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Hard core Montreal Bruce McDonald arrives to shoot Platinum by MATTHEW HAYS
The story, written by local scribe Léopold Saint-Pierre, revolves around a struggling Montreal record label gunning to compete with bigger, more commercial labels. British actor Robert Cavanah has been imported to play the lead, while diva Pascale Bussières plays his partner at the label. Toronto actor Laura Bertram (Ready or Not) also stars, with John Kastner (of the Doughboys) writing a good deal of the music, producing the songs with veteran Daniel Ray (who has worked with the Ramones and Debbie Harry). Ivan (Men Without Hats) has also written a couple of dance tunes for the show. Platinum's behind-the-scenes talent has been through some changes as well. Andrew Lloyd Webber, who codeveloped the project, ceased being involved when he decided to close his TV production office. When the British end of the coproduction finished and the film became solely Canadian produced, former Beatles producer George Martin, who was to have a hand in developing the music, also withdrew from the project (Prisma spokespeople say the partings were perfectly amicable and Webber and Martin are still "behind the film"). This caps an eventful year for McDonald: he completed a documentary on Norman Jewison for the CBC biography series Life and Times and directed the CBC miniseries Twitch City, written by and starring Don McKellar (the cast also includes Callum Rennie, Molly Parker, Daniel MacIvor, Al Waxman and Bruce McCulloch). McDonald, the director of such indie hits as Highway 61 and Dance Me Outside, sat down to talk with the Mirror just prior to his French class ("I want to learn at least learn bar French before this thing is over"). Mirror: Platinum has the biggest budget you've dealt with so far, no? Bruce McDonald: It's great because it's the first time I've been able to have some resources in the art and wardrobe departments. With previous films I've been finding what exists, but I've never had the luxury of playing around with the art department in a major way. It's fun to have the time and resources to go a little nuts. M: Music really seems to be playing a big role in your work. Hard Core Logo was full of punk nostalgia. BM: The great thing about Platinum is that it's a great way to explore all kinds of music. The film has some gospel music as well as rock oriented stuff. I thought this label [depicted in the film] could be quite eclectic, with really cool jazz or techno jungle, any kind of music. And it's about how this label can turn people on to music through really cool marketing and cool promotion--a little bit of push. Open up the doors a bit, hopefully, to let people know that when you go to the record store you don't have to go straight to the pop section. M: Do you find there are any compromises you're having to make now, not working with your own production company? BM: There are always compromises. I'm quite thrilled with Platinum. It's always a little scary being brought in, but the production company is very supportive of the creative process. They've given me a lot of freedom to chose the crew. We've got Guy Dufaux [the cinematographer who shot Le Déclin de l'empire américain, un zoo la nuit and Léolo among many others] shooting this thing--the man! I've had a hand in choosing the heads of all the departments. Everyone's going 110 per cent on this film. They know they're making something special. Once they're hired I give people a pretty free rein. This is a show about their city, Montreal, so that's pretty empowering. And everyone has connections to music; music has fed most people's lives. Funny stories about going to a club, or the images you get when you hear certain songs. Everyone brings that to the show. It's really fun to do. Hopefully I can bring a bit of an edge or an attitude to this. The music business can be fun but it can be dark and sleazy too. M: The cast is very impressive. BM: We're also trying to get a bunch of weird cameos from the music scene. I was talking to Joey Ramone the other day. We'd also like Jean Leloup. And we've been talking to Tom Jones's people and Henry Rollins. Mitsou's in for sure. She's playing a waitress at the local café. M: Why not Ashley MacIsaac? BM: There's an idea! Or Rita MacNeil... just hangin'... with her friends. M: A lot of people say Hard Core Logo is your most accomplished work. And yet due to the crisis in Canada in terms of getting our own films on screens, I believe less people saw it than any of your previous films. Now you're working in TV--do you see this as a necessary way of reaching a bigger audience? BM: In this country, TV is just so much bigger than the movies. People just don't go and see Canadian films. Maybe they will some day, if we put an American star in it. The thing is, about a million people can watch it in one night on TV, which is amazing. That's more the currency here in Canada, the Canadian stars are the TV stars. Callum Rennie is now in Due South. The cool people will know him from Hard Core Logo, but in a year Callum will be a big Canadian star. TV is good for exposure. There simply is no distribution muscle for Canadian films in this country, no matter what anyone says. The Americans control it. My parents and relatives are much more impressed now that I'm doing TV: "Oh, its going to be on CBC--well! That's something. That's the real deal. Would you like another beer?" M: Your early films were made with money from the Ontario Film Development Corporation, whose budget was scaled back a monumental 95 per cent by the Mike Harris government. This must piss you off... BM: It has basically fucked the whole independent scene in Ontario. The whole reason that you have people like Patricia Rozema, Atom Egoyan and Peter Mettler, this whole push for independent cinema in the '80s, was because of the OFDC. So without that now, so much for independent filmmaking there. It will still exist in pockets, but people will have to move away. People are always talking about cutting the budget and making the province work, but work for what? What are you fighting for? You're not fighting for a nice balance sheet. You're fighting for a place with a culture that you can live in: beautifully designed buildings, theatre and music and things that mean something in your life. People don't go home and spend time by the fire reading their balance sheets and spend time listening to numbers on the stereo. The greed is in the hands of the few. It's the same old fucking story. Platinum will air on the CBC either next spring or next fall. Twitch City premieres next fall on CBC |
Amid all the hype about Brian De Palma's imminent visit to the city, another director's foray into Montreal has been eclipsed. Bruce McDonald, director of last year's acclaimed Hard Core Logo, began principal shooting this week on the made-for-TV movie Platinum. The ambitious $4.5-million project, produced by local Prisma Productions, will hopefully be the pilot for a weekly series.