Silent partners

Toronto – Video-game adaptations have been good to Don Carmody (the Resident Evils), so it comes as no surprise that he also has a hand in Silent Hill, the feature version of the 1999 horror game now prepping for an April shoot at Toronto Film Studios. The pic is shooting under the shingle of France’s Davis-Films, produced by Carmody, Samuel Hadida (the Resident Evils, Spider) and Andrew Mason of the Matrix trilogy.

French import and frequent Hadida collaborator Christophe Gans (Brotherhood of the Wolf) will direct the script by Roger Avary (Pulp Fiction). Carmody is also attached to Lucky Number Slevin, with Bruce Willis and Josh Hartnett, now shooting in Montreal. The Silent Hill games are produced by L.A.’s Konami Corp. The movie is due out in 2006. Sean Davidson

Crossing over

Vancouver – Crossing, a Vancouver-made feature about a gangster who discovers the joys and perils of cross-dressing, is in final mix at Earshot Productions in Vancouver until mid-February and will have its world premiere at the Cinequest San Jose Film Festival on March 11.

Shot in February 2003, the neo-noir romantic thriller was written by Sandra Tomc and directed by her husband Roger Larry.

The production has cost $2 million with deferrals, sponsors and cash, says Larry. Rainmaker, William F. White and Kodak, for instance, have sponsored the feature to the tune of $140,000 collectively, he adds, while Telefilm Canada helped with completion money.

‘It took us five years to get the script right, so a year and half in editing doesn’t seem that long,’ says Larry of the film’s long gestation.

Crossing stars Sebastian Spence (Dawson’s Creek, First Wave), Crystal Bublé (Cold Squad), Alan C. Peterson (Traffic), Fred Ewanuick (Corner Gas) and rocker Bif Naked (Lunch with Charles).

In the story, a macho tough guy makes a deathbed promise to his father to turn his family from petty gangsters to upright brokerage owners. The only thing standing in his way is his newly discovered desire to dress like a girl and his romance with a blackmailing hooker.

Larry says he’s fielding offers from film distributors and, for the soundtrack, music distributors.

In the meantime, at Cinequest, he hopes to secure interest in the next script in development, Pippa’s Dream, another romantic thriller by Tomc, this time about a woman whose scary dreams come true. Ian Edwards