With hours spent sitting in uncomfortable theater seats punctuated by hours spent standing in line, the people you stand with and sit next to can really make or break your TIFF experience. A good conversation can make the two hours spent waiting for the perfect seat just fly by. Just as an annoying person can make the minutes drag on like hours. And if you’re thinking “Wait a second, I wonder if he’s talking about me. I am a total jackass after all and I did spend all of Euphoria with my elbow in his personal space,”, yes. I’m talking about you.
Downsizing– If Downsizing isn’t my favourite movie at the festival this year, it’s definitely close. I couldn’t wait for the latest from Alexander Payne, a filmmaker whose nearly every imdb credit (Election, Sideways, The Descendants, Nebraska, and even Downsizing) has been praised by one of us at one point or another. Fans of his work may be surprised by the science fiction elements of his latest film but Payne, who introduced the film, sees this as a disappointing rehashing of the same themes. “Just a poor {‘schmuck’ I think was the word he used’] from Omaha middling his way through life trying to make some sense of it all. Just this time with some science fiction thrown in,” he joked.
Downsizing has lots of subtext to ponder and debate but it’s hard to take it all in on your first viewing because it’s all way too much fun to watch. This may be Payne’s most entertaining and laugh-out-loud funniest film so far and I’m quite sure that I’ve missed some of the best jokes because they were drowned out by the Elgin Theater crowds’ laughter.
The new friends I made while waiting to see Downsizing took TIFF just as seriously as I did. Like me, their rough drafts of their schedule looks like the wall of an insane person trying to solve a murder. The thing is, once the line starts moving, you lose each other in the crowd . So if you’re reading this and you bought seven 10-packs to share with all your friends and you think you may have stood in line with me, leave a comment. I’d love to hear what you thought of the movie. And I hope that Karen has finally paid you back.
Pronounce “Saoirse” Correctly
The Current War– Saoirse Ronan wasn’t in The Current War but I did talk about her in line to see it. “Who’s in Lady Bird again? Is it Saoirse Ronan or Elle Fanning?” I asked the nice couple in line ahead of me. I pronounced Saoirse correctly. Everyone seemed really impressed. What’s ironic, I realize now, is that I got her last name wrong. I always say “Rowan”. But TIFF Bingo said nothing about “Ronan” so it still counts.
I wish I’d seen Lady Bird instead of The Current War. It’s not like The Current War is a bad movie, it’s just more forgettable than it should be. The second feature from Alfonzo Gomez-Rejon (Me and Earl and the Dying Girl) dramatizes the rivalry between Thomas Edison (Benedict Cumberbatch) and George Westinghouse (Michael Shannon) as they race to heat and light the entire country with electricity. So it’s got potential. Cumberbatch and Shannon are pretty much the Pacino and DeNiro of leading men born in the mid-70s who specialize in playing eccentrics so the thought of seeing them go head to head put this at the top of my list. I passed on Suburbicon for The Current War!
There is some really good writing in this script but for every scene that captivates there are two more that look and sound like they were filmed for a Made for the Edison Museum movie. Both actors are good but are usually even better and they share disappointingly little screen time.
There’s a good movie in here somewhere. The Current War’s best scenes concern the lead-up to the first execution by electric chair and, for a movie that suffers from lack of focus, this subplot may have worked even better as the main plot.
Catching 3 films by female directors is easy. The TIFF lineup this and every year has lots of interesting films to choose from, many of them directed by women. Getting full TIFF Bingo isn’t so easy.
I have stress dreams about the Midnight Madness ball and avoid it like it’s a not deep-fried vegetable so that’s out. And, while Battle of the Sexes had its moments, I can’t honestly say that I thought “Now this I’ve got to try”.
But I did…
Thank a Volunteer
Mom and Dad– The festival and the city that hosts it can be a little overwhelming at first. Even though I feel like an expert by the end of my stay, every year I’m feeling a little disoriented when I first get into town. So I’ve just checked into my hotel, it’s 11:40 at night, and I’ve got a Midnight Madness screening of Brian Taylor’s Mom and Dad in 20 minutes. I’m running around trying to find Ryerson theater and I’m getting stressed out imagining all the ways that I could humiliate myself trying to volley a beach ball in a crowded theater. Luckily, a friendly orange shirt is never far away and I was very thankful to the volunteers who helped me find where to line up. I never miss a chance to thank a volunteer and I applaud for them every time the TIFF commercial prompts us to.
So, anyway, Mom and Dad. Taylor (Crank, Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengence) seems to be just begging us to make this a cult classic. An unexplained virus suddenly hits suburbia in the middle of the school day that infects parents with an uncontrollable urge to violently murder their offspring. Poor Carly (13 Reasons Why’s Anne Winters) and Josh Ryan (Transparent’s Zackary Arthur) are forced to fend for themselves against their now-deranged parents played by Nicolas Cage and Selma Blair.
Mom and Dad is bananas. Almost every aspect of the film- from the basic concept down to the music and over-caffeinated editing- seems driven by the same manic energy that fuels Cage’s typically unhinged performance. The actor, who in the eyes of the enthusiastic Midnight Madness crowd may as well have been John Lennon, already starts overacting long before the virus starts making everyone crazy. He outCages himself in this movie and- while it would be a stretch to call it a good performance- it feels like the right performance for this movie. But it’s Blair, surprisingly, who somehow finds a way to keep this runaway train from going off the rails. From the start, we can tell that her character is a good mom. She loves her kids but she’s exhausted and taken for granted. She’s the only believable character in the whole thing and her presence brings Mom and Dad back to earth. It’s through her that we start to sense that the virus is tapping into an existential crisis that was already in place before the infection.
To call Mom and Dad good would be ridiculous but it’s not really trying to be. It just wants to be fun and, for the most part, it is. It’s often funny, even coming dangerously close to smart, especially when it’s in terrible taste.
Phone Dies
I got some great photos this year, many of which you can see if you follow us on Twitter. I like sitting in the front row so I was able to get some shots of Nicolas Cage, Alicia Vikander, Alexander Payne, and Darren Aronofsky that I’m really happy with. But you won’t see a photo of Ellen Page (who, if I’m not mistaken, counts as a superhero out of spandex) because my phone died.
The Cured– So I did manage to get a couple of pictures of Ellen Page during the Q&A for The Cured. They’re just not tweetable because my phone didn’t have enough juice left for the flash to work. So it’s not a great picture. It’s a shame because I love her.
And, yes, fortunately for my TIFF Bingo card, my phone officially died on my way back to my hotel.
On to The Cured. This debut feature from Irish director David Freyne finds yet another way to breathe new life into a genre that seems to never run out of ways to reinvent itself: the zombie movie. Once this version of the zombie apocalypse has died down, two thirds of the “infected’ have been successfully cured and are slowly being reintegrated into society. Ex-zombies don’t have it easy though. They still have painful memories of the suffering that they inflicted and most people still don’t trust them.
Senan (Sam Keeley) has just been released from a treatment facility and is taken in by his brother’s wife Abbie (Page) who has been widowed by the outbreak. When he falls in with a militant group of zombie rights activists, Senan struggles to find a balance between his desire to fit in and atone for his crimes and his instinct to stand up for his fellow cured.
To Freyne, his film is really about how we treat each other in today’s mixed up world. It’s a serious movie with serious themes that somehow finds time to deliver the goods when it comes to zombie scares. Freyne’s direction is confident and precise, more so than almost any other movie I saw at the festival this year.
So there you have it. I wore out my phone battery, saw 3 films by female directors, thanked every volunteer that I spoke to, and even managed to see some good movies while I was at it. By now, experienced Bingo players have probably already spotted my path to victory but please feel free to stay tuned for more details.
I get close every year but I’m always missing something. Either I didn’t see enough foreign films or didn’t eat enough vegetables. And even for TIFF Bingo, I refuse to ARRRR!
But TIFF victory was mine this year and let me spend my next 3 posts telling you how I pulled it off.
