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21 Thunder, Bitten, Featured

Cristina Rosato and Greyston Holt among first to film during pandemic

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While many cities and provinces are still mapping out how, exactly, television and feature films will resume production during COVID-19, Cristina Rosato and Greyston Holt are already back at work.

The real-life couple is among the first of North America’s actors to re-start filming, starring in the TV-movie For Better or Worse, in B.C.’s Okanagan Valley. And while Rosato and Holt didn’t have to worry about social distancing when it came to working with each other—they are a couple after all—not so the case with the rest of the cast and crew.

“We originally thought we might be back filming For Better or Worse, very conservatively, in August, September or October,” Holt says, on the line from Vancouver alongside Rosato. “When we got the call that we would potentially be filming on June 8 as a start date, it was surreal. It didn’t make sense that something was coming back that early.” But, with pandemic cases in B.C. holding steady, the project went to camera with guidelines to keep everyone safe.

Rosato describes the taking and recording of daily temperature checks for everyone on the cast and crew, with the stipulation that anyone having a fever would be immediately tested and would not return to set until the testing was complete; no one had a fever or became sick. Everyone reported to a sanitization station and put on masks. Champlain Media, the production company behind For Better or Worse, had everyone involved in the project stay in the same resort during filming.

“We just always wore a mask,” Rosato says. “And then when we were rolling, we would take them off.” Because of the way the script was written, day players and extras were kept to a minimum and only a very small, core cast interacted with each other.

For Better or Worse stars Rosato as Olivia Owens the owner of a community garden centre. Holt portrays Brian Wolf, a property developer for low-cost housing. Brian’s aim is to tear down Olivia’s garden in favour of subsidized housing. There is, of course, friction between the pair that only grows when they’re paired up for a friends’ wedding. It’s the light-hearted TV-movie fare we’ve come to expect from projects like Holt’s previous work in A Very Country Wedding, A Puppy for Christmas and Love is a Piece of Cake. Holt believes that, with the world being such a crazy place, viewers like to watch people falling in love and jump at the chance for some light escapism.

With pandemic fears continuing, For Better or Worse couldn’t be more timely, content-wise. And, with production ramping back up, Rosato and Holt realize For Better or Worse could serve as the template for TV and film.

“We felt a real responsibility to do it right and not mess it up for everyone else,” Rosato says. “We were very, very aware of playing by the rules and we hope that other people can get back to work because of it.”

Image courtesy of Shawn Goldberg/Shutterstock.

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21 Thunder, Crawford, Featured

Jill Hennessy stars in CBC’s offbeat critter-filled comedy Crawford

While you may not know exactly what you’re going to get from a television series involving Mike Clattenburg, you have a pretty good idea. He is, after all, the creator of Trailer Park Boys, that ribald comedy starring three East Coast dudes smoking weed, sipping adult beverages and going on profanity-laced adventures. At its heart, Trailer Park Boys was about family. Family is also at the heart of Clattenburg’s latest project, Crawford. Well, family and raccoons. Many, many raccoons.

Debuting Friday on CBC.ca and the CBC TV app before moving to the main network on June 14 at 9 p.m., Crawford‘s 12 episodes centre on a dysfunctional family headed by Cynthia (Jill Hennessy), an award-winning cereal executive trying to juggle work, her husband Owen, and her lover; and Owen (John Carroll Lynch), a former police chief who suffered a bullet wound on the job and communicates via an app on his smartphone. Adding to the nuttiness are siblings Don (Kyle Mac), a musician who returns home following an emotional breakdown; Wendy (Alice Moran) and Brian (Daniel Davis Yang).

In the first episode, “I’m not crazy, I love you,” Owen awakes to a ransacked kitchen. Food is all over the place and he has no idea who, or what has done it. Suddenly, Don arrives and begins hauling clothes and musical equipment into his old bedroom, putting a strain on a father-son relationship already smarting from something in the pair’s past. Owen is convinced burglars broke into the house while he was asleep; turns out a family of raccoons enjoyed a buffet lunch while he snoozed. And, strangely, Don feels a weird connection with the little beasts.

“I had worked with raccoons once before on Trailer Park Boys, and had a wonderful experience with them,” says series creator, head writer, director and executive producer Clattenburg. “And then I saw a documentary called Raccoon Nation and I became infatuated with them and what kind of person might try to relocate them.”

