As you drive past Bellerose High, you probably think to yourself: “That's an awful lot of people going to school in July.” The city became abuzz last week with the news that a movie was being filmed at the school and around town.
As you drive past Bellerose High, you probably think to yourself: “That's an awful lot of people going to school in July.”
The city became abuzz last week with the news that a movie was being filmed at the school and around town. #Roxy is a contemporary telling of Edmond Rostand's 1897 romantic tragedy Cyrano de Bergerac.
In that literary classic, the titular poet-soldier is besotted with Roxane but his profoundly protuberant proboscis keeps him shy from showing her his true feelings. Instead, he coaches the daft Christian to woo, even going so far as to offer his own words of love to the object of his affections.
Here, our hero is Cyrus as played – complete with full prosthetic nose – by Jake Short with Twilight actor Booboo Stewart taking the role of Chris and Sarah Fisher (of Degrassi TNG) as Roxy. Bellerose has become transformed into Bergerac High where Cyrus is a teenage computer genius and Chris is the new kid in class whose appearance captures the attention of many, including Roxy. While the movie essentially follows the same plot as the original story, things are modernized with social media becoming an element in how Cyrus maintains the ruse of his communications with his sweetheart.
Rounding out the cast is highly recognizable Hollywood star Danny Trejo who is well-known for grizzled roles in high stakes action movies such as Heat, Desperado, Machete, and the Spy Kids franchise, among hundreds of other credits.
According to co-producer and co-star Jesse Lipscombe (who has St. Albert roots), this movie is big but he hopes it will mark the start of something even bigger for film production in and around this region.
“We made it our passion to ensure that we could bring high quality movies and television shows and video games to Edmonton and St. Albert,” he enthused, referring to Mosaic Entertainment, the production company that also includes native St. Albertan Camille Beaudoin.
“This was a great opportunity, since we're doing a show set in a high school, we gotta give St. Albert a little bit of love,” he continued, pointing out that Bellerose fit the bill perfectly and is going to look great on screen.
On set, even director Michael Kennedy is impressed with how much of a pleasure that the shoot has been. Even when his wife came to visit for a few days at the beginning of the shoot, they commented to each other how beautiful the city is.
“Everything that we've been shooting around St. Albert has gone extremely well. The high school has been extremely accommodating and these kids have been extremely patient day after day. They're fantastic! I'm very impressed. Some of the best extras I've ever worked with.”
Amy Polczer is one of those extras. She said that she doesn't mind spending her days in the high school. In her real life, she's a junior high student.
“It's fun just pretending I'm a high school student. I guess that's why they call it ‘acting',” she said, adding that sitting in a classroom on the set is not the same as being stuck doing schoolwork all day. It doesn't even feel like work, she said.
In fact, she's loved every minute of her #Roxy time, from the long periods of waiting around, to the thankless work of simply being in the background for take after take of different hallway and classroom scenes. Being around the stars has just been great.
“It has been a great experience seeing how movies are made, and I've been having a fun time on set with the other extras and the cast. Each one of the cast members makes the set very entertaining, especially Danny Trejo,” she continued.
“Considering all of the villains that he has played over the years, he is truly a nice guy in real life. The rest of the cast is hilarious, and make it really fun for everybody on set. Best. Summer. Ever.”
Perhaps Kennedy is also used to commanding an army of 500-plus teenaged extras. In his filmography along with episodes of the Kids in the Hall, Little Mosque on the Prairie, and Emily of New Moon, he also directed a 1996 TV movie that was basically a retelling of the Robin Hood myth, but in a high school setting just as this is. He said that was part of his motivation to take on this project.
But being a director is often like herding cats. Getting teens back to school during the summer is easy when compared to some of the other facets of moviemaking, he said. Managing the performances is the main struggle.
“The real challenge in a film like this is not the logistics of the people and shooting with three cameras and stunts and stuff. It's managing the tone of the romantic comedy. Whether somebody's saying a line or falling out of a chair, the way they do so has to be correct. One of the worst things is when you catch people trying to be too funny. Comedy is a serious business.”
Mosaic hopes to follow up with a wider distribution deal but Superchannel already plans to air #Roxy next year.