3 Films By Female Directors
Battle of the Sexes– Okay, so only half of the directors are female but judges say… Still counts! Directed by Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris (Little Miss Sunshine), Battle of the Sexes tells the behind-the-scenes story of the now-famous exhibition match between Women’s Tennis star Billie Jean King (Emma Stone) and has-been Bobby Riggs (Steve Carell). It’s a hard movie to google or even mention without hearing about how this is the movie we need in these troubled times. “We could use more of those values today,” Dayton quipped while introducing the film. (While the directors deny that the 2016 election had anything to do with their interest in the project, its hard not to see the parallels between the 1973 match and the first Presidential debate last year).
Dayton and Faris’ film, written by Slumdog Millionaire’s Simon Beaufoy, relies a little too heavily on their positive message. It’s as if they felt that they were excused from making a smart movie jsut because most of us can agree that, yeah, sexism in general is bad and that King should be allowed to sleep with whichever gender she chooses. Battle of the Sexes has some serious pacing problems throughout the first half and Carell’s scenes tend to drag. And for something that’s billed as a “comedy”, it’s not very funny. Thankfully, things start to come together once King and Riggs start promoting the match and, by the end, the entire Princess of Wales theater was cheering for King to “whoop his ass”, as one audience member put it during the Q&A.
Stone and Carell are well-cast and do right by their characters, even if they both have done better work in better movies. Stone, in particular, nails King’s conflict with her own sexuality and the scenes between her and new lover Marilyn Barnett (Andrea Riseborough) are the best in the film. So the script and direction are uneven but it’s enough to make all of us cheer for King by the end and the men in the audience howl at the screen in outrage at the old timey sexism of the early 70s as if they’ve never heard women described as “irrational” before. It’s just not enough to make anyone remember Battle of the Sexes on nomination day.
Euphoria- Writer-director Lisa Langseth cast Alicia Vikander in her first lead role in 2009’s Pure and Vikander has never forgotten who gave her her big break. She took a break from winning Oscars and starring in franchise films to produce and star in her old friend’s English-language debut.
Vikander’s Ines and Eva Green’s Emilie are sisters who rarely speak to each other. When the two reunite for a mysterious road trip, Ines is shocked to discover that Emilie has taken her to a country retreat that specializes in assisted suicides. It turns out that Emilie has been secretly battling cancer for the last 3 years and has decided to end her suffering. Her euthanasia is six days away and she has chosen to spend her final days eating her favourite foods and reconciling with her estranged sister.
In an extended Q&A, which as far as I can tell is just as long as a regular Q&A just where guests sit in chairs, Langseth denied that her new film makes any kind of statement one way or another on assisted suicides. To her, the film is really about two sisters. Euphoria has plenty of intriguing ideas about its fictional retreat but it’s the relationship between Ines and Emilie that drives the film. And it’s that relationship that fails to convince. It’s a shame too because Vikander and Green are completely believable as sisters. From the very first scene, their chemistry works and their body language alone raises questions about their shared history that Langseth’s script doesn’t offer very interesting answers to. The two actresses try their best to breathe life into characters that never really come together on the page but it’s just not enough. The climatic scene is so beautifully acted and directed that it almost makes up for the film’s many faults but it only winds up driving home what a missed opportunity the whole thing was.
Angels Wear White– I don’t love that my first two films of my post on Female Directors at TIFF were so uninspired. Thank God for Vivan Qu.
Angels Wear White is the second feature from Chinese writer-director Vivian Qu. Unlike Battle of the Sexes and Euphoria, it takes its time developing complex and believable characters. While working at a quiet seaside inn, eighteen year-old Mia witnesses the assault of 12 year-old Wen by a prominent male member of the community.. Despite possessing physical evidence that could jump start a police investigation that’s getting nowhere, Mia is reluctant to get involved. It soon becomes clear that she has reasons of her own for keeping her head down.
Angels Wear White is a multi-layered look at the exploitation of women by powerful men and how some men of privilege can easily escape the consequences of their actions. It’s a film that trusts its audience to be outraged by the outrageous instead of manipulating its audience to feel a certain way. I highly recommend Qu’s latest film. I only wish that I had stuck around for her Q&A.
So, there you have it. Three films by female directors. Stay tuned for more behind the scenes details of my TIFF Bingo victory.
The rich and famous are rich and famous for a reason – their unreasonable demands. Turns out actors are not immune. The following are actual clauses found in movie contracts.
Samuel L. Jackson has it in his contract that he gets a break during filming to play golf twice a week. Priorities!
The late Garry Marshall was so close to Hector Elizondo that he put a clause in his contracts stipulating that the actor was guaranteed a role in all Marshall films. Elizondo never knew about the clause but obviously benefitted, appearing in all of Marshall’s films, up until the director’s death last year.
Steve McQueen had a crazy grudge against Paul Newman. When the two starred in The Towering Inferno in 1974, McQueen demanded that he not only have top billing, but also the exact same pay as Newman—and the EXACT SAME number of lines, which seems like a pretty shitty way to write a script. The two fought it out about the top billing and eventually producers settled on a compromise for the poster: McQueen’s name is first, but Newman’s name, while second, is slightly higher up. Also the picture of McQueen is on the left, but Newman’s picture is again slightly higher up. This coined the term ‘diagonal billing’ because you know movie stars have egos and this shit definitely has come up again.
While working on (the now defunct) Eloise in Paris in 2010, Uma Thurman insisted on receiving heavy discounts if she decided to buy any clothes and\or wigs used during the shoot. Also, “no other cast member [may] receive more favorable dressing rooms.”
Roger Moore asked for and received “unlimited” Montecristo cigars on his James Bond films – I mean, what better way to get into character?
Will Ferrell, who takes pride in being an ass, demanded the following:
1 Electric three-wheel mobility scooter
1 headset microphone (Janet Jackson style)
1 flight of stairs on wheels
1 fake tree on wheels
1 rainbow (can be painted on canvas) on wheels
Guinness beer
Smart Water or Fiji Water
Coke, Diet Coke, 7Up
Raw roasted almonds
Protein bars: Peanut butter chocolate Zone Bars, Peanut Butter Power Bars
Just the necessities, obviously!
Will Smith had a two-and-a-half million dollar trailer built for himself. His contract makes sure the trailer has a spot on every movie set. It sits on 22 wheels, has 14 televisions, and $30,000 worth of leather upholstery. It has a full kitchen with over $100,000 worth of granite countertops. It has sliding doors like the Star Trek Enterprise, which lead to a wardrobe room. It has pistons that allow it to transform to have a second story, which houses a screening room for watching dailies. There’s a shower in a $25,000 bathroom that has a magic glass door, which can go between opaque and transparent with the push of a button. Sean and I saw this monstrosity on the streets of Manhattan while he was filming MIB3, and you bet the locals were complaining about its size and its generally fucking up traffic, and blocking out sunlight in the surrounding apartments. Charming?
Lindsey Lohan, known for being oh-so modest, demanded a private jet with a hairstylist, a makeup artist, and a manicurist onboard. She also insisted on a 1-year Russian visa, a Ritz-Carlton penthouse suite, and a meeting with President Vladimir Putin, and that was just to appear on a talk show. I think she may be overestimated her cachet.
While filming Gravity in Surrey, George Clooney insisted on a custom-made beach hut complete with hot tub, private landscaped garden, and basketball court built next to his trailer. He let production pick up the £100,000 tab while making $20M for the movie. Life is fair!
Tom Cruise’s “thing” is as weird as he is: thongs. He’s got thongs written into every contract – up to 50 of them per movie since he only wears them once. He feels they’re imperative for shooting action scenes, keeping him loose and unrestricted. I have a feeling that my underwear is not what’s holding me back. I also doubt the thongs are helping him out all that much, but it’s a nice justification for your fetish, isn’t it?
But just to leave you with something positive, not all contract riders are inspired by selfish greed. Robin Williams always wrote in his contract that on every film he made, production had to hire a certain number of homeless people and put them to work. Remember that next time you watch one of his old gems.
Stripes came out before I was born, but it’s still a good source of inspired team work between Harold Ramis and Bill Murray. 10 fun facts about a classic comedy:
Ivan Reitman and Dan Goldberg wrote the movie specifically for Cheech and Chong. When their manager demanded way too much money, they took out (most) of the pot humour, found the script got smarter, and flagged down Bill Murray to star. Judge Reinhold, in his first film appearance, gets what little remained of the weed jokes.
