Hollywood 2


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By Ken Hegan
Published: Essential Vancouver, June 2005

Young, pretty, and eager to please, Vancouver has fast become the most famous character actor in the world. We’ve appeared in big-time movies like X-Men, Best in Show, Are We There Yet?, I, Robot, The 6th Day, A Guy Thing, and even Elf.

In Stakeout, we doubled for Seattle. We played New Yorkers in Lake Placid, Rumble in the Bronx, and Friday the 13th Part 8: Jason Takes Manhattan. In Steve Martin’s Roxanne, our Richards on Richards nightclub became a small-town U.S. bar. And Gastown doubled for Detroit in the Goldie Hawn vehicle Bird on a Wire.

We’re especially proud of our chimpanzee films like MVP: Most Valuable Primate, MVP: Most Vertical Primate, MXP: Most Xtreme Primate, and of course, Spymate, featuring a chimpanzee as a retired superspy. But we don’t just do monkeys. Vancouver’s become a Mecca for mutts and cats, too: Garfield, Cats & Dogs, Air Bud, Air Bud: Golden Retriever, Air Bud: World Pup, Air Bud: Seventh Inning Fetch, Air Bud: Spikes Back, and Chestnut: Hero of Central Park, have all peed on our trees and knocked over our garbage cans.

Filmmakers love returning to Vancouver, which locals affectionately call ‘Sequel City’. We’ve welcomed back Another Stakeout, Blade Trinity, Santa Clause 2, Look Who’s Talking Too, Scooby Doo 2, Underworld 2, X-Men 2, White Fang 2, Homeward Bound 2, Bloodhounds 2, Final Destination 2, Final Destination 3, Free Willy 2, and Free Willy 3 (we’re anxiously awaiting Free Willy 007, featuring a retired killer whale superspy).

In the late '90s, there were so many fog machines outside the Vancouver Art Gallery, we were practically choking on second-hand smoke. It was so busy, you couldn't swing a Baldwin brother without slamming Tom Arnold into his lunch truck on the set of his Oscar-overlooked National Lampoon’s Golf Punks.

Since then, the rising Canadian dollar has slowed the pace of our Hollywood productions. Action stars are still spotted on Robson (at press time, rumours are flying that X-Men 3 will shoot here) but Starbucks lineups are shorter and there are a few more empty parking spaces.

Asked how Vancouver can lure back more blockbusters, casting director Stuart Aikins says, "I think it's a natural progression that I hope will induce the Canadian industry to stop feeding its young south of the border and start supporting more independent Canadian cinema."

Local actor Chris Robson (you may remember him as Elizabeth Berkley’s boyfriend in Becoming Dick), agrees with Aikins. "It’s an opportunity for this talent pool to start making their back-burner projects, develop those ideas and start guerrilla filmmaking," says Robson, who recently co-produced two short films.

Indeed, BC’s independent filmmakers are flourishing, with scores of Vancouver indies making waves in Hollywood. The Corporation, a documentary about the psychopathology of big business, has won 25 awards and, ironically, done huge business for local filmmakers Mark Achbar, Jennifer Abbott, and Joel Bakan. Hardwood, a short doc by Hubert Davis about his father, former Harlem Globetrotter Mel Davis, was nominated for an Oscar and is airing on PBS. And White Noise, the hit thriller starring Michael Keaton, was produced in Vancouver by our very own Brightlight Pictures.

We’ve also become Queen of the Quickie Shorts. Every August, the Reel Fast 48 Hour Film Festival inspires dozens of 10-person film teams to write, shoot, edit, and deliver a 10-minute film in 48 hours. To spark your creativity, you’re given an "Inspiration Package" that contains a sound bite, photograph, location idea, surprise item, and a food donation to keep your crew strong.

For years, Lori Triolo and Sarah Nixey have been active supporters of Vancouver’s burgeoning creative class. They produce the Cold Reading Series, billed as 'an exciting live venue where actors are cast on the spot to cold read brand new scripts.' Triolo is a transplanted New York actor who fell in love with our mountains and fresh ocean air. She sees the Hollywood industry dip as "a terrific opportunity for Vancouver artists to channel their Disney-chasing energy into creating their own work."

Consider Wisegirls, a mob drama by John Meadows. After the screenplay’s Cold Reading Series’ debut, Meadows became a local hero when he sold the script to Hollywood. The film starred Mira Sorvino and was shot on location … in lovely downtown Halifax, Nova Scotia. "Close enough," says Meadows, who’s currently writing a romantic comedy set in the Vancouver speed-dating scene.

Meanwhile, Hollywood is still using BC as a backlot. This summer, watch for Robin Williams in RV, Samuel L. Jackson in Pacific Air 121, and Jennifer Garner in Catch and Release. And though we miss The X-Files, Vancouver is still clinging onto sci-fi series like The 4400 starring Peter Coyote, and Smallville starring John "Dukes of Hazzard" Schneider.

BC Film Commissioner Susan Croome is promoting BC as "A World of Looks’ that includes "deserts, volcanoes, glaciers, rainforest, and wild oceans, all in close proximity to a world class production centre" just a three-hour flight from L.A.

So if you happen to be in the film biz, we would love to be your character actor. We can play young, old, wet or dry. All we ask is that you (a) use our funny-coloured money, and (b) say please when you’re ordering your latte. After all, that smiling barista could be The Next Big Thing.

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