Scriptwriter Jefferson Lewis (Mon amie Max) says adapting Emotional Arithmetic for the big screen was very daunting. The story follows three people who are separated by the Nazis during World War Two, to be reunited some 35 years later, and comes from the novel by the late Matt Cohen, a close friend of Lewis’.

He says he felt strongly about getting the feature script completely right.

‘His widow read the script and gave it her blessing,’ Lewis reports. ‘So I was extremely happy about that.’

Shooting kicked off Sept. 27 in Montreal and runs to Nov. 3 on a $6.8-million budget, coproduced by Suzanne Girard of Montreal’s BBR Productions (Bullet Proof) and Anna Stratton of Toronto’s Triptych Media (Heyday).

Cohen would no doubt also be pleased with the cast. Oscar-winner Susan Sarandon, Gabriel Byrne and Max von Sydow star, with Christopher Plummer and Roy Dupuis playing Sarandon’s husband and son, respectively.

Emotional Arithmetic is directed by Paolo Barzman (Queen of Swords, Ice Corp.) and shot by DOP Luc Montpellier (Away from Her, The Saddest Music in the World), with the support of Telefilm Canada and SODEC. It will be distributed by Seville Pictures in 2007.