Bill Murray only came aboard about 2 weeks before filming began. He didn’t show up to set until the 3rd day of filming because he’d been following his precious Chicago Cubs around the country. In the very first scene shot, in which he grabs heavy luggage out of a trunk, he genuinely injured himself and his exclamation “Oh my balls!” is the real deal.
Bill Murray insisted that Harold Ramis should be tapped to play his best bud. They were friends in real life of course, but Murray also wanted Ramis’s help in re-writing dialogue, the better to improvise with. Dennis Quaid was auditioned by the studio to play Ramis’s part. He was married to P.J. Soles at the time. If you squint hard, you can spot him as an extra in the graduation scene.
Soles’ part was meant to have been played by Kim Basinger but she too wanted too much money, so the part went to Soles who had just finished shooting Private Benjamin in which she wore the exact same uniform.
The department of defense for some reason approved of the film. They not only let them film at Fort Knox, they allowed soldiers to be extras. A real army barber buzzed all the men, who had not been told how short their haircuts would be. John Candy was particularly depressed. Murray and Ramis being the “stars” got to keep theirs a little longer.
The cast and crew had a 2-week drinking binge when they found out John Lennon had died.
John Larroquette ad-libbed the line “I wish I was a loofah” and then had to explain to director Ivan Reitman what a loofah was.
A 9-minute scene in which they drop acid and parachute out of a plane was filmed but cut – BUT is included on the DVD extras.
John Candy wasn’t well known; he bonded with the cast by inviting them over for spaghetti and to watch the Roberto Duran/Sugar Ray Leonard fight.
When Bill Murray shouts “But we’re American soldiers! We’ve been kicking ass for 200 years! We’re ten and one!” – the last is a thinly-veiled reference to Vietnam, written by Ramis.
You probably heard the controversy surrounding Angelina Jolie’s new movie about Cambodia. In a recent article in Vanity Fair, she admitted that in order to find a Cambodian child who could play a large role, the casting directors set up a game. They put money on the table and asked the kids to think of something they needed money for, and then to snatch it away. Then the director would pretend to catch the child, and the kid would have to come up with a lie. The little girl who ultimately won the part, Srey Moch, distinguished herself by being the only kid to stare at the money for an extraordinary length of time. Jolie said: “When she was forced to give it back, she became overwhelmed with emotion. All these different things came flooding back. When she was asked later what the money was for, she said her grandfather had died, and they didn’t have enough money for a nice funeral.” You might think that’s a clever way to see a child’s range of emotions, or you might think it cruel to go into a third world country and taunt children with money. The internet seems to favour the latter.
It got me thinking though – what DO auditions look like when you’re casting a kid? Typically, not like that. Even for small children, casting directors will typically work off a script.
Something in the neighbourhood of 40 000 kids auditioned for the part of Harry Potter. Steven Spielberg had wanted Haley Joel Osment for the part and backed out of directing the project when he clashed over this with JK Rowling. Daniel Radcliffe landed the part: “My mum sent in a Polaroid of me to the BBC, because I’ve always wanted to act since I was five. My mum and dad never thought it was a very good idea. I went for about five auditions and then I got the part. The best thing about filming is going to all the different locations and staying in hotels. They have Sky and I haven’t got that at home.”
Spielberg lost that battle but he normally has a pretty keen eye for casting the right kid in his movies. Drew Barrymore recalls auditioning for him for Poltergeist: “lied my face off. I told him I was in a rock ‘n roll band. I was a drummer, of course, because drummers are the coolest, and that I was a cook.” He didn’t think she was right for Poltergeist but kept her in mind for something else…and that’s how she landed E.T.
Haley Joel Osment also went on to star in a Spielberg film – A.I. Artificial Intelligence. Osment’s acting career started by accident at the age of 4 when he and his Mom randomly ran into a talent scout at IKEA. When he got called in for his first audition, he was asked to describe the biggest thing he’d ever seen. Osment talked about seeing a movie in IMAX, and that’s how he got cast in a Pizza Hut commercial for their “Big Foot” pizza. The rest is history.
“What’s interesting about casting children is, some children understand instinctually how to be still in front of a camera,” casting director Fiona Weir explains. “That isn’t something you can teach kids; it’s something they understand or not. Acting on-camera is about being, not about performing, the way that children often do in school plays, making something bigger. It’s not always the noisy kids that we’re looking for; it’s the quiet kids at the back.” That was very important when Weir was casting for Room, in which a 5 year old boy and his mother escape their rapist-captor. One of those quiet kids was 7-year-old Jacob Tremblay, who caught her attention fairly early in the casting process. He had the interiority Weir and director Lenny Abrahamson wanted to see. “It was very evident how gifted Jacob was,” Weir says. “He’s a really bright and inventive child.”
Kirsty McGregor had a grueling search of her own when it came to casting the part of the young Saroo Brierly, the child from Lion. She scoured schools in Mumbai, New Delhi, and Calcutta, and spent months watching 2,000 taped auditions, conducting 200 in-person workshops, and coordinating callback after callback to get the right young Saroo for the movie. She culled the prospects from 2000 to 200 and flew to India to see them in person, with director Garth Davis. “We’d start in larger groups of 10, and we’d do workshops and play games, and we took our acting coach Miranda Harcourt, who’s amazing with kids, with us. We had an interpreter, obviously, and from those groups of 10, we narrowed it down to the final list and called them back again. It was a very thorough process. It was about four months from the time they started putting people on tape in India to when they started doing callbacks, and it was long and very intense every day, with another 100 or 200 tapes coming in. You can’t miss anybody.” Eventually they paired their top two youngsters with the top two adolescents would would play the older brother, and found the right chemistry. Anyone who’s seen Lion will know that little Sunny Pawar was a particularly bright spot in the film and he really livened up the red carpets during awards season, just as Jacob Tremblay had done the year before.
Have you heard any juicy stories about kids auditioning for parts? Ever auditioned for anything yourself?
David Sedaris is one of my all-time favourite anythings, and reading his newest, Theft By Finding, leaves me needing to text Matt “omg, THIS part!” literally every 40 seconds. Sedaris has 514 pages of excellent observations, but one of them, in which he mentions that the title for Groundhog Day is not so much lost in (German) translation, but found, really caught my fancy, and so I wondered what other gems awaited me in second-language cinema.
Groundhog Day was released in Germany as ‘Eternally Weeps the Groundhog.’
What else can I unearth? I’ve published the correct titles in white; you can uncover the answers simply by high-lighting the blank space. Play along, let me know how many you guessed right, and tell me which of these you would have seen!
China calls Pretty Woman – I Will Marry A Prostitute to Save Money
Never Been Kissed is translated in the Philippines as – Because She’s Ugly
Girl, Interrupted is known in Japan as – 17-Year Old Girl’s Medical Chart
China knows The Professional as – This Hit Man Is Not as Cold as He Thought
Germany knows Annie Hall as – Urban Neurotic
Which movie is known as American Bluff in France, The Great American Swindle in Spain, and United States Cheat Bureau in China? Answer: American Hustle
Japan knows You Only Live Twice by – 007 Dies Twice
Boogie Nights, China – His Great Device Makes Him Famous
France translates The Hangover as– Very Bad Trip
Ocean’s Eleven – Eleven Men and a Secret (Brazil)
Top Gun is known as – Love is in the Sky (Israel)
What movie is known as Strange Coincidences in Spain, Multinationals Go Home! in Hungary, and The Psycho Detectives in Portugal? Answer: I ♥ Huckabees
The Shawshank Redemption is known as The Prison for Angels in Romania
Denmark calls Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory – The Boy Who Drowned in Chocolate Sauce
The Sixth Sense – He’s a Ghost! (China)
Animal House is known as I Think The Horse is Kicking Me in Germany.
Poland calls The Terminator – The Electronic Murderer
Due Date – Odd Couple, Wacky Trip, Go Together in Time for Birth. (Thailand)
What movie is called Western Department of Memories in China, Harmonica: The Avenger in Sweden, and Play Me The Song of Death in Germany? Once Upon A Time In the West
Lost in Translation, or as it’s known in Portugal, Meetings and Failures in Meetings
Risky Business – Just Send Him to University Unqualified (China)
Today we celebrate Canada’s birthday, and it’s a big one this year: 150. So here’s a list of 150 things I love about Canadian film:
Canadians make you laugh:
1.Norm MacDonald: Born in Quebec City, Norm got his start writing (The Dennis Miller Show, and then Roseanne) but of course moved on to SNL where he formed friendships which still result in movie roles today: The Ridiculous 6, Funny People, and Dirty Work. You can catch him right now in Girl Boss and The Middle, plus he’s got a new stand-up special on Netflix.
