Ancient Vancouver proverb: He who

steps outside trips over film crew

Vancouver: It seems I don’t even have to get out of my chair to go on set anymore. Just the other day as I was sitting at my desk, talking on the telephone and looking out the window, (what else do writers do?) I watched a car race around the corner and careen down the hill. Rather reckless, I thought, as I resumed pounding away on my keyboard. Two minutes later two cars raced by again. Hmm must be a film crew nearby. I looked down and sure enough there are the blockades and flag people.

Later in the evening as I drove home, there were more trailers lined up along Alberni street. I crossed the Lion’s Gate bridge and into North Van’s tiny Edgemont village thinking maybe I’ll stop at Starbucks. Nope, there were more lights, more crew. The next morning driving back to work, there’s a water truck wetting down the Cambie Street Bridge and yet another guy in a baseball cap, binoculars and walkie talkie.

My point you ask? No wonder everyone in the business is worried about location burnout. With 31 productions on the boards – last year at this time there were just 17 – they are indeed everywhere. Hats off to all those overworked location managers, police officers and city workers who are doing their best to keep a lid on this problem.

B.C. features: big

festival presence

After a long dry spell b.c. appears to have finally produced another bumper crop of indigenous feature films for this year’s festival circuit.

Whale Music, a coproduction between b.c. producers Raymond Massey and David Hauka with Steven DeNure of Toronto-based Alliance Communications, has been invited to open the prestigious Toronto International Film Festival. Whale Music, a romantic comedy based on author Paul Quarrington’s novel of the same name, is all about a reclusive, wealthy ex-pop star (who also happens to be drug-addled). It was directed by l.a.-based Canadian Richard Lewis who co-wrote the film with Quarrington. It stars Maury Chaykin who, I might add, was once accidentally shoved into a tray of cold prawns courtesy my elbows as I rushed my hungry self to the buffet at a crowded Hollywood cocktail reception. Whoops, I never had a chance to apologize. Well here it is in print….hope he doesn’t hold a grudge.

Writer/director Mina Shum’s first feature Double Happiness will make its premiere at Toronto. The film is produced through British Columbia Film’s New Views III – a joint funding program along with Telefilm Canada and the National Film Board in b.c. that supports new local directors – by Rose Lam Waddell and Stephen Hegyes. Starring Sandra Oh (Diary Of Evelyn Lau), Double Happiness is the story of a young Chinese-Canadian woman caught between her own dreams and the traditional values of her family.

Max, directed and written by filmmaker Charles Wilkinson, has also been accepted by Toronto, Vancouver and Montreal festivals. It’s the story of a family which gains a new perspective on life when confronted with the terminal illness of the youngest child. Astral Communications, which honed the film through extensive audience research, will release it theatrically in Canada immediately after the festival openings.

While awaiting the festival flurry, Wilkinson has been busy directing episodes of the syndicated series Highlander which he describes as a cross between his earlier film, the futuristic Quarantine, and Max.

Where West meets East

Tokyo Cowboy, a comedy written by Caroline Adderson about a short order cook from Japan who encounters cultural and gender confusion as he tries to fulfill his dream of becoming a cowboy in the wilds of b.c., will have its premiere at the Atlantic Film Festival and a gala at the Vancouver International Film Festival. Directed by Kathy Garneau and produced by Richard Davis and Lodi Butler, the film stars Christianne Hirt and Hiromoto Ida.

Cyberteens in Love, the winner of B.C. Film’s Next Wave program – which helps develop emerging production teams in b.c. – premiers at Montreal. It’s a futuristic drama, combining live action and computer animation, which focuses on a young couple who become entangled in a plot involving mind-controlling cybernetic technology. Directed by Brett Dowler and produced by Jane Charles, Cyberteens was the first feature to use Sony’s new Digital Betacam wide screen format.

When will they ever learn?

First it was James Farentino, then it was Ray Starkey. Now it could be another American actor in trouble with the law for trying to bring drugs into the country while filming in Vancouver.

Chevy Chase’s driver, Fred Moroz, got popped at the border earlier this month for trying to bring painkillers without a prescription across the border that he says were for Chase.

Moroz, charged with possession of a controlled substance, may face up to five years in prison. (And you think your day at work was bad.)

According to newspaper reports, Moroz told police he had made several trips in recent weeks to Blaine, Wash. to bring Percocet, a powerful painkiller, across the border for Chase who is in town filming the Disney feature Man 2 Man.

Needless to say, publicist Lee Anne Muldoon has had her hands full answering ‘no comment’ to all and sundry.

Moroz, who spent four hours in the clinker before being released on $5,000 bail, was also unavailable for comment.

The film also stars Farrah Fawcett, Jonathan Taylor Thomas and George Wendt and has certainly suffered its share of inconveniences. First they lost two days of filming after an equipment malfunction ate their film at the lab. Later in production, filming was further delayed when a rare lightning storm hit Vancouver just as they were scheduled to shoot a scene involving several helicopters; then, actra and the ubcp performers’ unions continued their squabbles over jurisdiction and held certification votes on the set. And now this. Ah well, I’m sure producers Bonnie Bruckheimer and Marty Katz were only too relieved when production wrapped August 19th.

Go North

Word has it with Canada’s continued dollar exchange advantage, all the major studios have sent out the message to producers: ‘Before you shoot look in Canada first!’ So they’ve been look’in’.

What if Godzilla stomps Matilda?

Former studio head-turned-producer Dawn Steele (Cool Runnings) was in town scouting this month for a What’s Wrong with Gilbert Grape type of story entitled Angus Bethune. Director Jan Bent (Speed) and production designer Joe Nemec (The Terminator) were up sniffing around for the mega mega budget feature Godzilla. Apparently they need to construct a Japanese village that Godzilla could stomp out. And actor/ director Danny DeVito was scouting (in between signing autographs) for his next film, Matilda, based on a Roald Dahl story about an orphaned girl who gets just revenge on the evil adults in her life.