40 is the new 20: The story behind the song

Guest post today from my friend Steven Morris, who co-wrote an original song for a feature film being released this weekend. Take it away Steven:

On May 29, the totally independent English-language Canadian feature 40 is the new 20 opens in Montreal (AMC Forum) and Toronto (AMC Yonge & Dundas 24). It's directed by Montrealer Simon Boisvert, with a cast including Claudia Ferri (Hard Core Logo, Mambo Italiano), Pat Mastroianni (Degrassi), Bruce Dinsmore (The Myth of the Male Orgasm) and newcomer Diana Lewis, who also produces.

Best of all (well, maybe not best), a song I co-wrote runs under the closing credits. Here's the story of how that happened.

My old friend André Potvin was on the crew for 40 is the new 20, and he kept telling me it was one of the best experiences he'd ever had, after years of working on cookie-cutter films made to feed cable TV.

André has an innate sense of taste. If he said it was a cool film it probably was. Then he dropped the bombshell.

“Steven, I told the director that you and I wrote a song for his end credits and that we would send him a demo.” Tip your hat to André because this bit of hubris was a blatant lie. But it did set a bright orange fire under our you-know-whats.

André and I had once played lots of music together. Two guitars (one blonde the other black), two voices and two rock and roll frames of mind. But a few years ago I had been forced to stop playing because of arthritis. The musical path we’d been on split and I spent time licking my wounds, singing with others and trying to learn different instruments.

This song project represented an opportunity for renewed collaboration. But there were a few problems: songs don’t grow on trees, the shit box digidesign/pro tools home studio I had purchased two years ago had to be figured out, and André and I had to re-learn our lost art of relating as musicians, and as human beings.

Potvin had put together a muscular, highly rhythmic chord progression and a good sketch of an arrangement. But when I asked him what his melody was he stared at me with bland expression which screamed out, “Heeelp meee!”

For six weeks it was a slugfest. I read Simon’s taut script twice, Potvin threw melodic line after line I came up with back in my face until he started coming up with some of his own. Finally, we unraveled the needlessly complex software and delivered the song.

And Simon bought it! That was nearly three months ago.

Being the neurotic I am that gave me plenty of time to doubt André's opinion of the shoot. I was convinced our music and names would be identified with something of unbridled absurdity. That I would have to learn to repeat the line, “Oh, that must be some other Steven Morris, I have never heard of André Potvin.”

Or reverse anxiety: The song we wrote was horrible and Simon didn't know any better. More than one person whose opinion I respect had said, “it is a pity to see you wasting your spare time on this song Morris.” My older brother referred to me as “a head case.”

Finally, the date came for the crew screening. After seeing the film, I beamed with pride. And for all involved, not just me and André.

It is not such an embarrassment to have cradled existential doubt. Just making a film is a miracle. Making a good film is an act of God. Some say magic is involved. Regardless, Simon Boisvert made a good film. And that ain’t easy. It takes lots of courage.

If you have ever been on a web site to meet people, or speed dating, or been invited by friends for dinner and – surprise – there is a single person of the opposite sex there. you will relate to this film. There are legions of us.

40 is the New 20 is a contemporary tale. The actors deliver. The story grabbed me.

Some will loathe it, others love it. Some will be indifferent. But this is a call for you to buy a ticket and respond. Morris, you need your head read, that film is a stinker. Morris, you were right, it hurt me too. Maurice, désolé, peux pas te dire si je suis pour ou contre, car je me suis endormi durant la projection.

Go all out, post a comment on the Facebook group I created called, “40 is the New 20-The Feature Film.”

Please go see it. Hit me with your best shot.

Design... please!

Why are film production companies so prone to fancy, unusable design when it comes to their websites? Like this one.  Yeah, "Desk" -- that's an intuitive button.

Freedom comes to Aberystwyth

Thirty years ago, the town of Aberystwyth, in Wales, banned Monty Python's Life of Brian. Now, the ban has been rescinded and Mayor Sue Jones-Davies has organized a screening of the film, which two former Python members will attend.