2. Eugene Levy: Born in Hamilton, Ontario, burst onto the scene in SCTV, and those improv skills would pay off years (decades) later when he teamed up with Christopher Guest for a series of mockumentaries including Best in Show and A Mighty Wind. Regular movie goers will likely recognize him as Jim’s Dad in American Pie. Right now he’s got a hilarious new show with his real-life son called Schitt’s Creek.
3. Catherine O’Hara: Born in Toronto, she co-stars frequently with Eugene Levy, including the Christopher Guest movies, and the delightful Schitt’s Creek. She’s also popularly known as Kevin’s Mom from Home Alone, and Delia Deetz from Beetlejuice.
4. Phil Hartman: Born in Brantford, Ontario, Phil died too soon from tragic circumstances, but not before leaving us with a real legacy of his delicious work, including long stints on SNL, The Simpsons, and Newsradio, as well as memorable movie roles in Sgt. Bilko, Jingle All The Way, and Houseguest.
5. Rick Moranis: Also born in Toronto, Rick was of course on SCTV where he first became half of that nitwit Canadian duo, Bob and Doug McKenzie (see Strange Brew for a crash course). He appeared in Ghostbusters, Spaceballs, Parenthood, and Little Shop of Horrors. He played Barney Rubble in The Flintstones and had a career-defining role in Honey, I Shrunk the Kids (and its various shitty sequels).
6. John Candy: Born in Toronto and naturally a cast member on SCTV, he left a major impression on comedies of the 80s and 90s, including Planes, Trains & Automobiles, Uncle Buck, Cool Runnings, and Canadian Bacon.
7. Jim Carrey: Born in Newmarket, Ontario, Carrey churned out dozens of horrid comedies, including Ace Ventura: Pet Detective, The Mask, Dumb and Dumber, The Cable Guy and Liar, Liar. He’s also taken some turns for the more serious, in films like The Truman Show, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, and Man on the Moon.
8. Martin Short: Born in Hamilton, Ontario, he inevitably landed on SCTV as all good Canadians must (it was our version of SNL) and went on to such silliness as Three Amigos, Father of the Bride, and Mars Attacks! He’s also done voice work in The Prince of Egypt, Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius, Treasure Planet, and Frankenweenie – and that’s beside his most famous role as official spokesperson in the Canadian pavilion at Epcot.
9. Mike Myers: Proudly born in Scarborough, Ontario, Myers achieved fame on SNL and watched it snowball with hits like Wayne’s World, So I Married an Ax Murderer, Austin Powers, and Shrek.
10. Michael Cera: Born in Brampton, Ontario, Cera was cast as an awkward, gawky teen on Arrested Development and has basically played that role ever since: Superbad, Juno, Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist, Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World, Lemon, Crystal Fairy & The Magical Cactus.
Canadians make you soon:
11. Ryan Gosling: Born in London, Ontario (and shout-out to my hometown, Cornwall, where he briefly lived with his father), Gosling was the first person born in the 1980s to be nominated for Best Actor (Half Nelson – 2006). Over here, we knew him first as a gangly, geeky kid on Breaker High, and a dweeby one on the Micky Mouse Club, but by the time The Notebook hit theatres, he was a certified heart throb. Luckily, he’s got acting chops to back it up, and has seen success with the likes of Lars and the Real Girl, Drive, The Place Beyond the Pines, The Big Short, and La La Land, which landed him another Oscar nod.
12. Ryan Reynolds: Born in Vancouver, British Columbia, Reynolds used a weird sitcom called Two Guys, A Girl, and a Pizza Place to launch a varied career that has included the highs and lows of Van Wilder, Definitely Maybe, Adventureland, Green Lantern, RIPD, Woman In Gold, and finally, Deadpool, where he seems to have hit his stride.
13. Rachel McAdams: Born in London, Ontario, her big break was probably getting cast as the proverbial mean girl in Mean Girls. Though born in the very same hospital as Ryan Gosling, the two didn’t meet until cast together in The Notebook. They hated each other, of course, and had horrible fights on set. After the movie wrapped, they somehow had a four year relationship, during which she did Wedding Crashers and The Time Traveler’s Wife. She also went on to do Midnight in Paris, Aloha, Southpaw, and Spotlight.
14. Joshua Jackson: Born in Vancouver, B.C., he realized every little Canadian boy’s dream by starring in the ultimate hockey movie, Might Ducks long before he became Dawson’s Creek’s resident heart throb, Pacey. He spun that into a movie career that included roles in Urban Legend, Cruel Intentions, and The Skulls.
15. Dwayne Johnson: You got me; The Rock isn’t Canadian but he does have Canadian citizenship, and that’s because his daddy was born in Amherst, Nova Scotia. And before he was a wrestler, Dwayne played in the Canadian Football League, for the Calgary Stampeders.
16. Pamela Anderson: Born in Ladysmith, B.C., Pamela shares a birthday with Canada: she was born on its centennial, which makes Pamela 50 years old today. We were all reminded of her origin story earlier this summer with her cameo on Baywatch, but her movie career has also included such smash hits as Barb Wire, Pauly Shore Is Dead, and Scary Movie 3.
18. The Corporation: This documentary explores the weird concept of a corporation that we have, with special attention to the American legal definition of a corporation as a person.
19. Pink Ribbons Inc: This documentary explores the big business of breast cancer, where and how the fund-raised money is spent (hint: you’re not going to like it). Really eye-opening, changed the way I donate.
21. Angry Inuk: An in-depth look at seal hunting in the Inuit community. Really makes you see the other side of the issue.
22. Grass: The history of the American government’s war on marijuana in the 20th century. Woody Harrelson narrates.
23. Secret Path: A haunting look at the legacy of residential schools on Indigenous populations, through the eyes of one particular child who perished.
24. Ninth Floor: About the 1969 student protest against Sir George Williams University’s administration’s mishandling of racist accusations towards a professor.
25. Stories We Tell: A documentary that uncovers layers and layers of family lore to see if truth can be uncovered – or if there is any such thing as one family truth.
Canadians kick butt:
26. Evangeline Lilly: Born in Fort Saskatchewan, Alberta, I’ll always think of her as the phone sex girl, but most outside of Canada got to know her as a tough survivor on Lost. She’s had film roles in The Hurt Locker, Real Steel, and The Hobbit, but she’s also dipped her toes into the Marvel Universe as The Wasp. You’ve already seen her in Ant-Man; stay tuned for more kick-butt action in Ant-Man and The Wasp, and of course an upcoming Avengers movie.
27. Keanu Reeves: He wasn’t born here – in fact, he was born in Beirut. But he landed in and grew up in Toronto, where he became a naturalized citizen. He played hockey of course, where he earned the nickname The Wall as a goalie, but his dreams of playing for Canada were dashed with an injury. In his first studio movie, Youngblood, he played a Canadian goalie, and with his dreams relit, he packed his bags for Hollywood, where I believe you know the rest, culminating in kick-ass roles in the likes of The Matrix and more recently, John Wick.
28. Hayden Christensen: Born in Vancouver but raised in Markham, Ontario, a city in which I lived right around the time that he was filming those Star Wars prequels. He got to play Anakin Skywalker, humanizing and some might say emo-ifying the most badass villain of all time, Darth Vader.
29. Cobie Smulders: Born in Vancouver, Smulders became known on the sitcom How I Met Your Mother but for some reason has parlayed that into a kick-butt movie career where she’s played Wonder Woman (in The Lego Movie), agent Maria Hill in various Avengers movies, and Jack Reacher‘s sidekick in the most recent iteration.
