Bring the Noise

Vancouver -White Noise 2: The Light, the sequel to the surprise 2005 hit starring Michael Keaton, is scheduled to begin production on March 7, says producer Shawn Williamson of Vancouver’s Brightlight Pictures.

The film will be completely Canadian in origin, unlike the first, which saw Brightlight team with the U.K.’s Gold Circle Films. Williamson (The Wicker Man) produces with partner Stephen Hegyes. Patrick Lussier (Dracula 2000) will direct the script by Matt Venne about a man cursed with the ability to see people on the verge of death after his own near-death experience.

No cast has been announced as yet, and although Williamson says it is too early to discuss the film’s budget, it will be privately financed.

The shoot will involve two or three weeks in Montreal and more than a month in Vancouver. The first White Noise brought in more than $100 million worldwide.

‘It saw surprising success, so this is huge for us,’ says Williamson.

TVA Films has acquired Canadian distribution rights, with Rogue Pictures handling U.S. distribution and Gold Circle in charge of foreign sales. Dustin Dinoff

You, Robot

Toronto – Darius Films and Laughing Man Productions have wrapped the low-budget comedy Run Robot Run, sending the footage to editor Gareth Scales after a four-week shoot in Toronto.

The story follows a futuristic factory worker (Chris Gibbs) who loses his job and, possibly, his girlfriend to an android replacement (Peter Mooney). Lara Kelly and Christian Potenza also star.

Robot is directed and produced by Daniel O’Connor, making his feature debut with help from exec producer Nicholas Tabarrok of Darius. The pair have previously worked together on O’Connor’s shorts A Wing and a Prayer and Stand by Your Booth.

A rough cut will be shopped to distributors later this year. Scales, who also cut the Darius hit The Life and Hard Times of Guy Terrifico, recently picked up a Gemini (shared with Stéphanie Grégoire) for his editing on season one of CBC’s The Tournament.

‘We hired him, he won the Gemini, and his rate went up,’ quips Tabarrok. Sean Davidson

Nobody in Winnipeg

Winnipeg – Members of Winnipeg’s film community have banded together to aid writer/director Shawn Linden in the production of his first feature, Nobody, a supernatural crime story currently in production.

The low-budget, privately financed thriller is something ‘between a gangster movie and a Twilight Zone episode,’ according to Linden, and is put together by first-time producers Robin Linden and Jamie Thompson, with Len Peterson (Better Than Chocolate) serving as DOP. The cast is entirely non-ACTRA and features locals Darren Wall and Tony Hart. The crew is comprised of Linden’s friends in the local film community.

‘I basically called in all my chips and cashed in my favors,’ says Linden on his cellphone on his way to the set for his first day of shooting. ‘The cast and crew are basically working for free.’

Nobody is shooting in Winnipeg throughout January, and Linden hopes it will be ready by the end of spring for festival consideration. Dustin Dinoff