Clattenburg and co-creator, writer and composer Mike O’Neill were thinking about their own fathers—who had recently passed away—and came up with the dad character. The rest of the family dynamic followed soon after and the duo was determined to create something not seen on television before. Far from being outlandish, the pair sought to make Crawford as realistic as possible via scripts written by them, Zoe Whittall, Kathleen Phillips-Locke, Monica Heisey and Timm Hannebohm and hired dramatic actors to take on comic roles. And, in a departure from how television is usually made—table read followed by filming—the cast rehearsed extensively in advance.

“It was a luxurious, delicious gift,” Hennessy says. “You never get a chance to rehearse in TV or even in films. The rehearsal process was so invaluable because we got to know each other and become a family. We heard the dialogue come to life and the spectrum of the characters really came to life. It was one of the closest experiences I’ve had in TV to theatre.” Lines were workshopped, improvised and worked on to determine what was best for the scene and the plotline.

“It’s really spoiled me,” Mac admits. “On other shows, like 21 Thunder, for example, I had gotten into trouble all of the time for changing lines to suit how I wanted [my character] Tim to speak. You feel nervous to even experiment. And then, on Crawford, I was allowed to do that. Liberating is really the only way to describe it as an actor.”

Crawford‘s first season is available for streaming this Friday via CBC.ca and the CBC TV app. Crawford airs Thursdays at 9 p.m. on CBC beginning June 14.

Images courtesy of CBC.

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21 Thunder, Featured

21 Thunder season finale: Between a Rock and a Hard Spot

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Is it possible to cram any more anxiety-riddled storylines into one show? Sure, if you toss in loads of special effects with million-dollar budgets perhaps. But 21 Thunder series writer Riley Adams outdid himself with the season finale. Most loose ends were satisfactorily tied up in very plausible ways and yet questions remained open, leaving an opportunity for the show to grow should the series be picked up for Season 2. More on that later.

I saw this episode broken down into three distinct sections: the lead-up to the match, the match itself and the aftermath. With that in mind, let’s dig in.

Everyone was feeling the pressure from the upcoming U-21 friendly between the Thunder and London. And then several of our favourites had additional pressures to contend with. Principally, Junior (Emmanuel Kabongo), Nolan (RJ Fetherstonhaugh) and Christy (Stephanie Bennett).

We opened with the police as they took Junior in to be questioned in connection to the Isaac Boka (Ryan Allen) murder. The police accused Junior of hiring Bamba (Clauter Alexandre) to kill Boka. Before they could press for more answers including those regarding Gregoire’s ring, the Thunder’s attorney arrived and escorted Junior out because the police had no immediate intention to arrest him.

Meanwhile, Nolan, still feeling pressured by Declan (Colm Feore) to throw the match against London, seized an opportunity to confide in Coach Davey (Ryan Pierce) only to learn he too is in on the match fixing. This only added to Davey’s own grief, rendering him useless when Christy sought him out for coaching advice. Her questions falling on deaf ears with Davey sent Christy to her mother, former coach Grace (Susan Bain). This nicely set up a reconciliation between these two strong willed women—cue a tear or two. They used the moment to bridge the chasm that had existed between the two for years, and ultimately Grace advised her daughter: “You take the fight to them.”

In the meantime, Emma (Clark Backo) was left waiting in the departure lounge at the Montreal airport, having taken Nolan’s parting advice to heart. She was off to Dublin to attend medical school. That was until she ran into Alex (Andres Joseph) at the airport—how about THAT tender moment between those two? Flight delay after delay left them time to talk through Nolan’s behaviour of late, piecing his inconsistencies together until they realized Nolan’s deceit was only a guise to protect Emma. Screw Dublin, it was back to the football pitch for these two.

That brought us to Lara (Eileen Li), who was entirely fed up with being under the thumb of Mangano (Bruce Ramsay) and his boys. Clearly a woman of higher intelligence, she was busily crafting a new plan. And, how much did we love that Russian roulette scene with Kevin (Kyle Mac)? Holy cojones, Batman!

Dawn on game day arrived complete with a threat of violence against Davey and Nolan should they fail to perform for Mangano. Then Christy gave a nice little pep talk to her team that effectively ran down the season’s events as she prepared us as viewers for the coming climax: the match we have all waited for.

