Vancouver: After years of driving stars to the set, Teamster boss Diana Kilmury relaxed in the back seat this month on her way to act as an advisor on The Lady is a Teamster: The Diana Kilmury Story. (Geez, the titles on these cbc tv movies aren’t getting any better are they? But word has it Mother Corp didn’t like the producer’s alternative, Mother Trucker, any better.)

Written and produced by filmmaker Anne Wheeler (The War Between Us) along with Toronto-based executive producer Laszlo Barna (The Negotiator) and directed by Sturla Gunnarson (Final Offer), the $3 million tv movie explores Kilmury’s dramatic ascent up the ladder of brotherly love in the Teamster union hierarchy. She battled union corruption and a lack of internal democracy along the road to her surprising election as an international vice-president at large of the 1.7 million-member union in 1991.

While the election was won, I’m sure her union battles aren’t over. When the film’s publicist tried to reach Kilmury for an interview, she was busy on the other line sorting out fire bomb threats in l.a. Our Labor Relations Board hearings positively pale by comparison.

Kilmury sold the rights to the film for $75,000, which she reportedly has donated to the reform arm of Teamsters for a Democratic Union.

In another political connection, actress Barbara Williams (Digger), who’s married to u.s. senator/ activist Tom Hayden (aka Jane Fonda’s ex), is starring as Kilmury.

When Kilmury, who retained script approval, first saw the slender actress destined to portray her, she thought no way. ‘After all,’ says Kilmury, who at five feet eight inches tall tips the scales at 200 pounds, ‘I’m a pretty skookum, heavy-duty-sized woman. But this little bitty woman surprised me, she actually understands me and she’s got it on screen.’

Production wrapped Nov. 17.

Full of ginger

Forefront Releasing came up with a clever idea to promote its recently acquired feature film, The Perfect Man, directed and produced by Calgary filmmaker Wendy Hill-Tout. They air-freighted little anatomically correct (well almost) gingerbread men to the south of France for last month’s mipcom with the inscription, ‘If you can’t find the perfect man then do the best you can.’

Forefront producer Helena Cynamon says the men (gingerbread that is) were a big hit even though many arrived decapitated and limbless.

Meanwhile, Forefront Productions wrapped its dramatic teen television series Madison for another season earlier this month. Will there be another though, that’s the question.

They also recently optioned The Concubine’s Children, written by novelist Denise Chong. Vancouver Trade Forum producer Melanie Friesen has signed with the company as creative producer on the project, which will be developed as a feature or a tv miniseries.

Prior to whipping the Trade Forum into shape, Friesen was head of development for Martin Scorsese’s production company in New York.

Balancing act

I caught up with producer Warren Carr this month while he was busy balancing production budgets, feeding his 13-month-old baby, writing out a child support payment or two, and vacuuming – all at the same time. I’ll bet he even had a Beef Wellington on the go.

Carr was working on the budgets for Universal Pictures’ The Green Hornet starring George Clooney, the latest heartthrob from the tv series er, and Bruce Lee’s youngest son, Jason Scott Lee.

The film remake of the ’60s tv series that starred the late Bruce Lee, is being done with a ‘fun and satirical’ edge and will feature loads of high-tech visual special effects.

The challenge, says Carr, is finding sufficient studio space, especially given the feature film is scheduled to shoot during Vancouver’s busy season in April or May ’96.

Also being budgeted for Vancouver for the same time period, says Carr, is The Best Woman, a romantic comedy about a man headed to the alter who asks his best friend, a woman, to be best man at his wedding. The film stars Lauren Holly (of Picket Fences and comedian Jim Carrey’s main squeeze). The male lead has yet to be signed.

Carr, who has a long-standing relationship with Universal, confirms, however, that feature film production from the major studios will remain in limbo pending the outcome of Section 41 labor hearings at the Labor Relations Board this month.

Carr says after doing the rounds of all the major studios in l.a. last month, he believes the studios think bargaining with one labor council sounds like a good concept, but the big question remains, will the unions bargain to have a ‘competitive’ master agreement? None of the studios wants to be the first to come up and test the new rulings, especially when they are committing millions to a production, he adds.

Hot shop

Post Modern Sound is rapidly becoming the hot audio post facility in town. On Sunday night, Oct. 22, the digital post facility had a whopping six hours of its sound work on primetime: The Surrogate, an mow produced in Vancouver, aired on abc; A Dream Is A Wish Your Heart Makes: The Annette Funicello Story aired on cbs; another episode of Lonesome Dove: The Series aired on ctv in Canada and in syndication in the u.s.; and the Highlander series aired in syndication across North America. Not bad for a little hideaway on West 2nd with a mere 13 audio suites and 26 editors, mixers and support staff.

Title without a job

Local casting director Sid Kozak doesn’t like sitting around in an empty office. Earlier this fall, cbc informed Kozak he would still be head of casting for cbc Vancouver. Hang on, did we miss something? I thought there weren’t going to be anymore cbc dramatic productions on the West Coast. Yes, that’s right, says Kozak, that’s why he’s doing casting for the Pacific Motion Pictures mow The Limbic Region and Universal Television’s tv series Sliders, being shot in Vancouver until next spring. What did Mother Corp. think he would be casting, cooking shows?