30. Nathan Fillion: Born in Edmonton, Alberta, Nathan Fillion appeared on that infamous Two Guys, A Girl, and a Pizza Place with fellow Canuck Ryan Reynolds back in the day, and that’s not the only thing they have in common. Fillion must have a super hero kind of voice, because before voicing a car in Cars 3, he did Steve Trevor in an animated Wonder Woman film, Green Lantern in several animated Justice League films, and even a “Monstrous Inmate” in Guardians of the Galaxy. Sadly, he was cut out of Guardians 2, but I wouldn’t be at all surprised if they found something for him in #3…maybe as Captain Hammer, from Doctor Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog?
31. Anna Paquin: Born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, she won her first Oscar at the age of 11, the second youngest ever to do so, a Best Supporting win for The Piano. She’s been kicking ass uphill ever since and the only question is which role was more badass: Sukie in True Blood, or Rogue in X-Men?
32. Carrie-Anne Moss: Born in Vancouver B.C, Moss hit it big alongside Keanu in The Matrix. She followed up the trilogy with roles in Memento, Chocolat, and Disturbia.
33. Victor Garber: Born in London, Ontario, Garber has had a long career with kick butt roles in Alias, Argo, and Sicario. His various movie credits include Legally Blonde, Sleepless in Seattle, Milk, and Self\less.
34. Will Arnett: Born in Toronto, Arnett starred in Arrested Development, and again with Michael Cera in The Lego Batman Movie, in which he played Batman and Cera played – Robin? He’s had semi-heroic roles in Jonah Hex, Despicable Me, Men in Black 3, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. If you prefer him downtrodden, try him on Netflix in either Bojack Horseman, or Flaked.
Canadians are multi-talented:
35. Jay Baruchel: Born right here in Ottawa, and raised just a little down the highway in Montreal, Jay Baruchel made a name for himself in movies like Almost Famous and Million Dollar Baby. He’s also been an Apatow mainstay, appearing in comedies like This Is The End and Knocked Up. He really hit pay dirt with blockbuster franchise How To Train Your Dragon, in which he voices the lead character, Hiccup. He’s also got screen writing credits on hockey movie Goon, and a directing credit on its sequel.
36. Paul Haggis: Born in London, Ontario, Haggis because the first screenwriter to write two Best Film Oscar winners back to back: Million Dollar Baby, and Crash, which he also directed (it won Best Original Screenplay as well). Other writing credits include Flags of Our Fathers, Quantum of Solace, Casino Royale, Letters From Iwo Jima, and In the Valley of Elah, which he also directed.
37. William Shatner: Born in Montreal, Quebec, is of course known first and foremost as the original Captain Kirk on Star Trek. You may or may not remember him alongside Ben Stiller and Vince Vaughn in Dodgeball, or opposite Sandra Bullock in Miss Congeniality 2. He’s also done voicework on animated films such as The Wild, and Over The Hedge. He also wrote and directed The Captains, a documentary about all the actors who have played Star Trek captains.
38. Nia Vardalos: Born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Nia weirdly also has a one-episode credit from Two Guys, A Girl, and a Pizza Place, but she got her big break when Rita Wilson and Tom Hanks attended her one-woman show. Having Greek heritage in common with her, Wilson was immediately charmed, and helped turn that show into My Big Fat Greek Wedding, which would become a sleeper hit. Vardalos also wrote Connie and Carla, Larry Crowne, and of course the Greek Wedding sequel, and she tried her hand as director on I Hate Valentine’s Day.
39. Sarah Polley: Born in Toronto, she was known to us Canadian folk when she was just a little girl starring on Ramona, and Avonlea (I also so her on the stage in Stratford, in a production of Alice Through The Looking Glass). Her film career has had some strong roles, in The Sweet Hereafter, Go, My Life Without Me, and Dawn of the Dead. She’s also gone writer-director with Away From Her, Take This Waltz, and Stories We Tell.
40. Dan Akroyd: Born right here in Canada’s capital city, Ottawa (fun fact: his father was a policy adviser to then Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, father of current Prime Minister Justin), Danny boy also shares a birthday with our country; he turns 65 today. Aside from SNL, we know and love him from Trading Places, The Great Outdoors, Driving Miss Daisy, My Girl, My Fellow Americans, Grosse Pointe Blank, Pearl Harbor, 50 First Dates, Tammy, and Pixels – not to mention the terrific characters he’s written: The Blues Brothers, Ghostbusters, and Coneheads.
41. Seth Rogen: Born in Vancouver, Rogen has directing credits include This Is The End and The Interview, writing credits including Pineapple Express, Sausage Party, and The Green Hornet, plus, you know, the acting thing: The Disaster Artist, The Night Before, Steve Jobs, The Guilt Trip, 50\50, The 40 Year Old Virgin.
Canadians have vision:
42. David Cronenberg: Born in Toronto, Cronenberg is know as the King of Venereal Horror or the Baron of Blood – and he’s proud of it. He’s the director responsible for the likes of The Fly, Crash, eXistenZ, A History of Violence, Eastern Promises, Maps to the Stars, and more.
43. James Cameron: Born in Kapuskasing, Ontario, Cameron made Titanic, the first Best Picture Academy Award winner to be produced, directed, written, and edited by the same person. He also wrote The Terminator, Aliens, and True Lies, and directed The Abyss, Terminator 2, and is in the middle of doing 5 Avatar films all at once.
44. Norman Jewison: Born in Toronto, Jewison is the visionary director behind The Cincinnati Kid, In the Heat of the Night, The Thomas Crown Affair, Jesus Christ Superstar, Fiddler On The Roof, Moonstruck, and The Hurricane.
45. Denys Arcand: Born in Deschambault, Québec, Arcand is the talented director behind Jesus of Montreal, Days of Darkness, and The Barbarian Invasions, which won best screenplay at Cannes, best Canadian feature film at TIFF and the Best Foreign Film Oscar. In 2005 Arcand was named Companion of the Order of Canada, which recognizes individuals for exceptional achievements of national or international significance.
46. Patricia Rozema: Born in Kingston, Ontario, Rozema directed the apocalyptic Into the Forest and Mansfield Park, which she also wrote. She also adapted Grey Gardens along with Michael Sucsy, which Drew Barrymore and Jessica Lange made famous.
47. Atom Egoyan: Born in Egypt but raised in Victoria BC from the age of 2, Atom became part of the Toronto New Wave style of film making. His career breakthrough came with Exotica, and critical acclaim followed with The Sweet Hereafter, which garnered him two Oscar nominations, and finally, commerical success with Chloe, Ararat, and The Captive (which stars Ryan Reynolds). Egoyan received the Governor General’s Performing Arts Award, Canada’s highest royal honour in the performing arts, in 2015
48. Ivan Reitman: Born in Czechoslovakia, his family came to Canada as immigrants when he was 4, and they settled in Toronto. His directing credits include Meatballs, Stripes, Ghostbusters, Dave, Twins, Kindergarten Cop, and Six Days Seven Nights. He is currently working on a Twins sequel called Triplets.
49. Jason Reitman: Ivan’s son Jason was born in Montreal and followed in his father’s footsteps, career-wise, directing Thank You for Smoking, Juno, Up In the Air, and Men, Women & Children.
50. Philippe Falardeau: Born across the river from here in Hull, Quebec, Falardeau is the director of Monsieur Lahzar, The Good Lie, and Chuck (aka, The Bleeder).
51. Deepa Mehta: Born in Amritsar, Punjab, raised in New Delhi, Mehta immigrated to Canada in 1973. She made a remarkable trio of films (the “elements trilogy”): Earth, Wind, and Fire, and get this: Earth was sent by India to the Academy Awards as its official entry for the Best Foreign Language Film, and Water was sent by Canada for the same – where it secured a nomination. Other notable films include Heaven on Earth, Midnight’s Children, Beeba Boys, and Anatomy of Violence.
52. Denis Villeneuve: Born in Trois-Rivieres, Quebec, Villeneuve made strong Canadian films like Incendies and Polytechnique and then made the leap to Hollywood, directing Prisoners, Enemy, Sicario, and Arrival. He’s currently working on Blade Runner 2049.
53. Jean-Marc Vallée: Born in Montreal, Vallée also made a film little-known outside of Canada called C.R.A.Z.Y before making it big with films like Dallas Buyers Club, Wild, and Demolition.
