Family that slays together, tries to stay together in new dark comedy
Actor Caden Douglas helming his first feature as director in Hamilton
Actor Caden Douglas says he’d been thinking for years about making a dark comedy revolving around a suburban family who get mixed up in murder.
Now the cameras are rolling in Hamilton this month on his first feature film called “Mother Father Sister Brother Frank.”
It’s the story of the Jennings family of Idaho whose typical suburban lives are upset by the appearance one Sunday night dinner of unsavory Uncle Frank and his blackmail scheme. The film stars Enrico Colantoni ( “Flashpoint” and “Just Shoot Me”) as father Jerry and Mindy Cohn ( “The Facts of Life”) as mother Joy.
“The title kind of popped into my head,” Douglas told The Spectator. “This is my first feature. I was kind of thinking about a family who commits a murder to save their family. I wonder what we all would do to survive. They would do their best, but, obviously, they wouldn’t be great murderers.”
The film got off the ground when he sent the script to Melissa D’Agostino and Matthew Campagna, former directors who are the brains behind Highball TV, the Torontobased streaming service, production and distribution company. Douglas, who has made numerous short films, but is perhaps bestknown for his role in the National Theatre of Great Britain/Mirvish production of “War Horse” in Toronto in 2012-13, knew the pair. He was thrilled they liked the project.
“There’s nothing better than working with your friends,” said the 40-year-old Alberta native, who now lives in Los Angeles.
Highball TV announced earlier this year they would spend $15.6 million to make Douglas’s film, plus four other productions such as a crime drama and a music documentary. Douglas’s film will appear on Highball, but he also aims to take it on the film circuit this year.
Also in the movie are Melanie Leishman (TV show “Todd and the Book of Pure Evil”) who plays sister Jolene; Iain Stewart (TV shows “Reign” and “Ruby and the Well”) who plays brother Jim; and Juan Chioran (Disney’s “Sneakerella” filmed in Hamilton in 2020) as Uncle Frank.
Hamilton’s own Sharron Matthews (“Frankie Drake Mysteries” and “Murdoch Mysteries’ ‘) plays a nosy neighbour who lost her dog and gives the Jennings family some grief.
Shooting began Feb. 27 and is set to wrap up March 24. The movie is being filmed at Okay Studios, a small studio on Gertrude Street, off Gage Avenue North, but there was a three-day shoot on Atwater Crescent on the west Mountain.
The set for the Jennings’ home was built in the studio by a small team. Douglas can’t say enough about how impressed he is of the work.
Douglas said he is enjoying filming in Hamilton and is staying in a B&B on Barton Street. The majority of the cast and crew are staying at the Sheraton Hotel.
He laughs about filming a scene on March 3. The script called for it to be wintery, but snow was not plentiful and Douglas believed they would have to do without it. Then, the city was hit that evening with a snow storm.
“It’s great,” says Douglas, who would have no hesitation of filming in Hamilton again. “The studio is great. Everything is very accessible.
There’s great folks working hard here to bring this film to life.”
This is the second film Highball has been involved in making in the city in the last year. Last summer, “Paige Darcy and the Case of the Stoned Cat” filmed here as part of a $12-million investment into three projects. The comedy-drama was filmed on various streets in Dundas and Stoney Creek, such as New Mountain Road, and also at the Erland Lee Museum in Stoney Creek.
It starred Alice Moran as a former teen sleuth who is dragged into solving both a murder case and the mystery of how to put her adult life back together. It also starred the venerable Graham Greene, Oscar nominated for his role in “Dances With Wolves” (1990).