The great indoors

>> Gary Burns discusses his urban nightmare Waydowntown

by MATTHEW HAYS

"I'm from Calgary," says Gary Burns, on the phone from his office in the much-maligned Albertan burg. He's answering the inspiration question about his latest low-budget flick, Waydowntown. It's the bizarre story of four frustrated, slightly out-of-their-minds urban workers who stake a bet--worth a collective month's salary--on who can stay indoors for the longest time.

It's a scenario most urban-dwelling Canucks can well relate to. With our horrendous weather, many of our cityscapes have been shaped by the need to remain indoors, Logan's Run-style, much of the year. Edmonton has its mall, Montreal has its vast underground tunnel network, while Calgary has the clincher, as Burns sees it.

"Calgary has the Plus 15 system connecting many of the city's downtown buildings," he explains. "I'm 40, so I saw it all go up, and I think it's had a detrimental effect on the city. They are a way in which people can walk around the city in this sanitized, highly secure remove from reality. But they also supply one big film set."

Burns has his four characters interact as they all go a wee bit mad, taking the walkways from their apartments to their offices, neatly avoiding any fresh air. Sexual hijinx ensue, as predatory office studs sweep down on various prey. It's a pretty twisted view of urban living, one that won kudos at the Toronto Film Fest last September, winning the Toronto Film Critics Best Film of the Year honour, while somehow escaping notice by the Canadian Academy (it was considered the inexplicable shut-out at this year's Genies). "Them's the breaks," Burns says of the Genies. "It's all subjective, after all."

Waydowntown has already got an iconic image, a shot of its central character, played by Fabrizio Filippo, flying through the office complex, several feet above the ground. Burns says the arresting image is a wonder of low-tech special f/x. "We just put him up on a dolly and dragged him around. The camera was on the same dolly. His tie, which hangs down, covers up the bar that's supporting him." So much for blue screens and excessive computer-generated graphics.

Burns reports that financiers were not scared away by his rather nutty concept. The man behind The Suburbanators found the under-a-million investment came together because of, rather than in spite of, Waydowntown's general weirdness. "I think people are looking for something different," he says. "Really, there are so many movies out there. The question is, How are we going to get people's attention? How are we going to make a movie as different as possible from things that have been done before? The weirder the better, it seems."

Waydowntown opens Friday, Feb. 23 at Cinéma du Parc