ABOUT THE FILM.
Producers Paul Stephens and Eric Jordan address the audience at the premier of Oliver Sherman.
ALMAGUIN – Two men, same war and very different outcomes.
The film ‘Oliver Sherman’, a psychological drama, made its
North Bay premiere on Oct. 16 to a full house at the Capitol Centre to what can
only be described as a hometown crowd.
Much of the filming was done in North Bay, Trout Creek,
Chisholm and Powassan.
Despite the unpredictable weather patterns associated with
filming in the Northern Ontario in autumn, Stephens says the cast and crew were
captivated by the region.
“Garret especially. Garret really talks about North Bay and
talks about coming back for a vacation,” he said.
Several sources in connection with the film said that
Dillahunt had attempted to be at premiere, however he was unable to get a
flight that would accommodate his schedule. He is currently filming in Los
Angeles.
Dillahunt wasn’t the only one disappointed that he could not
get a flight north. Carol Tran, whose home was turned into a movie lot, says
that from Oct. 19 to Nov. 6 of 2009 they became family.
The home is a 100-year-old farm house that has had extensive
renovation to the back and it was the wide open kitchen that caught the eye of
the location scout.
“It was lucrative but it was all a good, good experience. We
were treated like royalty,” she said.
“Our favourite was Donal Logue,” she admitted. “He sat with
us and ate with us.”
Logue, at the end of filming, got $50 give certificates for
Tran’s children and grandchildren.
“Just the rapport he had with us. We were like an extended
family,” she said.
Tran says much of the negotiation to use the home was made
while her husband Terry was away on holiday.
“One day he came home and Hollywood had landed,” she said.
Terry says it wasn’t just the actors who had an open bond
with the family. The operator of the generator truck, Cactus Simser, taught
their son 12-year-old Ford to lasso.
The experience is one that the family will not soon forgot
and Ford has a new skill to prove it.
The film is dark and intense and tells the tale of two men
who meet seven years after being at war together.
Oliver Sherman (Garret Dillahunt), a soldier left to die by
others after being shot in the head, is carried to safety by Franklin Page
(Donal Logue).
Page, who lost a finger from razor wire while rescuing
Sherman, returns to life in America, finds a job, marries Irene (Molly Parker)
and has two children while Sherman is left to wander through life never moving
on, self-pitying and lost. Page’s life begins to unravel when Sherman shows up
at his door becoming the ultimate in unwelcome guest.
There is slight humour to the film and writer/director Ryan
Redford describes it best by calling it “bleak and dark.”
He says the bits of levity were created to break up the
tension.
“There is a straight forward trajectory building up tension,
tension, tension,” he said.
The touch of brevity is like a breath.
“I don’t really like movies that make a statement. I’m more
intent on making a movie that makes somebody feel something,” said Redford, who
said so many ‘coming home’ movies have been done. “The goal was to make
something that hit people in the gut.”
It was the lack of progress Redford and the producers Paul
Stephens and Eric Jordan of The Film Works that made Oliver Sherman possible.
“We had another project that we had intended to do,” said
Redford who said after four years it wasn’t coming to fruition. “So I read
short stories by the boatload.”
Ryan found Rachel Ingalls short story ‘Veterans.’
“The movie bares very little resemblance to the short
story,” he said.
Thus far ‘Oliver Sherman’ has been met with success meeting
good reviews at the Toronto International Film Festival and attaining the Best
Canadian First Feature Award at the Cinefest Sudbury International Film
Festival.
The North Bay premiere was held almost one year to the date
that crews began filming in Trout Creek.
“We lined up our shots and suddenly it started snowing,”
said Stephens. “That was scene 87. I hate scene 87. We ended it up shooting it
twice more.”