit yet. Hell, Paramount would have you believe they only recently broke into profit on TITANIC – a film which grossed over a billion dollars worldwide!
Profits, obviously, are what repay the costs I mentioned earlier. But, if you can’t get into enough theaters and DVD ends up your only option, the idea of repaying those costs virtually disintegrates.
So we had to think very carefully about what to do next.
We could have sat back and hoped that, in our initial playdates and cities, we'd make enough of a splash to prove that there is an audience for this film – an eager fanbase hungry for a story that is not a sequel or a set-up for a franchise; That there is still an interest in indie art-films, Jackson Rathbone’s career or even a film which offers a role to someone with a developmental disability in which he isn't playing just a character with a single line, but is, in fact, the star. We could've done that… waited patiently, holding our breath… but we didn't. We couldn't.
We want to share the film with you, the audience, and allow as many people to see it on a big screen as possible – to hold off the inevitable journey to DVD so that the film can be experienced, the way it was meant to be – in a darkened theater with a bucket of popcorn.
So wait, what does this mean? Basically, it means that your donation allows us to immediately confront the costs involved with marketing, publicity and preparing the film for release.
In the last few years, the film markets (like others) have turned, and getting your film out into the world got a lot more difficult. The model for how to do it has changed – but there isn’t really a new model to follow. It’s just kind of like, “hey, kid, figure out what you think works best for your film.”
Kevin Smith (who I mentioned earlier) is distributing his own film, charging $68.25 for nosebleed seats and up to $142.70 for a screening of RED STATE at Radio City Music Hall… and he’s not doing any publicity beyond Twitter - that's how much prints, marketing and publicity costs! To recoup the budget of his film (a little under $4 million), plus prints and a road trip, he needs to charge those prices for a venue with 5,931 seats (according to Wikipedia).
Our method, after a lot of thought and discussion was to come to you, our supporters – people who have been contacting us constantly to ask when and where they can see the film.
You are, arguably, a smaller group than, say, Kevin Smith’s View Askew fanbase, but no less mobilized. And so we have now partnered with IndieGoGo, one of the premiere crowd-sourcing sites on the web.
Believe me, I can see how this may have seemed odd to you at first, but with Sundance recently announcing a strategic partnership with Kickstarter and crowd-sourcing quickly becoming a great avenue for financing projects, we felt like there was no longer a stigma attached.
So there you have it. If you want to see the film, and you believe in what you’ve heard and seen in the trailer and online reviews… if you want to support as a fan of the various cast, or you just believe that Justin Lerner may be a filmmaker to keep your eye on… then do what feels right. If you’re flat broke, don’t feel bad. We understand… we’re indie filmmakers, remember?
Even if you can’t support the film monetarily, you can still help by spreading the word. If you send enough people this link, IndieGoGo or you paste the widget from the site into your email and your friends or family each make a small contribution, the movie may just come to your town anyway! And, in case you’ve forgotten, once we reach our goal, we hope to make a shared contribution to NDSS (National Down Syndrome Society) and NDSC (National Down Syndrome Congress).
In closing I’ll just say thank you again… for your support and your belief in us and the film. The film is for you. We can't wait for you to see it.
Shaun
This may give you some indication: Kevin Smith revealed at Sundance last week that, due to the costs of marketing and publicity, it took 7 years for his first film (CLERKS) to get out of the red and into profit. That film cost, in total, $27,575.00. Think about that. A film which cost under thirty thousand dollars took SEVEN YEARS to turn a profit.
I bring up profit for only one reason: Because the costs of setting bookings, getting prints made, placing ads in local newspapers, buying ad time on tv, cutting a new trailer and making new versions of the poster... are in many cases more expensive than making the actual film.
Those of us who make indie films are used to the numbers that Kevin Smith spoke about. DAKOTA SKYE is not in profit yet. Hell, Paramount would have you believe they only recently broke into profit on TITANIC – a film which grossed over a billion dollars worldwide!
Profits, obviously, are what repay the costs I mentioned earlier. But, if you can’t get into enough theaters and DVD ends up your only option, the idea of repaying those costs virtually disintegrates.
So we had to think very carefully about what to do next.
We could have sat back and hoped that, in our initial playdates and cities, we'd make enough of a splash to prove that there is an audience for this film – an eager fanbase hungry for a story that is not a sequel or a set-up for a franchise; That there is still an interest in indie art-films, Jackson Rathbone’s career or even a film which offers a role to someone with a developmental disability in which he isn't playing just a character with a single line, but is, in fact, the star. We could've done that… waited patiently, holding our breath… but we didn't. We couldn't.
We want to share the film with you, the audience, and allow as many people to see it on a big screen as possible – to hold off the inevitable journey to DVD so that the film can be experienced, the way it was meant to be – in a darkened theater with a bucket of popcorn.
So wait, what does this mean? Basically, it means that your donation allows us to immediately confront the costs involved with marketing, publicity and preparing the film for release.
In the last few years, the film markets (like others) have turned, and getting your film out into the world got a lot more difficult. The model for how to do it has changed – but there isn’t really a new model to follow. It’s just kind of like, “hey, kid, figure out what you think works best for your film.”
Kevin Smith (who I mentioned earlier) is distributing his own film, charging $68.25 for nosebleed seats and up to $142.70 for a screening of RED STATE at Radio City Music Hall… and he’s not doing any publicity beyond Twitter - that's how much prints, marketing and publicity costs! To recoup the budget of his film (a little under $4 million), plus prints and a road trip, he needs to charge those prices for a venue with 5,931 seats (according to Wikipedia).
Our method, after a lot of thought and discussion was to come to you, our supporters – people who have been contacting us constantly to ask when and where they can see the film.
You are, arguably, a smaller group than, say, Kevin Smith’s View Askew fanbase, but no less mobilized. And so we have now partnered with IndieGoGo, one of the premiere crowd-sourcing sites on the web.
