MONTREAL — Gilmore Girls star Alexis Bledel is being kept on edge by director Noël Mitrani during the shoot of The Kate Logan Affair, says producer Ian Whitehead.

”I really like working with Noël. He keeps the actors on their toes,’ says Whitehead (18 to Life, St. Urbain’s Horseman), on the set in Chambly, a small community on Montreal’s south shore. ‘Alexis is really doing an unexpected performance. People who know her from the Gilmore Girls will be surprised.”

The $2.5 million homegrown flick was also written by Mitrani, and stars Bledel as a troubled young policewoman.

Whitehead was drawn to Mitrani’s script because ‘it’s not fast-paced, but the level of storytelling is exceptional. It’s a simple story that works on many levels.’

Mitrani’s self-financed first feature Sur la trace d’Igor Rizzi, about a down-and-out soccer player, won the best Canadian first feature award at TIFF in 2006. Born in Canada to French parents, he lived in Paris before settling in Montreal.

‘Noël’s style is very instinctive. He doesn’t do a lot of takes,’ says Whitehead.

Although Mitrani’s mother tongue is French, the film is shot entirely in English. It follows the tumultuous relationship between Bledel’s title character, described as psychologically unstable, and a Frenchman played by Laurent Lucas.

Distributed by Seville Films, The Kate Logan Affair is a Galafilm production, brought to the screen with help from Telefilm Canada and SODEC. No release date has been set.