Sask. native makes creepy debut
Director’s In Their Skin at the Roxy
If town names have anything to do with a person’s future, Jeremy Power Regimbal is in a good position. The filmmaker spent his childhood in Livelong before moving to Success so he could go to high school in Swift Current.
“I love Saskatchewan town names. They’re the best,” the director said in an interview from Toronto.
It’s tough to predict whether or not he’ll live long, but the success part appears to be coming true. Regimbal is one half of The Lab, a multimedia project and website that features a magazine, TV, commercials, music videos and film. The Lab released its first feature film, which Regimbal directed, earlier this year, on now at the Roxy Theatre. In Their Skin is a thriller starring Selma Blair (Legally Blonde, Hellboy), James D’Arcy (W.E., Cloud Atlas) and Rachel Miner (Californication, Sons of Anarchy).
It’s a huge step in Regimbal’s filmmaking career, which started when he was a farm kid shooting skateboarding and snowboarding videos with his brother.
“Right after I graduated, my brother convinced me instead of going travelling to buy a computer and a camera. We went and we shot one of those professional Canadian wakeboard videos,” he said.
After that, he got into commercials and music videos, dabbling in all different areas of film in Vancouver during the five years he lived there.
“That was kind of my film school, just working on set in lighting and camera, all sorts of things. It was so valuable to be on set for such big productions and see it from both sides. When I was directing this film I had a lot more empathy and realized what someone pushing the dolly or doing art department is going through.”
In 2010, he founded The Lab Magazine with fellow filmmaker Justin Close. Their aim is to tell stories through many different media.
“The film world is always our motivation and passion. The opportunity to start the magazine came up during the Olympics as a way to promote our company. It was a free flyer that went out that we called Issue Zero. It kind of snowballed from there,” Regimbal said.
The magazine has featured actors like Casey Affleck, Michelle Monaghan and Willem Dafoe and bands like Sigur Ros, First Aid Kid and Metric. The print features often come with a video element.
The Lab Magazine is available in 20 countries. It’s been a quick build for the two men, who recently returned from Amsterdam Film Week. It was a childhood dream trip for Regimbal.
“We’re both kind of workaholics,” he said of himself and Close. “Hence why I’d never been to Europe and I’m almost 30. We’re both hyper focused and worked really hard.”
The Lab created In Their Skin when Regimbal, Close and Close’s brother Josh went on a road trip from Vancouver to L.A., taking the inside highway that goes through Oregon and the desert. They knew they wanted to create a thriller with substance, but needed to search for inspiration. Along the road, they saw some weird things, particularly in Oregon, which helped inform the eerie movie.
One gas station in particular stood out for Regimbal.
“We walked in and asked to use the bathroom and this guy was like ‘Sure, but stay away from my girlfriend.’ Then there was a woman mannequin standing in the bathroom. I imagine it was their own little inside joke to creep the city people out,” he said.
Josh Close, who also stars in the film, wrote the first draft of the screenplay in a couple of months and the team secured financing.
Regimbal said it was a unique experience for his feature directorial debut.
“My best friend was producing it, my other friend was the lead in it and the guys that invested in it were young guys that really believed in us,” he said. “It was a family environment on set, which you wouldn’t think when you see the movie because it is pretty dark and weird.”
In Their Skin tells the story of the Hughes family. They retreat to their isolated cottage in order to heal after their daughter dies in a car crash. When odd neighbours show up with sinister intentions, things get interesting.
The Lab is already developing more ideas, with the intention of creating more feature films. Meanwhile, Regimbal is pretty happy how his filmmaking career has developed.
“I kind of sometimes forget that I grew up on a farm where the closest town was 38 people and most of them were over 50,” he said. “Me growing up on a farm was so important for me being creative, forcing me to think outside the box to have fun because you don’t have any choice.”
In Their Skin opens Friday at the Roxy Theatre.