Madness on the Coast

Vancouver: After eight weeks of prep, the campy Showtime musical MOW Reefer Madness – based on the stage play, which was itself inspired by the notorious anti-marijuana education film – went into production in Vancouver April 19.

Overseen by Coast Mountain Film’s Rose Lam, the production features the talents of the original stage creators and performers such as Alan Cumming (X-Men 2), Neve Campbell (The Company), Christian Campbell (Trick) and Steven Weber (Leaving Las Vegas). With the focus on dancing and singing, the production is tapping new talent pools in Vancouver, says Lam.

Production runs until June 7. Andy Fickman is director and Kevin Murphy and Dan Studney are the writers.

In other Coast Mountain news, The L Word begins a second season of 13 one-hours for Showtime. According to Lam, the pickup was the fastest on record for Showtime, which had just begun airing the series when the second season was greenlit.

‘I’m grateful my year is planned,’ says Lam, who has been able to ride the volatility of the local market through her steady relationship with Showtime. She has no plans for in-house production this year given the current volume. Ian Edwards

You’re fired

Toronto: Warner Bros. and Imagine Entertainment have abandoned plans to make The Perfect Fire, a firefighting spectacle that was set to shoot this summer in Toronto under director Danny Boyle. The movie, also known as 3000 Degrees, would have retold the events of a deadly blaze that tore through a Massachusetts warehouse in 1999, killing six, but drew fierce criticism from the victims’ families.

Also, Fox has canceled its Niagara-shot series Wonderfalls, which, if nothing else, should prevent any further confusion between it and CBC’s This is Wonderland. Sean Davidson