54. Xavier Dolan: Also born in Montreal, Dolan has been a hidden gem here for some time, but that’s about to change. He’s already got some great movies under his belt Laurence Anyways, Mommy, and It’s Only The End of the World. He caught the eye of Adele, who had him direct her infamous video for Hello, and now he’s making his first English-language film, called The Death and Life of John F. Donovan, starring Natalie Portman, Jessica Chastain, Susan Sarandon, Kathy Bates, and Canada’s own Jacob Tremblay.
Canada is beautiful:
55. Brokeback Mountain: the film, like the story, is set in Wyoming, but it’s beautiful Canada you’re seeing on screen, almost entirely the Rocky Mountains of southern Alberta. Particular locations include Upper Kananaskis Lake, Mount Lougheed, The Fortress, Moose Mountain, Elbow Falls, and Canyon Creek.
56. Capote: set in Kansas but actually filmed around Winnipeg, Manitoba, because nobody does rural quite like Canadians. Aside from the plains, locations include Stony Mountain Institution (a prison), and the Manitoba Legislative Building.
57. Titanic: okay, the movie was mostly shot in a huge water tank in Mexico, but James Cameron did bring cast and crew to Halifax, Nova Scotia to shoot some harrowing ocean scenes aboard the icebreaker CCGS Louis S. St-Laurent. And you’re going to hate this, but that controversial piece of wood that Rose floats on after the ship sinks is based on a real life artifact that’s on display in a museum in Halifax.
58. One Week: in this movie, Joshua Jackson hops on a motorcycle and does a road trip through Canada, coast to coast, or just about. From Toronto he rides west, through the Prairies and the Rockies to Vancouver Island. He makes various stops at cheesy “big things”, like Sudbury’s giant nickel, Drumheller’s dinosaur and Wawa’s Canada Goose.
59. The Incredible Hulk: our largest city, Toronto, is a frequent stand-in for New York City but what locked it down for the Hulk was the mayor’s fanboy promise to shut down Yonge Street, a major thoroughfare, for four whole nights of intensive filming – you know, explosions and burning cars. Sean and I both lived there at the time but I don’t have any Hulk sightings to tell you about.
60. The Virgin Suicides: Sofia Coppola’s film about a group of male friends who become obsessed with five mysterious sisters who are sheltered by their strict, religious parents in suburban Detroit in the mid-1970s was filmed in, you guessed it, Toronto!
61. Interstellar: Christopher Nolan’s film was partially filmed in Alberta – in Lethbridge, Fort Macleod, and Okotoks to be exact, where the dust bowl scenes were filmed and the corn fields were planted. Figures: no place better than The Prairies for that!
62. The Revenant: When Alejandro G. Iñárritu needs rural, snowy forests and mountains, he knows just where to go: northern Canada! Filmed in British Columbia and Alberta, Canada looked beautiful, if not altogether inviting, in my opinion much nicer than the real places they were playing, ie, Montana and South Dakota.
Canada on purpose:
63. Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World: The graphic novel is set in Toronto and so too is the film, thanks to director Edgar Wright who made it happen. The film is peppered with recognizable Toronto landmarks – for once we see our city in a film and we can claim it properly.
64. The Shipping News: For some time this was the most depressing movie on the planet. A grieving Kevin Spacey movies to Newfoundland where he meets a widowed Julianne Moore and lives in a derelict home. The Maritimes looks just as bleak as you’d expect.
65. What If: Can a man and woman really be just friends? Written byCanadian screenwriter Elan Mastai, it’s set amid the romantic backdrop of Toronto but instead of popular attractions, Daniel Radcliffe and Zoe Kazan’s ultra-hip characters meet and fall in love in lesser-known locations like the George Street Diner, Rooster Coffee House, Riverdale Park and the Royal Cinema.
66. The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz: Based on the novel by Mordecai Richler and starring Richard Dreyfuss, The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz follows the titular character as he tries to scheme his way out the poor Jewish community of 1950s Montréal. Saint Urban Street plays a prominent role in the film, as does Wilensky’s, a popular lunch counter first opened in 1932 that you can still visit today. Highly recommended is the Wilensky Special: a sandwich of all-beef salami and bologna, Swiss cheese and mustard pressed between two slices of yellow bread.
67. Take This Waltz: On a plane ride back to Toronto, Margot (Michelle Williams) meets and crushes on Daniel (Luke Kirby). Sharing a cab home, they discover they are neighbours, because Margot is an otherwise happily married woman (to Seth Rogen). Actually filmed right in Toronto.
68. Everything’s Gone Green: Ryan (played by Canadian Paulo Costanzo) is a slacker tempted by a money laundering scheme while writing for a lottery magazine. Filmed AND set in Vancouver, the movie (written by Canada’s Douglas Coupland) pokes fun at how often Vancouver is dressed as Los Angeles – with one potted palm tree that makes the rounds of all the film productions in town.
69. Enemy: about a college professor in Toronto (Jake Gyllenhaal) who’s stuck in a rut until he randomly watches a rental video and spots an actor who looks just like him. He looks him up and becomes obsessed with his lookalike. Actually filmed in and around Toronto, a brilliant film by our own Denis Villeneuve.
Canadian Idol:
70. Chantal Kreviazuk: This Winnipeg-born songstress has 45 soundtrack credits under her belt, but none as famous as her cover of Leaving on a Jet Plane for Armageddon. (Her husband Raine Maida’s band Our Lady Peace also appears on the soundtrack.)
71. Alanis Morissette: Ottawa-born Alanis played God in Kevin Smith’s Dogma, but she’s got 98 soundtrack credits listed on IMDB, including The Internship, The Devil Wears Prada, and City of Angels where she’s got a particularly haunting one called Uninvited (fellow Canadian had the smash hit from the same movie).
72. Celine Dion: She made a cameo in Muppets Most Wanted as the Piggy Fairy Godmother, but Charlemagne, Quebec born Dio has a whopping 110 soundtrack credits, including that monster hit for Titanic (which she didn’t much care for – she only sang it once, the song we heard a million times on the radio was the demo). Of course you can’t discount her epic song for Beauty and the Beast, and Sleepless in Seattle, and Up Close & Personal.
73. Neil Young: 142 soundtrack credits for this formidable folk singer born in Toronto. You’ve heard his music in the likes of Jerry Maguire, Philadelphia, Almost Famous, and The Big Short.
74. Bryan Adams: Hailing from Kingston, Ontario, Adams surprisingly tops Dion with 165 soundtrack credits, including huge ballads for Don Juan DeMarco, The Three Musketeers, and Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves.
75. Leonard Cohen: This Legend born in Montreal has 261 soundtrack credits to his name. Among the many movies his songs have appeared in: Natural Born Killers, Shrek, Watchmen, and Sing.
76. Christophe Beck: This Montreal-born composer proves Canadians are more than just a hit single on the soundtrack. This busy guy has worked on 140 movies, including The Hangover, Ant-Man, Frozen, Trolls, Pitch Perfect, Cake, and Edge of Tomorrow.
77. Howard Shore: Born in Toronto, Shore is a musical genius who has composing credits like Denial, Spotlight, The Hobbit, The Departed, The Lord of The Rings, and Aviator. He’s also served as orchestral conductor on Hugo, Doubt, High Fidelity, and Dogma.
78. Jeff Danna: Born in Burlington, Ontario, Danna’s varied composer credits range from Silent Hill, Fracture, The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, The Good Dinosaur, and Storks.
79. Mychael Danna: Brother to Jeff (above), Winnipeg-born Mychael is an Oscar-winning composer (for Life of Pi), whose credits include Moneyball, 500 Days of Summer, and Little Miss Sunshine.
80. Michael Brook: This Toronto-born composer has such credits as The Perks of Being A Wallflower, Heat, Into the Wild, and The Fighter.
81. Owen Pallett: You may know him as a member of Arcade Fire, but Mississauga-born Pallett has composing credits for The Box, The Wait, Life, and an Oscar nomination for Her.
82. Paul Schaffer: You may know him as David Letterman’s band leader\right hand man, but Thunder Bay-born Schaffer has a whole bunch of soundtrack credits, and it’s all because of one little song: he co-wrote It’s Raining Men, and that song has legs! It’s appeared in The LEGO Batman movie, Magic Mike, Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa, Bridget Jones’s Diary, Eraser, and more.