And who is Sue Jones-Davies? Well, she played Brian's girflfriend, Judith Iscariot, then went on to a career in film and theatre. These days, in addition to serving as mayor, she also teaches yoga.

More on the story here. 

Karen Walton profile

Karen Walton is the screenwriter behind the cult teen werewolf hit Ginger Snaps. She also has a whole lot of other writing credits.

Today, she divides her time between Montreal and Toronto, with the occasional jaunt to LA. She's wrapped up adapting Michael Turner's great novel The Pornographer's Poem, and is working on a new film with Jean-Marc Vallée of C.R.A.Z.Y. fame. 

I interviewed Karen for the Fall 2008 issue of Canadian Screenwriter. I generally find screenwriters fun to interview. Especially Canadian ones. They know how to tell a good story, and even the successful ones live a relatively marginalized existence -- so they tend to be down to earth and honest.

Within moments of my first approaching Karen, she was sending emails that sounded like they were meant for an old friend.

It was also refreshing to speak to someone who was unabashed in expressing her complete lack of interest in directing:

"I totally admired the directors, and totally understood the nature of the performance required from the actors. But what I really wanted to do was to able to continue working with lots of different kinds of directors on lots of different kinds of projects. If you become an auteur, if you become the director, that changes. Because you only ever get to be on your own set. You only get to have a converastion with who you invite to the party. And I fell in love with the idea that I didn't know yet what was possible. And what I really wanted to do was hang out and work with directors, not be one.”

You can read my story here.  Then drop by ink canada, the Facebook group she started to bring Canadian screenwriters together. 

Seek not orientation along the business

Viennale is the name of a film festival in Vienna. They sure seem to take themselves seriously, from the sound of their mission statement. What they don't seem to take seriously is the importance of good translators.

The VIENNALE has set itself the target to make cinema approachable in all its variety, its affluence of languages, history, and forms of narration, as well as its aesthetic and political perspectives.

The VIENNALE's intention is - in sharp contrast and opposition to the prevailing hegemonic and narrowing tendencies of a profit-orientated cinema - to spread the fan of this world's images and sounds as far, freely and openly as possible.

The VIENNALE, as well as every single one of the works shown in its context are supposed to be an offer, an invitation, a proposition. It is the individual work of art that constitutes both the smallest and the largest entitiy of the festival.

The VIENNALE does not seek orientation along the business, the daily fashions and fortuities, but along the inherent matter itself. Most ideally, the festival - just as any good film - is but the idea of one such matter.

I thought they believed in less government interference

Canada's Conservative government wants to kill any film and television productions that a committee deems to be offensive or not in the public interest.

In opposition, the Reform Party -- predecessors to the current government -- railed for years against films they saw as a waste of public funds. It was one of their recurring motifs.

Take this comment made in Parliament by luminary Myron Thompson:

The National Film Board receives over $80 million from taxpayers. I would like to outline for the House where some of those dollars are going. A film board promotion for a video says: ``Compelling, often hilarious and always rebellious, the 10 women discuss lesbian sexuality and survival in Canada during the fifties and the sixties. This video brings lesbian history out of the closet and contributes to the viable history of sexuality in Canada''. It also states: ``Due to the explicit nature of certain scenes, viewer discretion is advised''.

The film Thompson is referring to is Forbidden Love. Presumably, the kind of thing the new censorship committee would have disapproved of.

Would the world be a better place without Forbidden Love? Its many awards include a Genie -- Canada's highest film honour -- for best feature-length documentary. Fifteen years after its release, groups are still screening it. You can't say that about a lot of documentaries.

I say, give me honest libertarians any day. If you want to shrink the role of government, then just do it. Don't tell us you're against government interference, then insist on telling us what's good for us.

Freeing Madame Tutli-Putli

This is clever.

