The smell of maple syrup hangs thick in the air at the Apple Griddle diner on Dundas at Keele. The crew of Norstar’s Pale Saints has mostly forsaken the craft table, preferring instead to whip up heaping stacks of pancakes on what looks like a well-used grill. Cigarettes and pancakes – the breakfast of champions. Or at least film crews.

Out back, leaning on a pickup overlooking Canadian Tire, director Joel Wyner and I are discussing Gordon Pinsent, the quintessential Canadian actor who, I add proudly, hails from my hometown. ‘He’s totally cool, that’s the thing,’ says Wyner. ‘A real gentleman. He comes to set and says `Hello, sir’ and I’m like `Hey, Mr. Pinsent.’ ‘

Wyner might be short on directorial experience (read: first time he’s directed anything), but he’s long on enthusiasm. It was a trait producer Ilana Frank saw in the young actor three years ago when she was producing The Club. ‘While we were shooting, he told me he was writing a screenplay and asked me to look at it,’ says Frank. ‘I optioned it.’

Originally, there was another, unnamed director slated for the project, but after working with Joel for awhile he decided the young scribe was better suited to direct it himself.

Now, three years later, it’s day 20 of a 25-day shoot and Wyner’s already looking forward to doing it all again. Produced on a shoestring at $1.5 million, Pale Saints in the first script of a trilogy and Wyner hopes to prep part two – The Mexican – in January.

Meanwhile, he’s spending his first days as a director working with Sean Patrick Flanery (Powder), Gemini winner Michael Riley (The Helsinki Roccamatios), Pinsent, Saul Rubinek (Unforgiven) and Maury Chaykin (Unstrung Heroes).

Wyner’s script – which he calls ‘one man’s odyssey through the workings of destiny and fate, guilt and redemption’ – follows Louis (Flanery), a smalltime hood, and his mentally challenged best friend Dody (Riley) as they orchestrate one last score to pay their way to California.

No question, the budget’s been tight. But Wyner says long lead time and thorough preparation allowed them to be efficient. ‘All the footwork had been done long before we started shooting, and we’re shooting white pages so that saves a lot of time,’ he says. ‘To make this kind of movie for $1.5 million – to make any movie for $1.5 million – is tough.’

Another tough thing about this film is nailing down when it’s set. The characters wear ’60s clothes and drive ’60s cars, but there’s a bank machine and a proliferation of cars circa 1996. ‘People ask me, `Hey, is this a ’60s movie or what?’ ‘ says Wyner. ‘It is and it isn’t. It’s a real show, it’s not a social realism kind of movie. It’s a real show and for your eight bucks you’re going to get a great ride.’

Shot on Fuji film (‘for a ’60s sort of feel’), dop Barry Stone (Rude) is using an Arriflex 535. ‘And we’re using the shit out of that 535,’ says Wyner. ‘I really, really push it.’

Pale Saints is financed by Norstar and Telefilm, and Norstar has Canadian rights. No word yet on a Canadian release date or an American distrib, but Frank says she hopes Flanery’s name will stir up interest stateside.

As for Wyner, his hopes are modest. ‘I want whoever gave me money to get their money back, and that’s all I care about. Because then I’m cool. I did my art and people will let me do art again. And then I won’t blow my brains out. That’d be cool.’