Believe me, I can see how this may have seemed odd to you at first, but with Sundance recently announcing a strategic partnership with Kickstarter and crowd-sourcing quickly becoming a great avenue for financing projects, we felt like there was no longer a stigma attached.
So there you have it. If you want to see the film, and you believe in what you’ve heard and seen in the trailer and online reviews… if you want to support as a fan of the various cast, or you just believe that Justin Lerner may be a filmmaker to keep your eye on… then do what feels right. If you’re flat broke, don’t feel bad. We understand… we’re indie filmmakers, remember?
Even if you can’t support the film monetarily, you can still help by spreading the word. If you send enough people this link, IndieGoGo or you paste the widget from the site into your email and your friends or family each make a small contribution, the movie may just come to your town anyway! And, in case you’ve forgotten, once we reach our goal, we hope to make a shared contribution to NDSS (National Down Syndrome Society) and NDSC (National Down Syndrome Congress).
In closing I’ll just say thank you again… for your support and your belief in us and the film. The film is for you. We can't wait for you to see it.
Shaun
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
Re: GIRLFRIEND NEEDS YOUR SUPPORT!
Hey, guys. Been a while. Sorry I've been away, but trying to mount new projects is a time consuming process!
I'm back today to ask for your support. As you may or nay not know, our film GIRLFRIEND played to sold out capacity crowds at the 2010 Toronto International Film Festival. We got rave reviews and Evan was a huge hit at the after-party's... but now that we've had our Festival Premiere, we need to get the film out to you, the audience, in as many places as we can. To do that, we're going to need your help.
Don't be alarmed. We do, in fact, have a great distributor in New York who are 100% behind us and the film we're all so proud of. Where IndieGoGo comes into play is in helping us to reach the widest possible audience by (hopefully) coming to more cities before eventually heading to streaming, home video and VOD.
To that end, we are partnering with the distributor to help facilitate our distribution strategy so we can reach our goals. All we need are the financial means to pull the trigger so we can make it happen.
Our goal is to raise 100k to promote and release the film theatrically, get into more festivals, print and sell DVD’s and build a website to stream the film online.
Anything we raise beyond that will be used to bring the film to more cities.
Hitting our goal means we'll be able to do more to get the film out there and in front of your eyes. The cool thing is, we've pulled together some really great incentives - and you'll be supporting us and the film.
Think of this like Paramount's campaign for the first "Paranormal Activity" where they asked YOU, the audience, to "demand" the film in your city, only without the big studio and without demands.
So get involved! Hit up IndieGoGo and make a contribution. You may just win something! But more importantly, you'll be helping us deliver this great film.
Thanks in advance.
Shaun
I'm back today to ask for your support. As you may or nay not know, our film GIRLFRIEND played to sold out capacity crowds at the 2010 Toronto International Film Festival. We got rave reviews and Evan was a huge hit at the after-party's... but now that we've had our Festival Premiere, we need to get the film out to you, the audience, in as many places as we can. To do that, we're going to need your help.
Don't be alarmed. We do, in fact, have a great distributor in New York who are 100% behind us and the film we're all so proud of. Where IndieGoGo comes into play is in helping us to reach the widest possible audience by (hopefully) coming to more cities before eventually heading to streaming, home video and VOD.
To that end, we are partnering with the distributor to help facilitate our distribution strategy so we can reach our goals. All we need are the financial means to pull the trigger so we can make it happen.
Our goal is to raise 100k to promote and release the film theatrically, get into more festivals, print and sell DVD’s and build a website to stream the film online.
Anything we raise beyond that will be used to bring the film to more cities.
Hitting our goal means we'll be able to do more to get the film out there and in front of your eyes. The cool thing is, we've pulled together some really great incentives - and you'll be supporting us and the film.
Think of this like Paramount's campaign for the first "Paranormal Activity" where they asked YOU, the audience, to "demand" the film in your city, only without the big studio and without demands.
So get involved! Hit up IndieGoGo and make a contribution. You may just win something! But more importantly, you'll be helping us deliver this great film.
Thanks in advance.
Shaun
Monday, October 4, 2010
Re: The Toronto International Film Festival Pt. 3
Let's see. Where did I leave off. Oh. Right. Press day. So, here's a couple videos from the Press Day - Thanks to luckyj525 for posting these.
As we completed our Press Day at the InterContinental, we noticed a group of paparazzi waiting outside the hotel. Jackson and Evan went out ahead of us. This is one of the shots:
Evan finally finished his Press commitment back at our hotel room doing a phone interview with ArtistsOnDemand. After that, we told him to get some rest. It was going to be a loooong night.
The plan was for everyone to meet up in our hotel lobby at 6:45pm before heading over to Scotiabank.
Once everyone was in the lobby (or, mostly everyone) I gathered people together for a couple photos.
In the first photo (L-R) Harrison Lees (Production Designer/Cast Member), Justin Lerner (Writer/Director/Producer), Dan Turnbull (Cast), Evan Sneider (Cast), Joe Turnbull (Cast/Production Supervisor), Me, Jeff Castelluccio (Editor/Post Producer) and Craig Wesley Divino (Mr. Sneider's Acting Coach/Cast).
In the second photo: (L-R) Cecelia Chapman (Production Assistant), June Suepunpuck (Costume Designer), Leah Cooper (Unit Photographer), Jackie Lerner (Mother of the Director) and Nicole Rivera (Production Assistant and my cousin).
And, because I know Evan will check out this blog...
And because she wasn't in the other shots...
(L-R) June Suepunpuck (Costume Designer) and Quyen Tran (Director of Photography).
Finally, the time had come. We all walked over to the Scotiabank and headed into the theater. We had sold out again (which, of course, feels really good).