The National Film Board has an Oscar nomination for the animated film Madame Tutli-Putli. Each time someone clicks this link, they unlock one of the 23,287 frames of the film. If they're all unlocked, the film streams online for free.

Santa probably trains his staff better

Empire Theatres in Halifax have a great idea to bring more people into a downtown cinema on Sunday afternoon. It goes by the cloying name of Santa Cinema: a different Christmas-themed movie every Sunday at 3PM.

So we head down to the cinema to see Miracle on 34th Street. We hoped it would be the original, but it turned out to be the remake.

There's a poster at the theatre entrance stating the adult and child prices of tickets to the Christmas movies. It also says admission includes popcorn and a drink.

There's nobody at the box office when we arrive -- promising -- but a kid turns up soon after. We ask for two adult, one youth, and two child tickets. There are no youth tickets anymore he says. I ask what age child covers. He says there are no child tickets any more, just adult tickets (Merry Christmas kiddies!). I point out that the poster at the front of the theatre gives a price for child tickets. He says OK. I ask what age child goes up to (we have a 13-year-old -- will he be a child or an adult?). He says, "three to seven, I guess."

He then sells us our tickets. I ask about the included concessions. He doesn't know anything about that and calls off-screen (I was starting to feel like I was in a bad movie myself" to Ian, the manager. He turns up, says, "Do you know how to sell Santa Cinema tickets?" The kid and I both say "No" at the same time, and the manager proceeds to train him on the spot, as the line behind us gets longer.

"Three to seven I guess." I loved that. If you don't know the answer, make it up, in as unconvincing a way as possible.

After the show was over -- yes, it was the remake, but it was fun -- the kids decide to hit the arcade. The change machine would not accept the paper money it was supposed to. The "In the Groove" dance game was broken. The claw ate the tokens put into it. The air hockey jets were so weak that the puck kept getting stuck mid-table.

All this to the soundtrack of a broken machine, endlessly repeating (in a sing-song): "Prize error, prize error, please call attendant.... Prize error, prize error, please call attendant..."

Kiss vs Planet of the Apes

Some very fun artwork here for "the greatest film/book/comic never (yet) made!" The idea comes from Mike Drake of Strange Adventures.

I hope someone is working on a development deal.

World's first!

My thanks to Andy Riga for sending me the ridiculous press release below.

1) How many screenwriters send out a release that their script is "almost complete?" Now there's a news peg for you.

2) The film is "the world's first Russian-Canadian co-production." Excuse me, "the world's first?" How about "The first Russian-Canadian co-production." Can there be any Russian-Canadian co-productions in other countries? If not, we don't need the word "world" (unless we want to sound much more impressive than we really are).

3) "...an intriguing story." Intriguing! My favourite word! Perhaps it will be "fascinating" too.

4) I have only gotten through the first paragraph and I am tired already.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
TROJAN. Ruse de Sioux KGB
Russian screenwriter Aleksandr Borodyanskiy announces his latest script, and the beginning of the world’s first Russian-Canadian co-production

