Therriault stars in Douglas mini

Regina – The Saskatchewan-based story of Tommy Douglas, not only the ‘Father of Medicare’ and confirmed ‘Greatest Canadian,’ but also the man who introduced government arts funding, is a story Regina-based Minds Eye Entertainment president Kevin DeWalt has wanted to tell for more than a decade.

‘After being in the business for almost 20 years in Saskatchewan, to be in a position where you can actually tell your province’s own stories is a real high point for my career,’ says DeWalt, producer of The Tommy Douglas Story, the $4-million miniseries scheduled to air on CBC next season.

The main block of principal photography starts Feb. 14 and will run to May 15 in Saskatchewan. Initial footage was shot over three days last October.

The story begins when Douglas arrives in Saskatchewan in 1931, right at the beginning of the Depression, and follows his political and personal achievements until he’s in his late seventies. Shooting takes place primarily in the small towns of Gravelbourg and Claybank, where sets have been constructed to recreate Saskatchewan of the 1930s.

Stage actor Michael Therriault, a seven-year Stratford Festival of Canada veteran who recently starred with Sean Cullen in the Toronto version of The Producers, makes his screen debut as Douglas. John N. Smith (Random Passage, The Boys of St. Vincent) directs from a script by Bruce Smith.

‘[Therriault] is going to be found as a television star with this movie,’ says DeWalt.

Before Therriault was selected for the role, 24 star Kiefer Sutherland was favored to portray his real-life grandfather.

‘It would have been wonderful to have the grandson of the man play the man,’ says DeWalt, explaining that while Sutherland expressed serious interest in the part, time constraints made it impossible. Laura Bracken

Daytime dawns in Halifax

Halifax – Floyd Kane, producer and creator of North/South, is confident the half-hour pilot has all the right stuff to develop into CBC’s new daytime soap.

North/South is one of two finalists in CBC’s daytime drama competition. The Ceeb has commissioned half-hour pilots for both North/South, coproduced by The Halifax Film Company and Toronto’s Inner City Films, and 49th and Main from Vancouver prodcos William B. Davis Productions and Raging Ruby Pictures.

Principal photography on the approximately $200,000 North/South pilot, directed by Michael Kennedy, began Jan. 29 and wrapped Jan. 31.

One of the things that really made the shoot click, according to Kane, was the diverse range of on-screen talent.

‘We did an open casting call in Halifax to get a sense of the depth of the talent pool, then went to Toronto to look into some experienced Canadian talent for specific leads,’ he says. ‘I never anticipated getting the caliber of cast that we’ve ended up with on this show.’

The cast for the Ontario/Nova Scotia copro is split evenly between the two provinces and balances established actors such as Barbara Tyson (North of 60) and Jim Fowler (Chamberpiece), with newcomers who’ve never performed in front of a camera before, including Insouf Hammond, Ayesha Gibson and Christina Israel, all from Halifax.

A rough cut will be delivered to CBC Feb. 18, with the final version expected March 28.

One of Kane’s goals on North/South, which focuses on four families working in Nova Scotia’s construction industry, is to create a show that reflects the province’s cultural diversity. He says that while the rest of Canada is generally aware of Halifax’s black community, its Lebanese, Asian and South Asian communities are less well known.

‘In the different looks on the screen, we’re really showing the distinctions between the white family that owns the company, the working-class black family and the up-and-coming Lebanese family,’ he says.

Last May, CBC put out an open call to producers to develop an ethnically diverse, half-hour soap and received 360 applications. The North/South pilot will air on CBC, although a date has not yet been set. Laura Bracken

La-la-la-love

Vancouver – Damon Vignale (Little Brother of War, Zacharia) is the director and music is the important costar of A Perfect Note, another in CHUM’s 13 Stories About Love.

Produced by Vancouver-based Guiliana Bertuzzi (Dragon Booster) and executive produced by Gilles LaPlante (Bloodsuckers), A Perfect Note tells the story of a fractured but ‘musically infused’ family whose love for each other is rekindled when they encounter a jazz singer.

Tonya Lee Williams (The Young and the Restless) stars with singer Candus Churchill (Door to Door). James Sanders (The Chris Isaak Show) is the writer (with Cathy Sostad) and costars. Production started Feb. 12 and runs until Feb. 23. Budget on the one-hour production is $115,000. Ian Edwards