For me, this was the best screening we had at the Festival. When the lights came up at the end, the audience gave us a sustained applause that continued as Justin invited the cast and key crew members up onto the stage. When Justin announced Evan, the entire audience got to their feet - and it lasted, I would guess, about two minutes.
Here is a good portion of the Q & A. (Thanks to Jaime Mosher for posting this!)
After the screening, Evan stepped out into the theatre lobby to a crowd of fans. He spent a good thirty minutes signing autographs and taking photos with people who were so happy to congratulate him on his extraordinary performance...
I think, for me personally though, the best part of the experience was that there were a number of Down Syndrome people in the audience (as well as parents of children with Down Syndrome) and Justin, Evan and I had a great opportunity to meet them and to hear their stories.
People with learning disabilities are so often undervalued in our society, or lumped together as a group that is only capable of a certain contribution to the world - Evan breaks those barriers and his performance in the film is proof positive that even those who may be viewed as "different" are capable of so much more than they are often given credit for... and it goes beyond the Special Olympics campaign.
Evan is defiant. He is strong and he is, above all, talented. An artist. So, if any of you are reading this who came out to see the film and either have Down Syndrome or any other learning disability (or maybe are a parent, relative or friend of someone like Evan), I hope that he (and the film) are able to help you in the future - to realize that anything is possible.
After the screening, we all walked back over to our hotel, where the plan was to reconvene before heading over to the after party at the Brant House.
TIFF was providing us with several Audi vehicles for the party, so I loaded Evan into one, Justin and the lovely Sarah Carter (an actress friend of ours who happened to be shooting a new Spielberg produced series in town) in another, Shannon and actor Andrew Garfield in the third and finally the members of 100 Monkeys into a stretch limo before leading the rest of our group over on foot. Funnily enough, the traffic was so thick that those of us who walked ended up getting there before the cars!
Once the cars arrived, we all made our way down the red carpet where the media had set up. Here are a couple (brief) clips I made of the interviews:
Some of you may be wondering why I am not in any interviews... or maybe not? Well. I'll explain anyway.
There are certain celebrity producers. The Wachowski's (formerly The Wachowski Brothers), Joel Silver, (the aforementioned) Harvey Weinstein, Steven Spielberg, Scott Rudin... but with the exception of Silver, Rudin and Weinstein the others were known first for their directing or writing. Rudin and Silver are known (aside from their impressive resume) for their tantrums and screaming. But you see, producing is the hidden art. Most people don't really know what it is a producer does. If you've read this site in previous posts, I tried to paint a picture of what the job is, but even in describing it, it can be... nebulous. That's partly because the dynamics of the job can change dramatically from project to project. All of this is to say that, for the most part, the only place you'll see a producer talk is on DVD Special Features. And at the Oscar podium for Best Picture, where it is the producer who accepts the statue.
Inside, the Brant House is pretty great. It's a huge venue and has an upstairs area reserved as the "VIP" section. We had an open bar all night and the staff there was great.
Couple more pics. In the first, we have (L-R) Jackson, Evan, Justin and Shannon.
In the next one (L-R) we have Jackson, June and Jason Olivier, our Executive Producer and founder of Make It So Productions.
It was such a great experience. Some of us were able to have our family there (mine, unfortunately, couldn't make it) and we even had fans there who had paid to get in (in the form of a donation to the Special Olympics).
A few of us basically closed the place out and finally, when we headed back to the hotel... well, suffice it to say that we were all extremely happy. It was a great night.
The next couple of days were all about meeting people, talking to other filmmakers and seeing movies! We did, however have one more awesome thing happen. And just in time before Evan and his mother had to leave.
During the next day, we hung out. Justin, Evan and I saw a couple of films and hung out at the TIFF Filmmaker Lounge.
That night, we figured that even though we were all wiped out, we ought to try and make an appearance at some of the parties going on around the Fest. We were going to hit The People Magazine Party, but we ended up getting lost on our way over and instead, found ourselves at the In Style party. Well. We weren't on the invite list... but as it turns out, we were supposed to be. A woman named Susie (who ran the party) was waiting outside with a group of security and staff. I didn't know her, but she was the first one to step away from the group. By this time, someone in the Press Corps had spotted Evan and so Justin and Jerad began to walk the press line with him. He signed a few more autographs and took a ton of pictures.
Meanwhile, I pounced on Susie... but in truth, I didn't have to say much. In point of fact, all I got out was "My name's Shaun O'Banion. I'm a producer on a film called 'Girlfriend,' and - " She cut me off right there. "Is he here?" she asked? For a second, I thought she might be referring to Jackson (who had caught a bad cold and wasn't with us)... "Evan?" I replied, "Yes. He's over by the media."
And that was it. She walked over with me, stamped our hands and we walked into the party past all of the security who, only moments earlier, had frozen us out.
Inside the lavishly decorated building, some of today's hottest celebs were mingling and partying. I ran into old friend (and recent Emmy winner) Aaron Paul, we saw the stunningly gorgeous Maggie Q and the cast of the new series' NIKITA. Evan talked with (and danced with) Missy Peregrym (star of the hit series ROOKIE BLUE) and we ran into Tiffany Hines (super sexy co-star on NIKITA) who also happens to be a friend of Justin's. Justin, it should be noted, knows everyone.
There were amazing deserts, jars full of candy with little bags and twisty-ties so you could take some home with you(!) and of course, all the free drinks you could handle.
Evan found some willing dance partners and the rest of us really just had fun watching Evan work the room.
Here's a shot of (L-R) Evan, Jerad, Kristina and I...
When the party was over (and believe me, we nearly closed out this one too), we all made our way back to the hotel. The next day, Evan would be leaving (which we all knew would be tough)... but we also had good news. A distributor had stepped up with an offer on the film. We were having to keep things quiet (even from the rest of the cast and crew!) but we had good reason to believe that a sale was coming.
I'll leave the closing day and post-TIFF "What's Happening Next" for another post.
