B.C. native embraces her weirdness
Multi-talented Kelly McCormack produces and stars in The Neddeaus of Duqesne Island
Ask actor, writer, singer and producer Kelly McCormack what kind of movies she makes and she doesn’t hesitate with her answer: “The kind under duress,” she said, laughing, over the phone from Los Angeles recently.
McCormack is a firing-on-all-cylinders DIY creative. If there’s a hat, she’ll wear it.
This year has seen the Vancouver native (she points out her family has been here for five generations) barnstorming through the entertainment business.
McCormack joined the cast of the hit Space/Syfy series Killjoys. She is on board for the new Comedy Central/CBC series Crawford, directed by Mike Clattenburg (Trailer Park Boys). She is in the digital original series How to Buy a Baby (CBC) and is back for Season 3 of the digital series That’s My DJ.
At this very moment you can go online and see her in action in the hilariously weird CBC digital series The Neddeaus of Duqesne Island. McCormack also produces the series under her Floyder Films banner.
“I’m an actor, writer, producer — I say yes to so much. I wear so many hats and I am a workaholic,” said McCormack.
“In Canada I don’t think we are afforded the same kind of egos they are in the States. If you are an actor in Canada, it doesn’t mean you’re making a lot of money. If you are on a show, it doesn’t mean anything. I audition against actors who have been series regulars on multiple shows. In the States that would never happen.”
The desire to do different jobs is one part personality and another part self-preservation.
“For me, as a female actor, I read scripts and I get auditions for stuff where I am like, ‘God, I can’t relate to that type of woman,’ ” said McCormack.
“It’s well documented that there is so much expectation and poorly written female roles. So for me, who is a bit of a weirdo and comes from an experimental theatre background and was in New York for four years naked on stage playing a tree, well, I had much deeper interest in playing roles that actually felt like they were authentic to who I was and also were a lot more fun.”
Fulfilling the fun requirement, at least for the viewer, is The Neddeaus of Duqesne Island.
A 10-part 1970s mockumentary about an odd, isolated, island-dwelling, potato-eating family, The Neddeaus has a Christopher Guest comedy meets Hinterland’s Who’s Who and found footage feel.
McCormack plays Eloida who, with her twin sister Elene (Caitlin Driscoll), torments her older mainland-dreaming brother Elmer, played by series creator and writer Aaron Schroeder.
The idea is a documentary was recently discovered in the CBC archives after the federal government of the day had shelved the show after there were whispers of, well, untoward behaviour.
For the trailer, the production got some big names including former prime minister Jean Chretien and David Suzuki to weigh in on the Neddeau family.
“We basically shot this TV show up north in the woods — on a remote island (Sparrow Lake near Orillia, Ont.) for four weeks. I had to drive three different types of boats, build a bunch of fires and make bear hangs,” said McCormack, who splits her time between Toronto and Los Angeles
“I was driving around in costume looking like a demonic twin from The Shining.”
McCormack’s work ethic was not lost on the small cast and crew of The Neddeaus.
“Kelly brings a vivacity to set that buoys even the most jaded. She is a ball of energy. Not in your face about it, but if you need a little jolt of positive vibes, have a quick chat with her,” said Tim Walker who plays Bichon, the Neddeau’s family patriarch and husband to Vangeline (Tara Samuels).
“Kelly is so focused on her job(s) — I add the ‘s’ because it’s rare in my experience that she is doing just one thing; she is a master of all trades. But no matter how busy she is, she makes time for you if you need her.”
Directed by Ford Francis Mayflower (not a real person) and narrated by a 16-year-old (not true) Colin Mochrie, The Neddeaus is a Canadian comedy win. It is clever, absurd and looks like home.
“We were unapologetically making a Canadian show for Canadians about Canada,” said McCormack. “I have no problem saying this, but I can’t imagine a more Canadiana driven show.”
The series is so well done and authentic looking that some people online have admitted to being duped into thinking this was an actual documentary about an actual family.
“When we pitched to the CBC they asked, ‘What do you want for this, what kind of reaction?’ I said, ‘I dunno, I kind of want to make people uncomfortable,” said McCormack. “I want to make people feel ‘What is this we are watching? What is this?’”
Most recently, McCormack’s creative outlet has been touring with the opera Charlotte: A Tri-coloured Play with Music and preparing for her next film, Sugar Daddy, due to go to camera later this year or early in 2018.
Sugar Daddy is an all-female production, with internationally-renowned music video director Wendy Morgan helming the project.
“(McCormack’s) A firecracker, in all the best ways. Kelly is a talented multi-hyphenate who is taking her career into her own hands. It’s inspiring and something we are seeing with female talent around the world,” says Lauren Grant, whose Clique Pictures, along with Violator Films, is producing Sugar Daddy.
Sugar Daddy follows the story of struggling musician Darren (McCormack), who looks to land some extra cash by signing onto a Sugar Daddy website. For those not in the know, Sugar Daddy is for rich, older guys to go on dates with younger women and then buy them stuff and pay the bills.
Also coming up later in the year is the debut of the new sitcom Crawford. The word is the 13-episode first season of the Clattenburg and Mike O’Neill co-created show focuses on a 30-something man who moves back in with his parents and parlays his connection with raccoons into a business.
McCormack can’t spill the beans on this new series other than to say her character required four hours of hair and makeup and it was one of the “weirdest” things she has ever done on camera.
“The writing is like nothing I have ever read before,” said McCormack.
McCormack, not surprisingly, speaks a mile a minute. She gets stuff done, that’s just the way it is. In fact, it is always the way it has been.
“If you got partnered with me in school for a project, I would be, ‘You guys are in luck: I’m going to do this whole thing myself,’” said McCormack.
McCormack says her endless energy and full plate ethos has a lot to do with her watching her mother balance four jobs and raising four kids on her own.
“I don’t do spare time. I don’t like relaxation,” said McCormack. “I’m just wired a certain way. It’s not everyone’s lifestyle. I’ll sleep when I’m dead.”