83. David Foster, of Victoria, BC, has not one but two best original song nominations to his name, for Karate Kid Part II (Glory of Love) and The Bodyguard (I Have Nothing). Other sound track listings include Ghostbusters, Deadpool, and A Hologram for the King.
Canadians shine bright:
84. Michael J Fox: This Edmonton-born actor just received the Governor General’s Award for the performing arts – he got up on stage and performed Light of Day with Joan Jett. He also had an iconic role in Back To The Future, not forgetting Teen Wolf, The Secret of my Succe$s, For Love or Money, and Mars Attacks!
85. Mary Pickford: This Toronto-born actress was the first Canadian to be nominated (then win) an Oscar – Best Actress 1928 for Coquette. She worked in and conquered Hollywood from 1909-1933, with some 250 credits to her name, including The Poor Little Rich Girl, Little Annie Rooney, and Daddy-Long-Legs.
86. Christopher Plummer: Hailing from the city of Toronto, Plummer has two Oscar nominations to his name: best supporting actor for The Last Station, and Beginners (the latter of which he won). He also appeared in The Sound of Music, A Beautiful Mind, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, and Pixar’s Up.
87. Jacob Tremblay: This 10 year old from Vancouver won hearts in Room and has followed it up with roles in Shut In, Burn Your Maps, and Before I Wake.
88. Walter Huston: Toronto-born Huston received an Academy nomination in 1936 for Dodsworth and again in 1941 for The Devil and Daniel Webster. He also had memorable roles in The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, Yankee Doodle Dandy, and And Then There Were None.
89. Ellen Page: From Halifax, Nova Scotia, Page secured an Oscar nomination with her breakout role in Juno. She’s also appeared in Inception, Tallulah, Freeheld and Into the Forest – the last two she also produced.
90. Norma Shearer: Born in Montreal, Shearer won an Oscar for best actress in 1929 for The Divorcee, and was nominated additionally for Their Own Desire, A Free Soul, The Barretts of Wimpole Street, Romeo and Juliet, and Marie Antoinette.
91. Donald Sutherland: Born in Saint John, New Brunswick, Sutherland has credits spanning 6 decades (and counting), from The Dirty Dozen to Backdraft, JFK, The Italian Job, and The Hunger Games.
92. Graham Greene: Born on the Six Nations Reserve in Ontario, Greene was the second First Nations actor to secure an Oscar nod for best supporting actor, Dances With Wolves, 1990 (Chief Dan George was first). You may have also seen him in Die Hard, The Green Mile, and the Twilight saga.
93. Marie Dressler: Born in Cobourg, Ontario, Dressler won her first Oscar in 1930 for Min And Bill, and was nominated again the following year for Emma.Memorable roles include Anna Christie, Dinner At Eight, and Tillie’s Punctured Romance.
Did you know?
94. Roger Avary, from Flin Flon, Manitoba shared a best original screenplay Oscar with Quentin Tarantino for Pulp Fiction.
95. Neill Blonkamp, though South African born, moved to Vancouver B.C. at age 18 where he attended film school. Now a citizen of Canada, he and his Canadian wife Terri Tatchell received an Oscar nomination for writing District 9 together.
96. Emma Donoghue, the author and screenwriter behind Room, is Irish-born but a Canadian citizen. She received an Oscar nomination for her work.
97. Michèle Burke, also born in Ireland but a naturalized Canadian. She has 6 Oscar nominations and 2 wins for her work in makeup and hairstyling: Quest for Fire, The Clan of the Cave Bear, Cyrano de Bergerac, Bram Stoker’s Dracula, Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me, and The Cell.
98. Jack L. Warner, born in London, Ontario, was a 6-time Oscar-nominated producer, of best picture nominees Disraeli, Flirtation Walk, All This, and Heaven Too, Yankee Doodle Dandy, Auntie Mame, and My Fair Lady, which won. He also executive-produced Casablanca.
99. Ralph E. Winters, Toronto born, was an Oscar-nominated editor. He received Academy nominations for Quo Vadis, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, The Great Race, and Kotch, plus two wins, for Ben-Hur, and King Solomon’s Mines.
100. Graham Annable, born in Sault Ste Marie, Ontario, is an animator who’s worked on Coraline, Paranorman, Kubo and the Two Strings, Despicable Me 3, and received an Oscar nomination as director of Boxtrolls.
101. Dean Deblois, born in Brockville, Ontario bur raised within spitting distance of here in Aylmer, Quebec, is an animator and director. He’s worked on Mulan, Lilo & Stitch, and was Oscar-nominated as director of How to Train Your Dragon, and its sequel.
Favourite Canadian Film Festival
102. The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) is one of the largest publicly attended film festivals in the world. Founded in 1976, it has screened major award contenders such as Room, The Imitation Game, 12 Years a Slave, La La Land, and The King’s Speech.
Canadians are such characters:
103. Argo: Americans call it Argo, but historically, we have referred to this as the “Canadian caper” – the movie was criticized here for minimizing the role of the Canadian embassy in the rescue but that’s the Hollywood machine for you.
104. Logan: Wolverine himself is of course Canadian, born in Cold Lake, Alberta. Deadpool is also Canadian – the comics always said origin unknown but the movie professed his birthplace to be Regina, Saskatchewan – the city that rhymes with fun!
105. The Whole Nine Yards: Rosanna Arquetterepeatedly butchers the French-Canadian accent, which must have been particularly painful to costar Matthew Perry, who is actually Canadian.
106. Zootopia: Peter Moosebridge, the news anchor in Zootopia (seen only in Canada, France, and USA versions) is a salute to our own venerated Peter Mansbridge.
107. The Love Guru: It isn’t Mike Myers playing the Canadian in this film but rather Justin Timberlake, who played a French Canadian goalie who sang lots of Celine songs and offered people a “Quebec pizza” (a poptart with ketchup).
108. The Proposal: Sandra Bullock plays a NYC book editor who turns out to actually be Canadian, and is facing deportation, having overstayed her visa. So she has to go home and convince her American assistant (played by Canadian Ryan Reynolds, haha) to marry her.
109. South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut: In which Canadian movie stars Terrence & Philip teach kids to swear and their parents blame Canada – with a snappy song!
110. The 39 Steps: Shame on Alfred Hitchcock; he changed his protagonist from British to Canadian only to cast a Brit, who wasn’t very convincing.
111. The 49th Parallel: Speaking of unconvincing, how about Laurence Olivier’s Québécois accent? Possibly the worst of his career.
112. Secretariat: Although. John Malkovich as a French Canadian? Also pretty laughable.
113. Yoga Hosers: This is the second in Kevin Smith’s Canadian trilogy and a real stinker, the Canadian characters complete caricatures – and not a real Canadian among the cast.
114. Sicko: Michael Moore tackles health care in this documentary, and he makes an obligatory trip across the border into Canada, where we value our socialized medicine and revere the man who gave it to us.
Last week, Daniel Day-Lewis announced his retirement from acting. He’s got one final role to unleash on the world, an untitled Paul Thomas Anderson film in which he plays fashion designer Charles James, which comes out around Christmas. And then he’s done.
But is he DONE done? Or is he retiring like Michael Jordan retired from basketball? Or Jay-Z retired from rap? Day-Lewis is at the top of his game, where, in fairness, he has been for the past 30 years or so. It just seems to me that people who are both very good at\very passionate about what they do don’t retire, they keep doing the thing they love until they physically cannot do it anymore.
And it’s not like we would have noticed Day-Lewis’s absence had he simply taken a sabbatical. The man is notoriously reclusive and generally does only about one film every five years or so. After winning an Oscar for Lincoln in 2012 (which was the last time we’ve seen him on screen), he announced a hiatus during which he’d spend time on his farm in Dublin, learning “rural skills” like stonemasonry. You know, practical stuff. Between 1997’s The Boxer and 2002’s Gangs of New York, he left Hollywood to apprentice as a shoemaker in Italy. He’s obviously a curious man willing to try his hand at all kinds of pursuits. But quit acting?