Hope you enjoyed this one. Leave some comments! Ask questions! Let's get a little interaction going.
Thanks for reading.
S
As we completed our Press Day at the InterContinental, we noticed a group of paparazzi waiting outside the hotel. Jackson and Evan went out ahead of us. This is one of the shots:
Evan finally finished his Press commitment back at our hotel room doing a phone interview with ArtistsOnDemand. After that, we told him to get some rest. It was going to be a loooong night.The plan was for everyone to meet up in our hotel lobby at 6:45pm before heading over to Scotiabank.
Once everyone was in the lobby (or, mostly everyone) I gathered people together for a couple photos.
In the first photo (L-R) Harrison Lees (Production Designer/Cast Member), Justin Lerner (Writer/Director/Producer), Dan Turnbull (Cast), Evan Sneider (Cast), Joe Turnbull (Cast/Production Supervisor), Me, Jeff Castelluccio (Editor/Post Producer) and Craig Wesley Divino (Mr. Sneider's Acting Coach/Cast).
In the second photo: (L-R) Cecelia Chapman (Production Assistant), June Suepunpuck (Costume Designer), Leah Cooper (Unit Photographer), Jackie Lerner (Mother of the Director) and Nicole Rivera (Production Assistant and my cousin).
And, because I know Evan will check out this blog...
And because she wasn't in the other shots...
(L-R) June Suepunpuck (Costume Designer) and Quyen Tran (Director of Photography).
Finally, the time had come. We all walked over to the Scotiabank and headed into the theater. We had sold out again (which, of course, feels really good).
For me, this was the best screening we had at the Festival. When the lights came up at the end, the audience gave us a sustained applause that continued as Justin invited the cast and key crew members up onto the stage. When Justin announced Evan, the entire audience got to their feet - and it lasted, I would guess, about two minutes.
Here is a good portion of the Q & A. (Thanks to Jaime Mosher for posting this!)
After the screening, Evan stepped out into the theatre lobby to a crowd of fans. He spent a good thirty minutes signing autographs and taking photos with people who were so happy to congratulate him on his extraordinary performance...
I think, for me personally though, the best part of the experience was that there were a number of Down Syndrome people in the audience (as well as parents of children with Down Syndrome) and Justin, Evan and I had a great opportunity to meet them and to hear their stories.
People with learning disabilities are so often undervalued in our society, or lumped together as a group that is only capable of a certain contribution to the world - Evan breaks those barriers and his performance in the film is proof positive that even those who may be viewed as "different" are capable of so much more than they are often given credit for... and it goes beyond the Special Olympics campaign.
Evan is defiant. He is strong and he is, above all, talented. An artist. So, if any of you are reading this who came out to see the film and either have Down Syndrome or any other learning disability (or maybe are a parent, relative or friend of someone like Evan), I hope that he (and the film) are able to help you in the future - to realize that anything is possible.
After the screening, we all walked back over to our hotel, where the plan was to reconvene before heading over to the after party at the Brant House.
TIFF was providing us with several Audi vehicles for the party, so I loaded Evan into one, Justin and the lovely Sarah Carter (an actress friend of ours who happened to be shooting a new Spielberg produced series in town) in another, Shannon and actor Andrew Garfield in the third and finally the members of 100 Monkeys into a stretch limo before leading the rest of our group over on foot. Funnily enough, the traffic was so thick that those of us who walked ended up getting there before the cars!
Once the cars arrived, we all made our way down the red carpet where the media had set up. Here are a couple (brief) clips I made of the interviews:
Some of you may be wondering why I am not in any interviews... or maybe not? Well. I'll explain anyway.
There are certain celebrity producers. The Wachowski's (formerly The Wachowski Brothers), Joel Silver, (the aforementioned) Harvey Weinstein, Steven Spielberg, Scott Rudin... but with the exception of Silver, Rudin and Weinstein the others were known first for their directing or writing. Rudin and Silver are known (aside from their impressive resume) for their tantrums and screaming. But you see, producing is the hidden art. Most people don't really know what it is a producer does. If you've read this site in previous posts, I tried to paint a picture of what the job is, but even in describing it, it can be... nebulous. That's partly because the dynamics of the job can change dramatically from project to project. All of this is to say that, for the most part, the only place you'll see a producer talk is on DVD Special Features. And at the Oscar podium for Best Picture, where it is the producer who accepts the statue.
Inside, the Brant House is pretty great. It's a huge venue and has an upstairs area reserved as the "VIP" section. We had an open bar all night and the staff there was great.
Couple more pics. In the first, we have (L-R) Jackson, Evan, Justin and Shannon.
In the next one (L-R) we have Jackson, June and Jason Olivier, our Executive Producer and founder of Make It So Productions.
It was such a great experience. Some of us were able to have our family there (mine, unfortunately, couldn't make it) and we even had fans there who had paid to get in (in the form of a donation to the Special Olympics).
A few of us basically closed the place out and finally, when we headed back to the hotel... well, suffice it to say that we were all extremely happy. It was a great night.
The next couple of days were all about meeting people, talking to other filmmakers and seeing movies! We did, however have one more awesome thing happen. And just in time before Evan and his mother had to leave.
During the next day, we hung out. Justin, Evan and I saw a couple of films and hung out at the TIFF Filmmaker Lounge.
That night, we figured that even though we were all wiped out, we ought to try and make an appearance at some of the parties going on around the Fest. We were going to hit The People Magazine Party, but we ended up getting lost on our way over and instead, found ourselves at the In Style party. Well. We weren't on the invite list... but as it turns out, we were supposed to be. A woman named Susie (who ran the party) was waiting outside with a group of security and staff. I didn't know her, but she was the first one to step away from the group. By this time, someone in the Press Corps had spotted Evan and so Justin and Jerad began to walk the press line with him. He signed a few more autographs and took a ton of pictures.