Toronto – May 16, 2007 Professor Aleksandr Borodyanskiy, a well-known Russian screenwriter, film director and actor, has announced he is working on his latest feature film script. When complete, the screenplay will tell an intriguing story about the arrest of a suspected Kremlin spy in Canada. The script has already been registered with the copyright societies of Russia and Canada under the name Canadian Spy Kremlin. The working title for the film is Trojan, and Borodyanskiy has announced that his script is almost complete. When the finished screenplay is ready to enter production, it will mark the beginning of the world’s first co-production between Russia and Canada. Borodyanskiy is excited to announce his work on this script, as he has been fascinated with espionage themes since his early years. “For me, a spy is a person whose life is interesting and extraordinary,” said Borodyanskiy. Despite the theme’s serious nature, Borodyanskiy’s screenplay will be a lyric drama and tragic comedy. The film will be filled with both humor and irony, with a plot loosely based on the story of Paul William Hampel. “The prototype of my film’s hero is a man named Paul Hampel, who was arrested in Canada last November, and deported to Russia in December,” said Borodyanskiy the to Russian information agency Interfax. Hampel was a fictitious name used by a man who was arrested at a Montreal airport in November 2006, after the Canadian government accused him of being a Russian spy. Hampel later admitted through his lawyer that he was indeed a Russian citizen, with no legal status in Canada, but he did not admit to being involved in espionage. During Hampel’s trial, a Federal Court judge agreed to withhold the man’s real name over concerns for the safety of his family. In exchange, Hampel did not contest deportation to Russia. The man living as Hampel had managed to obtain a valid Canadian passport, and had made frequent trips to Europe during his time in Canada. Interfax picked up on a possible connection between the story of Paul William Hampel and that of another famous Russian dissident named Aleksandr Litvinenko. When asked whether the film will touch on the famous story of the poisoning of ex-KGB agent Litvinenko, Borodyanskiy withheld details, and replied “as far as Litvinenko is concerned I can only say that my hero has also been visiting Europe on numerous occasions as well.”

Aleksandr Borodyanskiy Upon resignation from KGB, the Soviet Union Intelligence Service, Aleksandr Litvinenko made public accusations against his leaders saying they gave an order to kill Russian billionaire Boris Berezovskiy. After being arrested by Russian authorities, Litvinenko was released and fled to Europe. In November 2006, Litvinenko died of lethal radiation poisoning under highly suspicious circumstances. Two years after his death, Russian authorities began looking into Litvinenko’s accusations of the alleged KGB misdeeds. This led to public accusations that the Russian government was behind Litvinenko’s poisoning, and resulted in worldwide media coverage. A few years ago, Aleksandr Borodyanskiy wrote the script for a popular Russian film called Tycoon, which was released in 2002. Tycoon’s main character closely resembled billionaire Boris Berezovskiy. Borodyanskiy has written several espionage-themed scripts in his career, and is considered to be a master of spy films in Russia. His previous work includes writing a Russian-Chilean film called KGB Agents Also Fall in Love. Films based on his scripts have won numerous awards at film festivals around the world. Aleksandr Borodyanskiy is a well known screen writer in Russia. He has penned the scripts of numerous feature-length films, many of which have received recognition both in and outside of Russia. Borodyanskiy’s award-winning scripts include Afonya We Are From Jazz, Ground Zero, and American Daughter, among others. In total, Aleksandr Borodyanskiy has written over 50 scripts in various genres including drama, comedy, adventure, romance, and history. -30- Available for interviews: Aleksandr Borodyanskiy

The Bodybuilder and I (again)

Congrats to director Bryan Friedman and everyone involved in making (and publicizing) The Bodybuilder and I. Top Canadian feature at Hot Docs. Nice work.

The Bodybuilder and I

Through the NFB, I've been involved in the launch of the feature documentary The Bodybuilder and I.

It's the story of 26-year-old Bryan Friedman, and his dad Bill -- a 59-year-old competitive bodybuilder taking his last shot at winning back the title he once held.

It's one hell of a film, and it premieres at the Hot Docs festival in Toronto this weekend, with two screenings. The world premiere is Friday, April 20, 9:30 PM at the Royal Cinema, with a follow-up on Sunday afternoon at 1:30, at the Bloor.

Here's the film's page in the Hot Docs catalogue. Once you're there, click on the right side of the page to buy tickets. (The Friday night screening is rush tickets only at this point.)

US Postal Service Star Wars stamp

The United States Postal Service will be issuing a Star Wars stamp this year, in honour of the 30th anniversary of the first Star Wars film (aka Episode IV).

You can vote online for your favourite design.

I think the stormtroopers should win. Isn't there something kind of appropriate right now about a stamp featuring these guys?

Loyal to the Emperor, stormtroopers maintain order and instill fear throughout the Empire. From scalding desert to snow-swept plains, they are trained to serve in many different environments.