KEEPING THE FAITH
Bell Media’s CraveTV resurrects comedy that was stuck in limbo
What Would Sal Do? didn’t exactly begin with a divine intervention. In some ways, it’s a miracle Canadians will soon be able to see it.
The comedy stars Dylan Taylor (Defying Gravity) as Sal, a cranky ne’er-do-well living in Sudbury, Ont., in the house of his mother, Maria (Jennifer Dale). On his 30th birthday, his mother tells him some big news: He is the second coming of Jesus Christ.
His was a virgin birth, she insists. Local parish priest Father Luke (Scott Thompson from Kids in the Hall) says amen to that. Best friend Vince (Ryan McDonald) is skeptical but goes along with it; Sal’s girlfriend (Kaniehtiio Horn) isn’t so sure.
The series was created by Andrew De Angelis, who has written for Orphan Black and Mr. D, and produced by New Metric Media, the folks behind Canadian Screen Award best TV comedy winner Letterkenny. It was shot in Sudbury in the summer of 2015 and was supposed to premiere early the next year on Super Channel.
That’s when things went all to hell. Super Channel filed for bankruptcy protection, forcing What Would Sal Do? onto the shelf.
“There were several points where we wondered if Sal would see the light of day,” says Taylor. “In true form, we just kept the faith.”
That faith paid off when Bell Media stepped in and bought the series for CraveTV.
Taylor almost missed out on Sal when his ex-agent didn’t put him up for the role.
The 35-year-old had more of a drama background with Copper and Covert Affairs on his resume; he was just seen on CBC’s Mennonite drug drama Pure.
A casting agent thought he was perfect for Sal and sent him a script. He went into the audition with low expectations and just had fun with it.
Taylor’s casting was the first miracle. Next was Dale, who wasn’t sure she was virgin mother material.
“I told two of the people in my life who are closest to me in the world that I was auditioning to play the part of a somewhat mature virgin,” she says, “and they said, ‘Oh, honey, you’re never going to get cast in that role.’ ”
Dale agrees the priests and nuns back at her Toronto Catholic high school might have found Sal extremely irreverent.
“It’s certainly one of the most outlandish concepts I’ve ever come across, and a totally unexpected role for me.”
The sister of younger sibling Cynthia, Dale’s credits include mainly dramas, including Atom Egoyan’s The Adjuster.
Taylor says his co-star “was a gamer” and really got into her role, especially in a scene that called for her to give him a good slap in the face.
“I told her just to hit me as hard as you can,” says Taylor, who boxes on the side. “By the second and third take she was just smacking the daylights out of me. She said there was something satisfying in that.”
Taylor also enjoyed working opposite comedy veteran Thompson.
“All of us were trying to play humour from a real place,” he says.
“The writing is what’s funny. The performances don’t have to be funny; they just have to be real.”
Real, but colourful. Taylor says his Sudbury slacker is part a Goodfellas character, part Sam Malone from Cheers.
If he could perform miracles in real life, Taylor says he knows what he would do first. “End world hunger,” he says, “and then I’d pants Donald Trump.”
It’s certainly one of the most outlandish concepts I’ve ever come across, and a totally unexpected role for me.