Meanwhile, I pounced on Susie... but in truth, I didn't have to say much. In point of fact, all I got out was "My name's Shaun O'Banion. I'm a producer on a film called 'Girlfriend,' and - " She cut me off right there. "Is he here?" she asked? For a second, I thought she might be referring to Jackson (who had caught a bad cold and wasn't with us)... "Evan?" I replied, "Yes. He's over by the media."
And that was it. She walked over with me, stamped our hands and we walked into the party past all of the security who, only moments earlier, had frozen us out.
Inside the lavishly decorated building, some of today's hottest celebs were mingling and partying. I ran into old friend (and recent Emmy winner) Aaron Paul, we saw the stunningly gorgeous Maggie Q and the cast of the new series' NIKITA. Evan talked with (and danced with) Missy Peregrym (star of the hit series ROOKIE BLUE) and we ran into Tiffany Hines (super sexy co-star on NIKITA) who also happens to be a friend of Justin's. Justin, it should be noted, knows everyone.
There were amazing deserts, jars full of candy with little bags and twisty-ties so you could take some home with you(!) and of course, all the free drinks you could handle.
Evan found some willing dance partners and the rest of us really just had fun watching Evan work the room.
Here's a shot of (L-R) Evan, Jerad, Kristina and I...
When the party was over (and believe me, we nearly closed out this one too), we all made our way back to the hotel. The next day, Evan would be leaving (which we all knew would be tough)... but we also had good news. A distributor had stepped up with an offer on the film. We were having to keep things quiet (even from the rest of the cast and crew!) but we had good reason to believe that a sale was coming.
I'll leave the closing day and post-TIFF "What's Happening Next" for another post.
Hope you enjoyed this one. Leave some comments! Ask questions! Let's get a little interaction going.
Thanks for reading.
S
Sunday, October 3, 2010
Re: The Toronto International Film Festival Pt. 2
I doubt that any of us slept much.
Probably a combination of the high from the first screening and the knowledge that a bunch more of the cast and crew would be arriving the morning of the 13th.
We began the packed day by cabbing over to the Intercontinental Hotel on Bloor Street, where a day of press had been set up by Jeremy Walker and Associates (our publicists for the Festival). It was definitely an odd feeling to be sitting in this chic hotel on a secured floor where actors like Jim Broadbent, Bruce Greenwood and the lovely Gemma Arterton were wandering back and forth doing press. Of course, they were surrounded by an army of publicists, assistants and make-up people. We were a bit more... contained.
If you've never been around a Press Junket, well. I'll go ahead and give you a sense of what it's like. They're all pretty much the same. Generally, the cast and director will check into a suite at the hotel where the junket is to take place. You're given a calendar of events for the day. Then, it'll either be one of two things: You cast and filmmaker will walk from room to room, with each room representing a different media outlet, or the cast and filmmaker will go to a single room with a camera already set up. The media people then come into the room, pop a tape into the camera, sit their on-air talent down opposite the star or cast member and they get about 5-10 minutes worth of questions. Quite often, your poster is set up on an easel. Sometimes, you're in front of a green screen.
For our press day, Evan was set to do a ton of press along with Jackson and Shannon. In our case, they would move from room to room.
Here is the actual interview with ET Canada (thanks to JrathboneInfo for posting):
Evan was handling everything amazingly well. It may seem like it would be easy, but it becomes exhausting and monotonous - mostly because the questions tend to be very similar, if not exactly the same. The media need "sound bites" they can use to tease the story, and then they'll only use a small portion of the actual interview. After a while, everything gets hazy. I once worked with someone (who shall remain nameless) who thought it might be fun to play a bit of a game with the press. In between each interview, he'd ask me for a word... any word, which he would then have to try to slip into the interview, no matter how awkward. I think one of the words I gave him was Asparagus. (He did it, by the way.)
Anyway. Evan was running (like most of us) on little to no sleep, but he was amazing. He had poise and charisma and everything you expect of a star. At lunch the group of us (Justin, Evan, Jerad, Kristina and I) walked over to the Four Seasons where Wayne/Lauren Film Company had set up a casual lunch. At this point, we were being trailed by columnist Steve Pond, who writes for The Wrap and was doing a story on Evan which you can find Here.
During the lunch, Evan spoke with Harvey Weinstein the fabled former head and founder of Miramax who now runs The Weinstein Company. Weinstein hadn't seen GIRLFRIEND, but they have a mutual friend in Amanda Plummer. Since Weinstein was sitting only a table away, Justin thought it might be cool if Evan introduced himself. Harvey seemed surprised by the occurrence, but we thought it was great. Near the end of lunch, Evan did another interview (for print)
before we headed out for a few more on camera interviews. You can find those here and here (special thanks for luckyj525 for the links).
Finally, with interviews done (and with a few swag bags now attached to us), we headed down to the cast lounge in the lobby for our final publicity stop of the day. The TIFF Photocall. You know about this. Every year, Entertainment Weekly does nearly an entire issue on Sundance Film Festival Photo Calls. The video from this particular shoot was covered by The Wrap and Steve Pond.
Here are some of the great photos from the GIRLFRIEND press junket:
By that time, we had been running from hotel to hotel doing press for about 9 hours. It was time to head back to our hotel where Evan and Justin would do one final "phoner" or phone interview
, before we'd get a proper meal (they only have hors d'oeuvres for the most part at the press junkets), have a little nap if we could and finally, get ready for the big night. Our second screening and our official Red Carpet After-Party.
Check back in for Pt. 3! More pictures! More video! More excitement!
S
Probably a combination of the high from the first screening and the knowledge that a bunch more of the cast and crew would be arriving the morning of the 13th.
