Snow on the Skeleton Key - Printable Version
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Snow on the Skeleton Key - beanmedic - 01-25-2005
<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0386045/">http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0386045/</a><!-- m -->
Has anyone seen this film? It say GD plays the Banana Slug Merchant
cratch:
- beanmedic - 01-25-2005
Chancellor pointed out that Dr. Pee and Dale Morningstar are in this film as well
- chancellor - 01-25-2005
heres a link to a clip of the film
http://resonancesound.com/smith/snowkey.htm
- beanmedic - 01-25-2005
Shooting stars
By Jessica Morrison
<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://stw.ryerson.ca/~sonian/archive/20030409/entertainment.html">http://stw.ryerson.ca/~sonian/archive/2 ... nment.html</a><!-- m -->
When it came to their second term assignment, film student’s Greg Denny and Zachary Derhodge set their sights high.
Canadian actor Gordon Pinsent stars in a third year image arts student film. --Courtesy CBC
A star-studded cast, including Gordon Pinsent (The Shipping News), Gord Downie (lead singer of the Tragically Hip), Jane Eastwood (Chicago, My Big Fat Greek Wedding) and Karyn Dwyer (Better than Chocolate, Superstar) all appear in their film, Snow on the Skeleton Key.
While the production class assignment called for a 10-minute script that could use Ryerson theatre
school actors, Denny, the producer, and Derhodge, the director, paid little attention.
“We didn’t say this to the teachers, which was a bit sneaky on our part,” said Denny, “but we basically shot a 38-minute movie, which we weren’t supposed to do.”
Thirty-two cast members, 18 locations and $8,000 later, the image arts students have a lot more than a school assignment to show for their dissonance.
“When Gordon Pinsent came aboard — when I heard the message on my phone — that was kind of surreal,” said Denny of the December day when the veteran Canadian actor, known for his exceptional theatre career and regular television roles on Red Green and Due South, joined the cast.
The third-year students were elated, but they had been planning for a big production long before Pinsent replied to their unsolicited letter.
Derhodge wrote and directed the script, which details the reunion of two long-estranged brothers last summer and the pair began pre-production months before knowing if the film would even be chosen as one of the 10 the class would actually produce.
They began to secure locations in September, and in the two months that followed, they sent out nearly 200 letters to potential financial backers, and managed to negotiate the use of lighting and camera equipment from William F. White completely free-of-charge.
“We started casting in late-November, because we knew we had to pitch this film to the class during the first week of January, and we just had to be ready, because we couldn’t have waited to start then,” Denny said.
Derhodge’s cousin, musician Dale Morningstar, has worked with Downie and got him involved in the project early on.
“He plays a merchant and a musician. There’s a bad theatre scene in the film, and Gord Downie’s one of the performers. It’s kind of humorous to see him standing beside another vocalist who’s singing while he just watches,” said Denny.
Pinsent was always the first choice to play Winslow, one of the brothers — the script was written with him in mind. “We’re big fans of his,” said Denny.
When other actors started volunteering for the school project, Denny was already accustomed to positive feedback. “I guess I believed in the project, and I almost didn’t see why people wouldn’t come aboard.”
“To me, the writing was amazing,” said Denny, who credits Derhodge’s script with attracting such an impressive group of supporters.
“He didn’t set any limitations for production reasons, and wrote with the intention of being able to shoot it all,” he said.
Still, there were limitations.
“I pointed out to Gordon right from the get-go, ‘I hope you don’t have high expectations for the professionalism.’ Not to say there wasn’t professionalism. I was just nervous about the protocol and procedures,” said the producer.
“There were no trailers for the actors to hang out in, but I think Gordon enjoyed that, and was expecting to get down and dirty with the film.”
Denny and Derhodge are currently working on post-production with the hope of having a final cut this summer.
“I don’t think we could have ever thought it would have turned out as well as it did,” said Denny. “We were aiming high, but we didn’t know if we would get there.”
The filmmakers plan to screen Snow on the Skeleton Key at various national and international film festivals, and hope to hold the premier screening at the Toronto International Film Festival.
Of course, they will hand in a 10-minute version to their teachers before the term is over.
- K-Town Lassie - 01-25-2005
Wow, what a cool story! I enjoyed what I saw in the clip. I wonder if it's available anywhere. I wouldn't mind seeing the rest.
- j-monster - 01-25-2005
That's one of the neatest things I've read in a while. The clip was intriguing... like one of those indie films you watch, and when it's over you have a funny little smile on your face, thinking "What the hell did I just watch here??". It's amazing what those guys put together... proof that sometimes when you shoot for the moon, you can actually reach it.
Just one question though... who the hell is Dr. Pee???
- chancellor - 01-25-2005
his is the keyboard player for The Country of Miracles,, Downie's solo band