‘Kelsey Grammer is playing a character who is surrounded by big food and little children,’ says British director Vadim Jean (Leon the Pig Farmer, Clockwork Mice) between takes at the new Cinesite Studios in Halifax. Jean is in town to direct the feature film Writer’s Block, a ‘quirky family comedy’ coproduced by Chris Zimmer of Halifax-based Imagex and Paul Brooks of Metrodome in the u.k.

With a budget of ‘about’ $5 million, the Canada/u.k. coproduction began principal photography on a 32-day shoot in Halifax in early May and is scheduled to wrap June 9 in l.a. after a four-day shoot in Tinseltown where they’re picking up the film’s last scene.

Grammer, star of hit tv series Frasier and Cheers, plays the lead role of cynical detective novelist Howard Spitz. When Spitz’s latest novel is rejected outright by the publisher, and with creditors breathing down his neck, he is forced to take desperate action.

He decides to try his hand at the lucrative craft of writing for children, despite the fact he hates kids. When Spitz acquires a serious case of writer’s block (hence the title), he reluctantly seeks the editorial advice of a tough-dealing eight-year-old girl, Samantha (Haligonian Genevieve Tessier in her film debut).

‘He (Grammer’s character) must learn to reconcile between two completely different worlds. Everything about the children’s world is bright and colorful, whereas his own life is kind of film noir; dark, high-contrast, slats of light through venetian blinds,’ says the director.

Jean has nothing but praise for the recently tabloid troubled Grammer. ‘He’s really brilliant, a comedic genius, and a great actor. I’ve never worked with anyone even remotely in his league.’

Producer Zimmer says when they began preproduction, Grammer was at the top of a long list of potential actors for the part of Spitz. ‘By the time we were done, he was still on the top of the list and he’s been wonderful to work with.’

The old maxim of never working with children or animals has apparently been thrown by the wayside. ‘On the second day of shooting Kelsey had to work with a child (Tessier) and a pigeon,’ says Jean. ‘It turned out very well; the pigeon sat on its mark all day. It was placed near its mate in a box, so the pigeon’s great performance may have had something to with sex I suppose.’

Performing just as remarkably is the seven-year-old Tessier, whose only previous acting experience was her third-grade school production of Oliver. In fact, Tessier takes her stage career very seriously and when she was offered the film role proclaimed, ‘If it means I can’t do my school play then I don’t want to do it.’ Apparently, Tessier was somehow convinced to take a break from the stage.

‘Kelsey has struck up a fantastic relationship with Genevieve,’ says Jean. ‘She’s never done any film work before and she’s turning in a stonking performance. From day two she has understood about continuity; you give her a line and she g’es back. It’s frightening. I think she’ll probably get whisked off to Hollywood.’

To say the British director has enjoyed shooting on location in Nova Scotia’s capital is an understatement. ‘It’s wonderful,’ he says. ‘The people are really excited that we’re here. They stop and wait, they don’t walk through the shot. We can shut down streets so there’s no traffic and we can get great sound.’

The caliber of the Halifax-based crew also has Jean raving. ‘They’re the best crew I’ve ever worked with. They still have a real appreciation for this business. As far as I’m concerned, anybody who works in film is bloody lucky, and that’s the way that these people feel. We’re really having a lot of fun.’

Zimmer agrees that Halifax was the proper location choice. ‘(The film) is set in a generic eastern seaboard city. You have your choice of New York, Boston or Halifax. The financing is based here so it seems logical to me to shoot it here.’

Writer’s Block represents yet another Canada/u.k. coproduction for Zimmer and Imagex. Following the success of Margaret’s Museum, and more recently, Love and Death on Long Island, Zimmer feels u.k. companies are the logical coproduction choice for English Canadian producers. He says his partnership with Metrodome’s Brooks on this project was the result of contacts made through past u.k. coproductions.

In addition to Imagex and Metrodome, funding for Writer’s Block came from Telefilm Canada, the Nova Scotia Film Development Corporation, and Baltic Media Pic. Malofilm is handling Canadian distribution and Victor Film is handling international sales.

While in Halifax, editing is taking place at Post Perfect. A fine cut and mix will be done at The Mill in London.

The production is going smoothly ­ keeping Grammer, a seven-year-old girl, and the lustful pigeons in check ­ and Jean, who is used to a more independent guerrilla style of filmmaking, is ecstatic about the situation.

‘I’ve never shot two weeks of a movie and not had to drop a shot. On my other films I would normally shoot about 3,500 feet (of film) a day; here I’ve been shooting 5,000 feet a day, which is unheard of, but it’s simply because I’ve had the time. It’s been a very happy experience. I’m gonna be back.’