We began the packed day by cabbing over to the Intercontinental Hotel on Bloor Street, where a day of press had been set up by Jeremy Walker and Associates (our publicists for the Festival). It was definitely an odd feeling to be sitting in this chic hotel on a secured floor where actors like Jim Broadbent, Bruce Greenwood and the lovely Gemma Arterton were wandering back and forth doing press. Of course, they were surrounded by an army of publicists, assistants and make-up people. We were a bit more... contained.If you've never been around a Press Junket, well. I'll go ahead and give you a sense of what it's like. They're all pretty much the same. Generally, the cast and director will check into a suite at the hotel where the junket is to take place. You're given a calendar of events for the day. Then, it'll either be one of two things: You cast and filmmaker will walk from room to room, with each room representing a different media outlet, or the cast and filmmaker will go to a single room with a camera already set up. The media people then come into the room, pop a tape into the camera, sit their on-air talent down opposite the star or cast member and they get about 5-10 minutes worth of questions. Quite often, your poster is set up on an easel. Sometimes, you're in front of a green screen.
For our press day, Evan was set to do a ton of press along with Jackson and Shannon. In our case, they would move from room to room.
Here is the actual interview with ET Canada (thanks to JrathboneInfo for posting):
Evan was handling everything amazingly well. It may seem like it would be easy, but it becomes exhausting and monotonous - mostly because the questions tend to be very similar, if not exactly the same. The media need "sound bites" they can use to tease the story, and then they'll only use a small portion of the actual interview. After a while, everything gets hazy. I once worked with someone (who shall remain nameless) who thought it might be fun to play a bit of a game with the press. In between each interview, he'd ask me for a word... any word, which he would then have to try to slip into the interview, no matter how awkward. I think one of the words I gave him was Asparagus. (He did it, by the way.)
Anyway. Evan was running (like most of us) on little to no sleep, but he was amazing. He had poise and charisma and everything you expect of a star. At lunch the group of us (Justin, Evan, Jerad, Kristina and I) walked over to the Four Seasons where Wayne/Lauren Film Company had set up a casual lunch. At this point, we were being trailed by columnist Steve Pond, who writes for The Wrap and was doing a story on Evan which you can find Here.
During the lunch, Evan spoke with Harvey Weinstein the fabled former head and founder of Miramax who now runs The Weinstein Company. Weinstein hadn't seen GIRLFRIEND, but they have a mutual friend in Amanda Plummer. Since Weinstein was sitting only a table away, Justin thought it might be cool if Evan introduced himself. Harvey seemed surprised by the occurrence, but we thought it was great. Near the end of lunch, Evan did another interview (for print)
before we headed out for a few more on camera interviews. You can find those here and here (special thanks for luckyj525 for the links).Finally, with interviews done (and with a few swag bags now attached to us), we headed down to the cast lounge in the lobby for our final publicity stop of the day. The TIFF Photocall. You know about this. Every year, Entertainment Weekly does nearly an entire issue on Sundance Film Festival Photo Calls. The video from this particular shoot was covered by The Wrap and Steve Pond.
Here are some of the great photos from the GIRLFRIEND press junket:
By that time, we had been running from hotel to hotel doing press for about 9 hours. It was time to head back to our hotel where Evan and Justin would do one final "phoner" or phone interview
, before we'd get a proper meal (they only have hors d'oeuvres for the most part at the press junkets), have a little nap if we could and finally, get ready for the big night. Our second screening and our official Red Carpet After-Party.Check back in for Pt. 3! More pictures! More video! More excitement!
S
Sunday, September 26, 2010
Re: The Cast
I've done a post about the experience of working with Evan Sneider, so I thought I might write a bit about working with the other members of the cast of GIRLFRIEND.
When I first came on board the project, I was told that one actor was already attached... that actor was Jackson Rathbone. At the time, to be honest, the name didn't mean much to me. I hadn't seen TWILIGHT, nor any of his other work for that matter. I went out that night to rent the first film in the saga.
It didn't change my perception of him. In fact, it didn't do much for me at all, really... but then, I'm not the core audience for the film. What I knew of him after watching the film was that he was (possibly) a good looking guy. I say possibly because you can't really get a sense of him either physically or otherwise by watching the first TWILIGHT film. He comes off as a new-age Johnny Depp. A vampire Edward Scissorhands with frosted tips... still, you'd be crazy not to acknowledge that he has charisma. With maybe only two lines in the first film, I was still intrigued. Anyway, it wouldn't much matter what I thought either way. He was going to be in the film. I just hoped he could actually act. Like with Evan, I was in for a surprise.
Early on in the process, Jackson came in to Brad Gilmore's L.A. office for *chemistry reads with a variety of actresses. It was during this process that all of my concerns related to Jackson playing "Russ" were put to rest. In the room, he was magnetic. His "Russ" was a man to be feared. He wa tortured. Dangerous. Crushed under the weight of a reality he may not want to acknowledge. In short, he was fantastic. This was only the beginning though. We would have a great many hurdles to jump through together - not the least of which was his schedule with the third TWILIGHT... which was already threatening to wreak havoc with my initial schedule for our film. Not to mention the budget.
For weeks, I tried to negotiate with the powers that be at Summit and for weeks, they held us off. They tried to tell me they had no schedule only weeks out from their start date (yeah, sure). I even generated inside sources in their office in Vancouver - hoping that I might get enough info to lock in our schedule. On our end, we were fighting several other issues. Weather in Massachusetts was going to be a huge factor. We had to shoot at a certain time to maximize the beauty of the changing season's, something which was very important to Justin, and we also had to begin at a certain time to create a window of time with which we'd be able to have the amazing Amanda Plummer in our film.
Fortunately, we had Jackson on our side. Jackson, when he signed on, had indicated that he was very interested in the behind-the-camera aspects of film-making as well. He wanted to come on as a co-producer, which meant that I'd have an ally when it came to scheduling him around his vampire adventures... in the end though, the only way to make our film work for him, was to bridge our shoot across weekends. He'd shoot all day Friday in Vancouver, then hop a red-eye to Boston, which would put him into Logan Airport around 8am. He'd brave morning traffic in the back seat of a Production Assistant's car, change into his wardrobe on the way, arrive at set to literally jump in front of camera (thanks to our crack AD staff who had the days scheduled down to the minute and really saved us several times during the shoot) and that'd be it. By Sunday evening, he'd be back on a plane and headed back to the wardrobe of "Jasper."
