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Friday, June 29, 2007 |
| I've got my marching orders, and I'm shipping out |
When I started working for the highly regarded Rhombus Media, I was given a pile of scripts to read so I could acquaint myself with the Company’s projects. One of those scripts was Passchendaele. Finally, I thought upon reading it, someone is addressing two concerns I’ve always had with war films, firstly that the majority are from an American perspective, and secondly that there are so few that have the First World War, or the ‘Great War’ as a subject.
Working for producer Niv Fichman, I’ve seen this script go from an impossible dream to reality. The dream of making a war film about Canadians, by Canadians and completely financed by...Canadians. Of making a script with all the ingredients of a great war film, sacrifice, love, patriotism, while keeping the integrity of the horror of war.
When, after having worked at Rhombus for a couple of years, Niv asked me what I might like to do next, I said that I wanted to work on Passchendaele, because I admired the project and would like to get necessary on-set experience. Happily that has now become a reality for me. As is sometimes the case working in film, I’ll be leaving one job to immediately start work on another. A weekend to wrap things up and say goodbye to Toronto, and I’m off to Calgary. I’m still not sure what all of this is going to entail, never having actually worked on-set before, for a director or lived out west, which is where the film is to be shot.
I meet on the Friday before my departure with Paul Gross, Niv Fichman and Frank Siracusa, Paul’s partner at Whizbang Films. I listen to them talking about the latest progress in the private financing initiative, which to a large extent has made this film possible and consequently quite unique in Canadian film finance. Many of the people who were drawn to investing in the film were persuaded by Paul’s articulate conviction that this is a story that must be told.
After many, many months of fundraising and convincing public funding bodies why this is worth doing, Paul and Frank are heading out west this weekend to get the ball rolling. I’ll be needed the following week as there’s literally no one else working on the film in Calgary, and Paul needs someone to provide logistical support given the huge personal burden of responsibility he’s taken on, with over 90% of the crew yet to be hired. Come hell or high water, this film is going to be made, and Paul is leading the charge.
The meeting comes to an end with Paul and Frank getting up to leave. As he leaves, Paul looks at me, lowers his sunglasses and says “I'll see you on Monday”, then turns on his heel and walks out to his next meeting. It’s finally starting to sink in –- I’m going to work on a war movie. The dream has become real.
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| About the Blogger |
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The motion picture Passchendaele, an epic set amidst the horror of war, was shot in Alberta from August 20th to October 23rd 2007, directed and written by Paul Gross. The film is now in post production and will premiere in Theatres fall 2008, thus culminating a lifelong dream of Paul's, who learned of this extraordinary period in Canadian history from his Grandfather, Michael Joseph Dunne. The Battle of Passchendaele represents a story of determination, commitment and triumph, and this defining chapter in the forging of a nation shall never be forgotten. |
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