Norman Jewison to shoot

Painted Word segment in T.O.

Norman Jewison will be in town at the end of the month to direct one of six 30-minute tv movies for the series, The Painted Word. Coproduced by Jewison’s company, Yorktown Productions, and Skyvision Entertainment, each segment revolves around a feature film director’s take on a painting and/or short story. Jewison’s piece, written by Seth Flicker and inspired by Edward Hopper’s Soir Bleu and the opera Il Paliacci, is expected to shoot Nov. 28 to Dec. 2 in Toronto.

Joe Dante shot segment number one, Lightning, in the u.s. this fall with Brian Keith, Kathleen Quinlan and Ron Perlman starring. Other directors signed are John Schlesinger and Jonathan Kaplan.

More production of The Painted Word is expected to come Toronto’s way this winter. Casting is underway north and south of the border.

Howard Rosen is co-executive producer with Jewison, Jeff Freilich is supervising producer, Scott Frank of Los Angeles is producer, and Albert Botha is production manager. Showtime Networks is broadcasting in the States, likely in fall of 1995.

Remains of the day

Independent documentary filmmaker Jacques Holender (Musicians in Exile, Voodoo) has started production in Toronto on Time is on My Side, a stylish feature documentary about the death industries.

The Nemesis Productions film tracks the experiences of a dead man as he looks back on his post-mortem time on earth. Our hero’s death is a suspicious (and fictionalized) one, so first stop is the coroner’s office for an autopsy. You can imagine the rest – from a visit to the hairdresser to final landing at the crematorium.

For the grisly shoot (Holender admits he’s ‘a bit squeamish’), a cam-remote was commissioned from Level 7 Systems (a Toronto-based motion-control technology and robotics specialist) in collaboration with Glen Orr.

The camera contraption will be used by dop Robert Fresco for two tricky feats: to suspend our late guide’s pov about 30 feet above ground, and since real, dead bodies will be present when shooting the autopsy, cremation, etc., (this is a documentary, after all) the cam-remote will help to gingerly shoot around the real stuff.

It wasn’t difficult to get the death industry professionals onside, says Holender. ‘They are actually very charming people,’ he says, ‘and I would say (they) have a very healthy attitude toward death. We don’t know very much about these people because we don’t want to know.’

Time is on My Side is not a gruesome, ghoulish trip but one that focuses on what Holender calls ‘the Western denial of death.’

Holender is producing and directing, John Martin is handling sound, Suzanne Allan is production manager and Barri Cohen is ad.

The $330,000 project for tvontario, supported by Telefilm Canada and the Ontario Film Development Corporation, will likely kick off the 1995 fall season of tvo’s The View From Here. The 16mm shoot continues through Dec. 4.

Elvi the Pelvi

Amidst a sea of sequins, pink jackets, big cowlicks and gyrating blue jeans is a familiar face. Last seen as a pet store owner with a penchant for expensive bird eggs and last-minute dates at the opera in Exotica, Don McKellar stands out from the crowd of Elvis impersonators like a sore thumb.

McKellar is Arthur, a 19-year-old mixed-up kid who hires private eye Cynthia Dale to find his big daddy (yes, Elvis) in the new tv series set in Niagara Falls, Taking the Falls. Lucky for Arthur, there’s an Elvis convention in town.

Extras casting director Alexander Quinn needed two days in Toronto and one in Niagara Falls (where else?) to come up with the required 20-plus Elvi (plural for Himself). Stacey Kurtis (Street Legal) directs the one-hour kitsch-fest, which also guest-stars Cyndy Preston of Whale Music fame.

Next up on the series’ directors slate are Rene Bonniere (e.n.g.), Bruce McDonald (Dance Me Outside) and Jerry Ciccoritti (Paris, France). The CTV Television Network series continues to shoot in Toronto and the Honeymoon Capital through March. Coproducers are Peter Mowan and Greg Copeland (e.n.g.) for Alliance Communications.

Nielsen rates

Funnyman Leslie Nielsen is kicking around Toronto for the next few weeks for Rent A Kid, Paragon Entertainment’s new us$2.5 million, two-hour mow for Showtime. It’s pure family entertainment: three little orphaned siblings find themselves in the hands of a used-car salesman (Nielsen) who loans them on a trial basis to a yuppie couple. Adventure and much joy for all ensues.

Fred Gerber (Due South pilot) is directing, Los Angeles-based Paul Burnbaum and Paragon ceo Richard Borchiver are producing. Casting, at the hands of Claire Walker, is still underway.

Paragon’s next mow, in early stages of preproduction, is Braving Alaska, a two-hour wildnerness survival pic for abc with a us$3.5 million budget. Not much else is confirmed, except the executive producer, l.a.-based Christie Walker. Production start date should be mid-January.

Gary Randall, l.a.-based head of Paragon Productions, has signed a deal with Paris-based Gaumont to develop a tv action-adventure series. The idea hasn’t sold yet, so Randall says it’s being kept under wraps. If the project takes off, it will be shot around the world.

Heaven awaits

After a lengthy and messy dispute with producer and former collaborator Camelia Frieberg, Srivinas Krishna, the much-acclaimed director of Masala, is launching into preproduction on his next feature, A Promise of Heaven.

Robert Bergman (Hurt Penguins) is coproducing and Krishna is directing the feature about Lulu, a young female refugee from Vietnam and all the men who love her. Krishna cowrote the script with Robert Armstrong.

Production is set to start up in late January, with Paul Sarossy as dop, Tamara Deverell as art director and Michael Munn as editor.

Alliance Releasing is distributing and both Telefilm Canada and the Ontario Film Development Corporation are onside.

Get down

Eric Roberts, Nick Mancuso and Kevin Dillon, decked out in platform shoes and bellbottoms, are shooting Komanchee Street, a feature drama ensemble piece for Alliance Releasing and New Line Cinema, with Small World handling foreign distribution.

Martin Harbury (Bermuda Grace) is producing and Mitch Gabourie (Buying Time) is directing the story of corrupt cops, divided brothers and their straight-and-narrow judge/dad.

The $4 million streety pic set in the ’70s will be shooting from Nov. 21 to Dec. 23 in and around Toronto.

Hulk hits Hogtown

Mad Dog, an action-adventure/ buddy-cop feature starring Hulk Hogan, is in early stages of preproduction. The five-week shoot will likely start up mid-January in Toronto.

The $2 million-plus Film One production for Le Monde is produced by Jalal Mehri and will be directed by T.J. Scott (Robocop, the series). Anne Sketchley is handling casting.

Looking for punch lines

Michael Taylor, vice-president of Telegenic Programs (Lonesome Dove), has just signed a deal with Dreamer Entertainment of Los Angeles to gain exclusive rights to the tragic, true story of former Canadian boxing champ George Chuvalo.

Since his retirement as our number one heavyweight, Chuvalo’s name has been in the headlines due to the suicides of his two sons and his wife.

Taylor says he is on an intense search for ‘the right Canadian writer’ to pen the mow. Plans are to shoot the $2 million to $3 million movie in Toronto, Chuvalo’s hometown, when the time comes.