In short, he didn't sleep for about three weeks. His commitment to the shoot, the character and the crew literally changed the polarity of the set. When Rathbone showed up for the first "Rathbone Day" as Evan called it, everyone suddenly came alive again. We had spent several weeks with only Shannon and Evan, and to see Jackson and Shannon perform together and, in fact, Evan and Jackson... well. The movie really came together on those days.
I mentioned Amanda Plummer above. This is a woman who, above all, loves the craft of acting. When she's "in it," she is totally invested. Each take brings with it a totally organic quality.
I remember one take that was so great that it transcended what Justin had written. It just became something else. It became a living thing in Amanda and Evan's capable hands. Once we had cut, Justin ran over to Amanda and said, "That was brilliant! Can you do another one just like that?" Amanda surprised Justin and the crew when she gave her answer. "No," she said. "I can give you something else, but not that because I don't know what I did." In other words, she wasn't Amanda the actress playing the scene... like Evan, who's genius is that for him, there was no divide between "Evan Grey" and Evan Sneider during the scenes, Amanda ceased being Amanda in front of the camera. She was "Celeste." She went to great lengths to ensure that the transformation would envelope Evan as well - she even came out to Massachusetts early to spend time with Evan on her own. Doing this ensured that they didn't seem like they were "playing" mother and son, but that they had spent time off camera building a relationship for real. When the camera rolled, it wasn't capturing performance, it was capturing natural behavior... and it was beautiful.
Next, I come to Shannon Woodward. Again, being honest, she wasn't what I had pictured in the role. When she came in to read, she projected a natural strength I felt was wrong for the part. But when the scene began, it melted away. She became troubled. Weak and laid bare by the turn of events in her life. A desperate young girl forced to be an adult for the sake of her child. In other words, she became our "Candy." It's one of those Hollywood cliche's, right? An actor comes in and isn't at all what you thought you wanted... but they simply cannot be denied. He or she just becomes the only person for the role. Sometimes you even try to fight it. You say to yourself, "No. Let's keep looking," but in your mind, you keep coming back to them. Sometimes, it keeps you up at night. In the end though, there's no denying it. The part dictates what it needs just as in editorial, the film begins to tell you what should stay and what should go. It happened to us on DAKOTA SKYE, and it happened again here.
Shannon is a fantastic actress, and her work with Evan was really extraordinary to watch on set - sometimes, subtly directing Evan or providing cues from within a scene to help get him to a certain place or past a block. In many ways, Shannon's work was key to Justin and Craig Divino's work with Evan. Shannon and Evan are in virtually every scene of the film together and the tenderness, confusion and realization she brings to their scenes together are the perfect counter-point to her scenes with Jackson. Where Shannon and Jackson have this feeling of two caged animals trying to determine what to make of each other, Shannon and Evan give the feeling of two people who have come to depend on each others love - even if they can't understand how or why. By the way: Shannon has a new show on called RAISING HOPE that is supposed to be hilarious, and as of right now, you can check out the pilot for the series for free on iTunes, so go check it out!
There are bunch of other actors in the film who turn in wonderful and varied performances and who, many of them having little or no acting experience before, are stand-outs. Seth Chatfield, Dan Turnbull, Joe Turnbull, Darren MacDonald, Harrison Lees, Carole Helman and of course young Nate Krawshuk all leave strong impressions in the world of the film. They are each a testament to Justin's ability to work with non-professionals and to create and craft strong and memorable characters.
For those of you who had a chance to see the film in Toronto, I'm sure you'd agree. This film doesn't work if you don't care about the people in it. From the smallest part to the biggest, they need to make you feel something. They are your connection as the audience and your eyes into the world. If you don't get "Candy" and her decisions, or why "Evan" feels the way he does for her... or why "Russ" seems so completely crushed by the things he's seen or the scenarios he suspects, it all falls apart.
Post Toronto, the general consensus seems to be that the film is strong. In fact, only yesterday, we announced that we have been picked up for distribution by indie label Hannover House, to whom we are all so thankful for recognizing the potential in the film.
If the film works at all, it is all down to collaboration - to the cast and crew and to Justin's vision... I cannot wait until you can see the film for yourself.
S
(Toronto Blog coming soon!)
*Chemistry Reads: This is the process in which actors are paired together in the audition process to see if they have chemistry on screen.
When I first came on board the project, I was told that one actor was already attached... that actor was Jackson Rathbone. At the time, to be honest, the name didn't mean much to me. I hadn't seen TWILIGHT, nor any of his other work for that matter. I went out that night to rent the first film in the saga.
It didn't change my perception of him. In fact, it didn't do much for me at all, really... but then, I'm not the core audience for the film. What I knew of him after watching the film was that he was (possibly) a good looking guy. I say possibly because you can't really get a sense of him either physically or otherwise by watching the first TWILIGHT film. He comes off as a new-age Johnny Depp. A vampire Edward Scissorhands with frosted tips... still, you'd be crazy not to acknowledge that he has charisma. With maybe only two lines in the first film, I was still intrigued. Anyway, it wouldn't much matter what I thought either way. He was going to be in the film. I just hoped he could actually act. Like with Evan, I was in for a surprise.
Early on in the process, Jackson came in to Brad Gilmore's L.A. office for *chemistry reads with a variety of actresses. It was during this process that all of my concerns related to Jackson playing "Russ" were put to rest. In the room, he was magnetic. His "Russ" was a man to be feared. He wa tortured. Dangerous. Crushed under the weight of a reality he may not want to acknowledge. In short, he was fantastic. This was only the beginning though. We would have a great many hurdles to jump through together - not the least of which was his schedule with the third TWILIGHT... which was already threatening to wreak havoc with my initial schedule for our film. Not to mention the budget.
