Jury member falls for hottest Manson girl

• Writer/director: Reginald Harkema
• Producers: Jennifer Jonas, Leonard Farlinger
• Production company: New Real Films
• Key cast: Gregory Smith, Kristen Hager, Sarah Gadon, Ryan Robbins, Kristin Adams, Don McKellar
• Distributor: E1 Entertainment
• International sales: E1 Films International
• Budget: $1.8 million

Leslie, My Name Is Evil is about ‘a jury member at the Charles Manson trial who falls in love with the hottest Manson girl,’ explains writer/director Reginald Harkema, but he insists it’s not a biopic about real-life murderess Leslie Van Houten. ‘It’s more a pop-art melodrama.

‘The biggest challenge was shooting a California period piece here [Toronto] in November, but we caught three days of warm sunshine and got the last exterior in the can just minutes before it snowed,’ says Harkema. ‘For a movie that spends so much time questioning the existence of God, that was like an affirmation of His existence.’

As for the distribution strategy outside Canada, ‘we’re playing a game of wait-and-see,’ says the director. ‘The feeling about this film is that its audience is narrow but deep, so there’s a strategy to see how it is received in Toronto – and how many drunken buyers we can get to our party.’

Next up, Harkema says, ‘I’m doing a fast-paced, comedic punk-rock love story between a boy from the suburbs and a girl from the streets called The Rebel Kind. It’s like Sid and Nancy meets 24 Hour Party People.

‘I’m determined to knock Bruce McDonald off his pedestal as the director of the greatest rock ‘n’ roll movie of all time,’ he concludes with a chuckle.