Director: Robert Lepage * Writer: John Mighton * Producers: Sandra Cunningham, Bruno Jobin * Cinematographer: Jonathan Freeman * Diary by: Mark Dillon

‘Each of us exists in an infinite number of possible worlds.’ This is the theme espoused by George Barber, the main character in Possible Worlds, the first English-language feature by Quebec director Robert Lepage (Le Confessional, No).

George’s murdered corpse is discovered by two police detectives, its brain neatly removed. While a string of similar killings ensues, the audience accompanies George through several alternate realities in search of Joyce, his lover, who appears to him in different incarnations and in several variations on their relationship.

Lepage has described the film as ‘a regular boy-meets-girl story, but presented in a way that, I think, renews the genre and has some poetic and philosophical tags attached. The murder case is not important in itself, but the trip the murder takes us on is significant. I’m interested in using surrealism to better explain reality.’

Spring 1997: East Side Film Company producer Sandra Cunningham, on the recommendation of Atom Egoyan (for whom she was line producer on The Sweet Hereafter) sees John Mighton’s Governor General’s Award-winning play Possible Worlds. She is immediately intrigued.

‘I was impressed by [Possible World’s] incisive and intelligent dialogue, its humor, and the themes I thought were so of our time – the thinking person’s investigation of parallel universes and the power of our imagination,’ she says.

Cunningham options the work from Mighton, who expresses interest in writing the screen adaptation himself.

Summer to fall 1997: Cunningham and Mighton raise development money from the Harold Greenberg Fund and Telefilm Canada for Mighton to write the script.

Summer 1998: Robert Lepage responds enthusiastically to Mighton’s play at a Quebec City theatre festival and expresses interest in the film version. Mighton and Cunningham agree Lepage is the right director for the project.

Fall 1998: The screening of Lepage’s No at the Toronto International Film Festival offers the principals the opportunity for further script discussions.

Possible Worlds undergoes the next phase of development financing with Telefilm and becomes a senior project at the Harold Greenberg Fund. Coproduction financing talks begin between Toronto’s East Side and Montreal’s In Extremis Images, of which Lepage is a partner with producer Bruno Jobin.

November 1998 to March 1999: The cbc commits to a presale licence, which becomes part of the production’s distribution advance and triggers a potential $679,000 from the Licence Fee Program of the Canadian Television Fund. Telefilm comes in for its maximum, $1.5 million, which is split between its Feature Film Fund and Equity Investment Program. The film’s producers approach TMN-The Movie Network for equity in the project, and the broadcaster responds with $400,000.

Alliance Atlantis Communications comes through with a distribution advance of $300,000 for the domestic licence and $250,000 for international.

In Quebec, sodec offers equity financing in the amount of $475,000. The balance of the $4.4-million budget is in federal and provincial tax credits and producer investment.

June 1999: Lepage makes a couple of trips to Toronto for casting with John Buchan. Lepage first casts Tom McCamus (A Long Day’s Journey into Night) as George. Although the production endeavors to cast all Canadians, it believes British actress Tilda Swinton (Orlando) to be best for the role of Joyce and brings her on board.

July to August 1999: Lepage departs to mount an opera in Japan and location scouting proceeds in his absence, although he does contribute via e-mail . The Magdalen Islands are selected as a primary location since the ocean plays a part in the story.

Labour Day 1999: Preproduction starts.

Mid-October 1999: The six-week shoot begins.

December 1999 to February 2000: The production rents a loft space in Quebec City near Lepage’s theatre/studio, where Toronto editor Susan Shipton commences cutting.

February to May 2000: adr and seven weeks of sound editing begin at Theatre D Digital in Toronto. Post-production takes a brief hiatus during the Toronto run of Lepage’s one-man show The Dark Side of the Moon. Three weeks of mixing take place in May. The production negotiates the use of the Peter Gabriel song Nest for the beginning and end of the film.

September 2000: Possible Worlds makes its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival, to be followed by its North American debut at tiff. Alliance Atlantis Pictures International is handling the film’s international distribution, with Odeon Films/Vivafilm in charge of distribution in Canada. *