Media coverage: Remission Impossible


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Comedy with Remission Impossible

By RAFE ARNOTT
Kamloops This Week
Jun 07 2006

Photo caption:
Here the crew takes a quick break for a photo from the insane eight-day shooting schedule of Ken Hegan's short comedy Remission Impossible. From left; digital imaging technician Brian Schultz, director of photography Danny Nowak, producer Kirsten Newlands and director and writer, Ken Hegan. The Toronto Film Festival - which has its submissions closed - is holding open an unprecedented eight spots for the Crazy 8s' films.

Former Kamloops writer/directer Ken Hegan gets mental with Crazy 8s film fest

Shooting a film is a challenging proposition on its own.

Shooting a movie with only 800 feet of film, on a budget of $800 and delivering it in eight days is just plain crazy.

But, that is exactly what dozens of filmmakers have lined up to do for the past eight consecutive years in Vancouver as part of the Crazy 8s film competition.

The idea for the competition was the brainchild of Rick Stevenson, who approached the Directors Guild of Canada, British Columbia, with the idea in 1999.

With the commitment of then-executive director of the guild, Rhonda Montheith, and the help of Andrew Williamson, Stevenson turned the idea into reality.

This year marked the eighth year of competition and former Kamloops writer/director and journalist Ken Hegan was able to secure a spot for his short film Remission Impossible after months of preparation.

Presenting the pitch to the juried panel was a nerve-wracking experience for Hegan, who had his previous attempt turned down two years ago.

"It's pretty stressful.

"Pretty tense going in.

"There's like 60 to 70 teams going in, you have five minutes total to show [the jury] your vision. And I didn't have a team around me and I didn't tell them my ending," laughs Hegan, on the telephone from Vancouver.

"I wanted them to say yes to me and then I would surprise them with the ending - and that was a kind of dumb approach, so I flailed that year."

He was determined, however, to be a contender and secure a spot, no matter what, after viewing, and being inspired by, Zach Lipovsky's film Crazy Late at last year's screening at the Vogue Theatre in Vancouver.

"I've been going to the gala for years. It is a really fun event. They always get over a 1,000 people in the audience."

He liked the long continuous shot the short featured as it followed a man who wakes up with a terrible hangover, no clothes, no clue and the realization that he has five minutes to get to his own wedding.

"I was really impressed with how the film looked and what they accomplished in just eight days and I vowed that night, one year later I was going to be debuting a new film at Crazy 8s."

With that goal in mind, Hegan set about gathering the most kick-ass production team he could.

His perseverance paid-off and he was able to secure hard-working television producer Kirsten Newlands.

"Once Kirsten and I hooked-up, I knew we would be able to pull it off."

Things started to quickly snowball - in a positive way - from there.

Hegan managed to convince director of photography Danny Novak to get on board as well.

"[Danny] is one of the best cinematographers in the country and I just happen to play hockey with him.

"Once Danny said yes, that meant my film would look great and I would get dozens and dozens of good people wanting to work with Danny so they could take a step up in the industry too."

Casting the lead roles with two good friends, Hegan, Newlands and actors Peter New and David Lewis got to work rehearsing the script in preparation for this year's jury.

"We came in and I think we blew away the jury - the actors basically acted out a two-minute chunk of the short film - and then we waited."

Hegan just wrapped production on Thursday, with the film premiering at the Crazy 8s gala screening at the Vancouver Centre for the Performing Arts (formerly the Ford Theatre), Saturday night.

"Everybody laughed at all the right parts, and with 1,500 people laughing it sounds just like a train roar - it was awesome."

Remission Impossible's premise follows two committed scientists, hard at work in the lab, as they breach the pinnacle of their research and discover a cure for cancer.

Burnt out, but driven, the pair are working late one Sunday night when the younger of the two researchers implores the older to look into the microscope and confirm what he thinks he sees.

"These doctors are convinced their formula has worked, and they are convinced they have essentially cured cancer in our time."

Having been granted the unprecedented honour of shooting inside the British Columbia Cancer Research Centre in Vancouver - which has turned down several high-profile cost-is-no-object U.S. productions - Hegan says the location gives the film an incredible sense of realism.

"It was a total coup, I would have been happy if we shot it - well, not happy, but prepared - to shoot it in a high school chemistry lab, and do my best to make it look good."

The talents of a friend who scouts locations for prime-time TV paid off.

He had contacts with the cancer research centre and convinced them they should read Hegan’s script.

Hegan says part of the appeal was that it could be a moment their actual scientists could experience.

"Dr. Ralph Durand is Associate Vice President of Research at the BC Cancer Research Centre (BCCRC). Ralph was incredibly patient and generous with me. He liked my script and my previous short film (William Shatner Lent Me His Hairpiece), and he thought Remission Impossible was a good cause, as my scientists are passionate about solving this awful disease."

The centre even went so far as to lend Hegan everything he needed to complete the look of the set, from beakers and "Bio-Hazard' stickers to $130,000 medical microscopes.

"I felt like I'd died and woke up in science heaven. Dr. Durand and his wife, Dr. Peggy Olive, even acted as our technical advisors. They watched some shots on the monitor and offered technical advice for accuracy. It was a fantastic experience."

The film is a continuation of a series that Hegan started two years ago, and was shot entirely on High-definition digital video, a departure from for Hegan, who previously shot on 35 mm film. The idea is to capture characters at a tremendously optimistic moment in their lives, and then let things start to go horribly awry.

The first short focused on the real-life marriage proposal Hegan made to his wife, titled Good Times, Volume One.

Hegan, who also writes for magazines such as Gentleman's Quarterly, Rolling Stone and several Canadian newspapers and magazines, both on the Lower Mainland and provincially, travelled to Texas on assignment and tried to busy himself with work and not think about the impending judgment on his film.

"I was in total suspense," says Hegan, "I was convinced we hadn't got chosen."

Because it was the competition's eighth anniversary, the jury selected eight films rather than the usual five, says Hegan, who found out Remission impossible had been given the nod via a webcast on the Internet.

"I found out later that ours was the only unanimous choice of the jury - it was pretty cool."

He was so excited about the news he literally blacked out while celebrating in a friend's basement over Spanish brandy.

"He has really low ceilings and I'm a tall guy, and I literally jumped for joy and banged my head on the ceiling, fell to the ground and gave myself a concussion for a couple days.

"I woke up vomiting."

"It was joy and pain.