For weeks, I tried to negotiate with the powers that be at Summit and for weeks, they held us off. They tried to tell me they had no schedule only weeks out from their start date (yeah, sure). I even generated inside sources in their office in Vancouver - hoping that I might get enough info to lock in our schedule. On our end, we were fighting several other issues. Weather in Massachusetts was going to be a huge factor. We had to shoot at a certain time to maximize the beauty of the changing season's, something which was very important to Justin, and we also had to begin at a certain time to create a window of time with which we'd be able to have the amazing Amanda Plummer in our film.
Fortunately, we had Jackson on our side. Jackson, when he signed on, had indicated that he was very interested in the behind-the-camera aspects of film-making as well. He wanted to come on as a co-producer, which meant that I'd have an ally when it came to scheduling him around his vampire adventures... in the end though, the only way to make our film work for him, was to bridge our shoot across weekends. He'd shoot all day Friday in Vancouver, then hop a red-eye to Boston, which would put him into Logan Airport around 8am. He'd brave morning traffic in the back seat of a Production Assistant's car, change into his wardrobe on the way, arrive at set to literally jump in front of camera (thanks to our crack AD staff who had the days scheduled down to the minute and really saved us several times during the shoot) and that'd be it. By Sunday evening, he'd be back on a plane and headed back to the wardrobe of "Jasper."
In short, he didn't sleep for about three weeks. His commitment to the shoot, the character and the crew literally changed the polarity of the set. When Rathbone showed up for the first "Rathbone Day" as Evan called it, everyone suddenly came alive again. We had spent several weeks with only Shannon and Evan, and to see Jackson and Shannon perform together and, in fact, Evan and Jackson... well. The movie really came together on those days.
I mentioned Amanda Plummer above. This is a woman who, above all, loves the craft of acting. When she's "in it," she is totally invested. Each take brings with it a totally organic quality.
I remember one take that was so great that it transcended what Justin had written. It just became something else. It became a living thing in Amanda and Evan's capable hands. Once we had cut, Justin ran over to Amanda and said, "That was brilliant! Can you do another one just like that?" Amanda surprised Justin and the crew when she gave her answer. "No," she said. "I can give you something else, but not that because I don't know what I did." In other words, she wasn't Amanda the actress playing the scene... like Evan, who's genius is that for him, there was no divide between "Evan Grey" and Evan Sneider during the scenes, Amanda ceased being Amanda in front of the camera. She was "Celeste." She went to great lengths to ensure that the transformation would envelope Evan as well - she even came out to Massachusetts early to spend time with Evan on her own. Doing this ensured that they didn't seem like they were "playing" mother and son, but that they had spent time off camera building a relationship for real. When the camera rolled, it wasn't capturing performance, it was capturing natural behavior... and it was beautiful.
Next, I come to Shannon Woodward. Again, being honest, she wasn't what I had pictured in the role. When she came in to read, she projected a natural strength I felt was wrong for the part. But when the scene began, it melted away. She became troubled. Weak and laid bare by the turn of events in her life. A desperate young girl forced to be an adult for the sake of her child. In other words, she became our "Candy." It's one of those Hollywood cliche's, right? An actor comes in and isn't at all what you thought you wanted... but they simply cannot be denied. He or she just becomes the only person for the role. Sometimes you even try to fight it. You say to yourself, "No. Let's keep looking," but in your mind, you keep coming back to them. Sometimes, it keeps you up at night. In the end though, there's no denying it. The part dictates what it needs just as in editorial, the film begins to tell you what should stay and what should go. It happened to us on DAKOTA SKYE, and it happened again here.
Shannon is a fantastic actress, and her work with Evan was really extraordinary to watch on set - sometimes, subtly directing Evan or providing cues from within a scene to help get him to a certain place or past a block. In many ways, Shannon's work was key to Justin and Craig Divino's work with Evan. Shannon and Evan are in virtually every scene of the film together and the tenderness, confusion and realization she brings to their scenes together are the perfect counter-point to her scenes with Jackson. Where Shannon and Jackson have this feeling of two caged animals trying to determine what to make of each other, Shannon and Evan give the feeling of two people who have come to depend on each others love - even if they can't understand how or why. By the way: Shannon has a new show on called RAISING HOPE that is supposed to be hilarious, and as of right now, you can check out the pilot for the series for free on iTunes, so go check it out!
There are bunch of other actors in the film who turn in wonderful and varied performances and who, many of them having little or no acting experience before, are stand-outs. Seth Chatfield, Dan Turnbull, Joe Turnbull, Darren MacDonald, Harrison Lees, Carole Helman and of course young Nate Krawshuk all leave strong impressions in the world of the film. They are each a testament to Justin's ability to work with non-professionals and to create and craft strong and memorable characters.
For those of you who had a chance to see the film in Toronto, I'm sure you'd agree. This film doesn't work if you don't care about the people in it. From the smallest part to the biggest, they need to make you feel something. They are your connection as the audience and your eyes into the world. If you don't get "Candy" and her decisions, or why "Evan" feels the way he does for her... or why "Russ" seems so completely crushed by the things he's seen or the scenarios he suspects, it all falls apart.
Post Toronto, the general consensus seems to be that the film is strong. In fact, only yesterday, we announced that we have been picked up for distribution by indie label Hannover House, to whom we are all so thankful for recognizing the potential in the film.
If the film works at all, it is all down to collaboration - to the cast and crew and to Justin's vision... I cannot wait until you can see the film for yourself.
S
(Toronto Blog coming soon!)
*Chemistry Reads: This is the process in which actors are paired together in the audition process to see if they have chemistry on screen.
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