by MATTHEW HAYS

It was three years ago that Toronto filmmaker William Phillips created a snappy, funny, quirky little first feature, Treed Murray. That film rested on its unusual setup (a man is trapped up a tree by an angry group of teens for more than 24 hours) and some cool performances to make for international rep-circuit success.

It was an odd premise, an odd film and a tough sell. But while sitting down to discuss his follow-up feature, the comic/dramatic heist movie Foolproof, Phillips concedes doing something else was very tricky indeed. "Well, I knew I wasn't going to get shunted into the tree genre," Phillips jokes. He's sprouted a beard since our last interview, about Treed. But other than that, he's the same friendly, smart fella, meeting me in the same resto. The difference is, we couldn't be talking about more disparate movies. While Treed Murray almost defied description, Foolproof is an exercise in genre - namely, the caper film, in which we're never sure who's screwing over whom.

"I wanted to make a mainstream piece, a genre piece - on purpose," he says. "Not as a ticket to Hollywood, but I wanted to make something I would enjoy, that would have a broad appeal."

And Alliance-Atlantis, Canada's largest film and TV production and distribution house, is also banking on the wide appeal of this film, which stars (Leslie Roberts lookalike) Ryan Reynolds and David Suchet. Alliance is launching the film this weekend to 225 screens across Canada, including 37 screens in Quebec that will run the French dubbed version. That's a precedent for a film from English Canada.

Made in Canada?

"When I wrote it, I didn't think it would get made in Canada, but I think things have changed," says Phillips, who sees a greater confidence in the Great White North, including a sense that there's nothing wrong with making generic films, so long as they're quality.

Though I'm not as wild about Foolproof as I am about Treed Murray, Phillips has managed to bring together a tight ensemble of actors who bring his heist games to life. Reynolds and his buddies (the sexy Kristin Booth and Joris Jarsky) enjoy plotting out corporate espionage, in which they figure out how to rip off big companies of grand sums of cash. Up until now, the ripoffs have only been hypothetical, but after a nefarious evil type (Suchet, who's fine as always) picks up the plans for one of their schemes, he decides to enact it for real. The three unwitting friends end up getting dragged into their own criminal plot, despite their own misgivings.

Phillips reports that good chemistry on screen came from great chemistry off. "There was an incredibly strong sense of good karma that came while we were making this movie," he says. "We don't make caper films in Canada. The point was to have fun. And we did. Everyone, from the cast to the crew, were all so professional. We actually found ourselves having post-partum depression after the shoot was over. We became that close during the making. It was the most fun I've ever had."

Sidestepping Soderbergh

Though acknowledging a debt to the genre, Phillips says he had no specific models in mind. "You can make a nod to the entire genre, but you've got to have your own style. Clearly, it's an old genre, so you're going to find yourself in familiar territory at some point. There's no two ways around that. If I were to look at Ocean's 11, I mean, Soderbergh's a great director, but if I tried to be like him I think it would just end up as half-baked Soderbergh. Why do that when I can be a fully-baked version of myself?"

Certainly, Foolproof is one of those landmarks in ambition for Canuck cinema. And Phillips recognizes that there's something of a graveyard for Canadian films that have tried to find mainstream acceptance but haven't quite managed to do so. Dare I bring up Bethune?

"I think if we manage to have a success of Full Monty proportions, then that will be good for everyone in the end, both the filmmakers who want to create something more mainstream, like Men With Brooms, and those who want to create things that are more esoteric. Telefilm has shifted its priorities, but when we have breakout hits, it's only going to help everyone in this business."

Foolproof opens Friday, Oct. 3

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