Whether or not he eventually comes out of retirement for “one last role” I can’t help but feel this is the end of an era. DDL is the kind of actor who used those fallow periods to truly transform himself into his next character. When he did Lincoln, he stayed in character for 3 solid months; even Spielberg had to address him as Mr. President. To crawl so deeply beneath someone else’s skin must be quite draining and it’s no wonder that he’s needed such lengthy recovery times between films. But Hollywood has gotten away from this kind of acting, the total-immersion kind. Now people play versions of themselves. George Clooney, say, or Ryan Gosling: both very good actors, but if you think about it, they play versions of their charming, winking selves. Have we ever seen Clooney lose himself in a role, or even just play against type? Day-Lewis’s commitment to diving into a role completely is impressing, but is also probably a dying art. He’s only 60 but perhaps he is already a dinosaur in the industry. A super talented dinosaur who will be sadly missed.
Some people think that Netflix is saving the movie industry. Others think it’s killing it. I think neither is true, that all Netflix is is the future. Or rather, Netflix is now. The movie industry is changing and has changed. Some directors insist that their art can only be experienced on a big screen, others are embracing the flexibility that comes with a Netflix carte blanche. But Cannes, a major French film festival, has inserted itself into the discourse, reluctantly agreeing to include two Netflix titles in this year’s lineup, but insisting that next year’s rules will be different and only movies intended for a theatrical release will earn slots in their programming.
Amazon also earned boos from critics at its Cannes screening, this despite the fact that Amazon does partner up to bring some of its titles to the cinema, like last year’s Oscar contender, Manchester By The Sea. This year Amazon brought Wonderstruck to Cannes by the acclaimed director of Carol, Todd Haynes. Of Amazon, Haynes noted “The film division at Amazon is made up of true cineastes who love movies and really want to try and provide opportunity for independent film visions to find their footing in a vastly shifting market. They love cinema.”
Netflix makes movies and series for its at-home audience who pay a subscription fee that includes original content. At TIFF 2016, I saw 2 Netflix films (Mascots and Blue Jay) and found them to be just as worthy as any other content on offer. At this year’s Oscars, Netflix garnered a nomination for Ava DuVernay’s documentary 13th, and a win for its short documentary, The White Helmets. Traditional or not, Netflix movies do hold up.
Cannes jury president Pedro Almodovar doesn’t like it and made his position clear with this opening statement: “I personally do not conceive, not only the Palme d’Or, any other prize being given to a film and not being able to see this film on a big screen. The size [of the screen] should not be smaller than the chair on which you’re sitting. It should not be part of your everyday setting. You must feel small and humble in front of the image that’s here.” Fellow jury member Will Smith clashed with him on this, defending the streaming service “In my house, Netflix has been nothing but an absolute benefit. They get to see films they absolutely wouldn’t have seen. Netflix brings a great connectivity. There are movies that are not on a screen within 8,000 miles of them. They get to find those artists.” And that’s true: Netflix is a boon to indie gems and hard-to-find documentaries. It also allows people who find the cost of theatre-going restrictive to watch movies at home for a reasonable price. Of course, Netflix just so happens to be the distributor of Smith’s next big-budget movie, Bright.
And that’s the thing about Netflix today: it’s going after the big guns. For its first-ever Cannes screening, Netflix chose Okja, a film by the South Korean director of Snowpiercer, Bong Joon-ho. Okja stars Tilda Swinton, Paul Dano, Lily Collins, and Jake Gyllenhaal. It’s no slouch. Of the controversy, Joon-ho was typically humble: “I’m just happy he will watch this movie tonight. He can say anything—I’m fine. I loved working with Netflix. They gave me great support — the budget for this film is considerable. Giving such a budget to a director isn’t very common.” And Swinton was also quick to make light of the situation, saying “The truth is, we didn’t actually come here for prizes.” Okja received a four-minute standing ovation after its screening.
Later this festival, Netflix will screen the second of its two titles, Noah Baumback’s The Meyerowitz Stories, about a fractured family reuniting, starring Dustin Hoffman, Emma Thompson, Candice Bergen, Ben Stiller, and Netflix darling Adam Sandler.
Towering Inferno in 1974, McQueen demanded that he not only have top billing, but also the exact same pay as Newman—and the EXACT SAME number of lines, which seems like a pretty shitty way to write a script. The two fought it out about the top billing and eventually producers settled on a compromise for the poster: McQueen’s name is first, but Newman’s name, while second, is slightly higher up. Also the picture of McQueen is on the left, but Newman’s picture is again slightly higher up. This coined the term ‘diagonal billing’ because you know movie stars have egos and this shit definitely has come up again.
$100,000 worth of granite countertops. It has sliding doors like the Star Trek Enterprise, which lead to a wardrobe room. It has pistons that allow it to transform to have a second story, which houses a screening room for watching dailies. There’s a shower in a $25,000 bathroom that has a magic glass door, which can go between opaque and transparent with the push of a button. Sean and I saw this monstrosity on the streets of Manhattan while he was filming MIB3, and you bet the locals were complaining about its size and its generally fucking up traffic, and blocking out sunlight in the surrounding apartments. Charming?
heavy luggage out of a trunk, he genuinely injured himself and his exclamation “Oh my balls!” is the real deal.
Spielberg lost that battle but he normally has a pretty keen eye for casting the right kid in his movies. Drew Barrymore recalls auditioning for him for Poltergeist: “lied my face off. I told him I was in a rock ‘n roll band. I was a drummer, of course, because drummers are the coolest, and that I was a cook.” He didn’t think she was right for Poltergeist but kept her in mind for something else…and that’s how she landed E.T.
about being, not about performing, the way that children often do in school plays, making something bigger. It’s not always the noisy kids that we’re looking for; it’s the quiet kids at the back.” That was very important when Weir was casting for Room, in which a 5 year old boy and his mother escape their rapist-captor. One of those quiet kids was 7-year-old Jacob Tremblay, who caught her attention fairly early in the casting process. He had the interiority Weir and director Lenny Abrahamson wanted to see. “It was very evident how gifted Jacob was,” Weir says. “He’s a really bright and inventive child.”
play games, and we took our acting coach Miranda Harcourt, who’s amazing with kids, with us. We had an interpreter, obviously, and from those groups of 10, we narrowed it down to the final list and called them back again. It was a very thorough process. It was about four months from the time they started putting people on tape in India to when they started doing callbacks, and it was long and very intense every day, with another 100 or 200 tapes coming in. You can’t miss anybody.” Eventually they paired their top two youngsters with the top two adolescents would would play the older brother, and found the right chemistry. Anyone who’s seen Lion will know that little Sunny Pawar was a particularly bright spot in the film and he really livened up the red carpets during awards season, just as Jacob Tremblay had done the year before.
Germany knows 
he’s got a hilarious new show with his real-life son called Schitt’s Creek.
12. Ryan Reynolds: Born in Vancouver, British Columbia, Reynolds used a weird sitcom called Two Guys, A Girl, and a Pizza Place to launch a varied career that has included the highs and lows of Van Wilder, Definitely Maybe, Adventureland, Green Lantern, RIPD, 
Two Guys, A Girl, and a Pizza Place with fellow Canuck Ryan Reynolds back in the day, and that’s not the only thing they have in common. Fillion must have a super hero kind of voice, because before voicing a car in 
55. Brokeback Mountain: the film, like the story, is set in Wyoming, but it’s beautiful Canada you’re seeing on screen, almost entirely the Rocky Mountains of southern Alberta. Particular locations include Upper Kananaskis Lake, Mount Lougheed, The Fortress, Moose Mountain, Elbow Falls, and Canyon Creek.
thanks to director Edgar Wright who made it happen. The film is peppered with recognizable Toronto landmarks – for once we see our city in a film and we can claim it properly.
followed it up with roles in 
Coraline, 
France, and USA versions) is a salute to our own venerated Peter Mansbridge.
played a French Canadian goalie who sang lots of Celine songs and offered people a “Quebec pizza” (a poptart with ketchup).
sabbatical. The man is notoriously reclusive and generally does only about one film every five years or so. After winning an Oscar for Lincoln in 2012 (which was the last time we’ve seen him on screen), he announced a hiatus during which he’d spend time on his farm in Dublin, learning “rural skills” like stonemasonry. You know, practical stuff. Between 1997’s The Boxer and 2002’s Gangs of New York, he left Hollywood to apprentice as a shoemaker in Italy. He’s obviously a curious man willing to try his hand at all kinds of pursuits. But quit acting?
ASSHOLES WATCHING MOVIES 