Epic journey for indie film
Canadian filmmakers spent two years making it and three years trying to get it into theatres
This story needs a girl.
That’s what Toronto actress May Charters told her Creston, B.C.born boyfriend, model-turnedfilmmaker Mark Hug, about the indie film he wanted to make about brothers coming to terms with hockey stardom for one and an unfulfilled life for the other in their small hometown in British Columbia.
Turns out, she was just the girl for the job. The Canuck couple, who met in an L.A. acting class in 2002, co-wrote, co-directed and costarred in the dramatic comedy. It took on a new focus about a man and woman, former childhood best friends, who meet again at their high school reunion. They called it Lovers in a Dangerous Time, named for the Bruce Cockburn song.
Charters’ younger brother Robin Charters handled the cinematography. Hug’s high-school pals and even his dad rounded out the cast. They “commandeered” the high school reunion of Hug’s younger sister for a pivotal scene and worked on the movie when time and their bank accounts allowed, finally finishing it in time for entry in some Western Canadian film fests where it won three best-picture prizes, including the audience award at the Calgary International Film Festival.
The movie did well, but this being a Canadian film story, success was measured in small doses. Now, three years after Lovers in a Dangerous Time premiered, it opens in Toronto on Friday on one screen at the AMC Yonge-dundas.
Lovers is the result of two years of intermittent filming that cost the pair $50,000 in savings and led to long stretches of uncertainty punctuated by occasional triumphs. But they never lost faith in the film they’d made when they were 31, with the help of friends and family, about life in the town where Hug grew up.
“We made this completely on our own without any support from any company. We worked and put all we had into making the film,” said Hug, chatting with the Star via Skype along with Charters from San Diego, where they were working their “day” jobs as model talent scouts for American photographer Bruce Weber.
Still close friends, Charters and Hug are no longer a romantic couple. “The film is not to blame,” Hug said with a laugh.
“When you watch the film there’s something that these two characters have that’s bigger than the romance,” he added. “May and I feel like we have that.”
“It’s the next chapter in our lives. It’s just not together,” said Charters.
The movie took so long to make because they wanted to show all four seasons in the story of Todd (Hug), who works at his father’s apple orchard, and Toronto-based children’s book illustrator Allison (Charters), childhood friends who meet again at their 10-year high school reunion. Hug said his dad did well in his screen debut, especially in a scene where he yells at his son for sleeping in when he’s supposed to be working in the orchard. “My dad had to learn to get over this a long time ago with me,” Hug laughs about his father’s acceptance of his decision to be an actor and filmmaker (he was also an Abercrombie & Fitch model). Hockey was a big part of the movie “because hockey is awesome!” said Charters.
“It’s all about letting go of childhood that all these characters are going through and for Todd it was hockey and I think it’s that way for a lot of Canadian men,” said Hug. “For males in Canada, it’s such a big thing to be a hockey player. It’s the closest thing we have to that Superman thing.” Todd’s problem goes beyond not fulfilling his hockey dreams. His younger brother, Bobby ( Sweet Karma’s Mark Wiebe), is a star with the Boston Bruins. When he comes home with his pockets full of NHL cash, it’s all too much for Todd. A standoff scene between the two of them mirrored a real-life situation for Hug. He had his pal Jon Haberstock, who appears in the movie, got the idea into their heads to brand each others’ butts with a red-hot fireplace poker one night. After Charters and Hug finished screening the film on the festival circuit in 2009, they had to find a way to get the movie into theatres. Without a distributor or publicist, it wasn’t easy. Charters, who went to the Toronto International Film Festival each September, would try to shop the movie, but she didn’t have the contacts to get her into meetings. Finally, she got some time with Robin Smith, president of Toronto indie distributor Kinosmith, and he agreed to show the film here, although it took a year to get it into a theatre. “I think maybe initially you feel frustrated, but we got over that feeling,” said Charters when asked how she dealt with the uphill battle of reaching audiences. “We understand the emotion of what goes around distribution and we know the situation with big-budget movies and how easy it is for them to get into theatres.” Lovers in a Dangerous Time opened in British Columbia and Alberta last year and had modest success. Streaming sites Netflix and Hulu are offering it in the U.S. and they hope for a similar web deal for Canada. But first, the long-awaited Toronto opening.
“We hope this film turns into a cult film.” MARK HUG CO-WRITER/DIRECTOR/STAR OF LOVERS IN A DANGEROUS TIME
“It’s been a long journey so it’s evolved, but opening in Toronto was a goal for me,” said Charters. “It’s intrinsically B.C. and my dream has been for it to open in Toronto.”
“We hope this film turns into a cult film,” added Hug. “We think it is a film that is very Canadian, very honest in a small-town Canadian way. I hope people keep discovering it. It’ll be our basement tapes in a way. We’re very proud of its authenticity.” May Charters and Mark Hug will be attending screenings of Lovers in a Dangerous Time at the AMC YongeDundas Friday and Saturday.