Game time arrived with Fatima and Sly (Themala Mpumlwana), Grace, Emma, Alex and Mangano’s hit man  all in the stands. Anyone unable to attend were glued to their sets watching as referee Desjardins (Trevor Hayes), Assistant Coach Davey Gunn and Nolan were all working against a win for Thunder. Frustrations mounted amongst the team. Upset by a lousy call from Desjardins, “Snacks” (Kevin Claydon) sacrificed his troublesome knee and took him out of play. Then Christy put two and two together, realized Davey was undermining her and ordered him off the field. That left Nolan, faced with a game deciding free kick in extra time and all too aware that he alone was the only man able to swing the game for London. “We win or we lose with you Nolan.” Since he had nothing left to lose he responded with “What the hell?” After all, he believed Emma was safely on her way to Dublin.

With that, the Thunder won. Pandemonium broke out in the stands, at Lara’s and in the prison. A double-crossed Mangano was left without his winnings and a victorious Declan pronounced, “Did you really think my boy would kneel to you?”

The final four minutes were a flurry: a shiv fight between Declan and Mangano in the prison left Declan bleeding out, the hit man’s attempt to hunt down Nolan was effectively waylaid by Davey, and a lost Sly in a crowd of celebrating fans.

The season closed with a happy, albeit suspicious, ending. Gregoire (Kareem Tristain Alleyne) conveniently returned from the dead and obviously wearing his ring; the very ring that was removed from Boka when he died. And finally, Emma ran into Nolan’s arms as they enjoyed this double-edged victory together.

As I mentioned at the top, we are left wondering if there will be a Season 2, and there are threads that writers have left dangling that leave that possibility open:

  1. How will Lara and Kevin’s new money making scam pan out?
  2. Is Declan dead?
  3. What now for Coach Davey Gunn?
  4. Was Gregoire somehow involved in Boka’s death?
  5. Can Emma and Nolan’s relationship survive any fallout from Mangano et al?

I reached out to series writer Riley Adams on the occasion of the season finale for some parting comments and he had this to share:

“We are so proud to have created a show that embraces the Canadian values of diversity and opportunity while reflecting the highest international standards of craft in acting, direction, photography and design. And we are thrilled the international marketplace has responded so enthusiastically. We will be announcing in upcoming weeks our international partners for Season 1 and seasons to come.”

There you have it Thunder fans! I guess we wait for news about a possible Season 2. Congratulations to the 21 Thunder team for producing a superb program that reflects Canadian diversity and inclusion. A great metaphor for the beautiful game. I for one enjoyed tagging along for the ride.

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21 Thunder, Featured

21 Thunder: Betting on Eileen Li

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Eileen Li, who plays Lara on 21 Thunder, was incredibly busy last week with her TIFF schedule. Still, she found some time to answer a few questions—ahead of the show’s first season finale on CBC—about her character, Lara, and her experiences with the predominately male cast of 21 Thunder.

Lara is returning to a dark place that she had fought to distance herself. How is that darkness for you to play?
Eileen Li: It was quite liberating to explore that side of myself through playing Lara. I have a hard time being ‘the bad guy’ in my real life so it was great to play someone who knows what she wants and how to get it. It also taught me that everyone does everything out of place of need. It’s easy to peg Lara as just the bad girl, but there is a need and determination in her to survive and to make something of herself. I think we all can relate to that on some level. She’s definitely been the most complex character that I’ve been able to play.

How do you contrast your character with that of Nolan? You both come from pasts with criminal influences. He found his ‘good side’ through Emma, whereas your character attempted to find that through medicine. Pressures are threatening to pull Nolan under and he is essentially martyring himself to do the right thing, ending his relationship with Emma and pushing her away in order to keep her safe. Lara, on the other hand, is running with this darker side, resigning herself to this lifestyle. What are your thoughts on this as your character has developed?
I absolutely think that through Emma, Nolan was able to root himself into his ‘good side.’ I think that without her love and unwavering support, he would’ve had nothing ‘good’ to fight for. Behind every man is an even stronger woman, am I right? Lara, on the other hand, has been surrounded by nothing but bad influences and nothing to root herself in. She has an innate ability to manipulate and is often one step ahead of everyone. I think that’s why she ends up being fed up with these other guys running her show. She wants to break away because she’s convinced they need her more than she needs them.

How does Lara reconcile her desire to be a doctor, and the Hippocratic oath she will have to take—do no harm, etc.—with her role in this game fixing ring, particularly taking care of Desjardins?
For her, it’s all about being in survival mode. Like she says, ‘I’ve done things I’ve never thought I could do.’ It’s one of those things that she probably was always capable of, considering her family history, but it wasn’t until she was put in that situation, that she realized she could do really do it. What good is an oath if you’re dead? I think that’s basically what it comes down to.

As one of the few females who support a professional men’s team, how was that to live with as you went about shooting the series?
21 Thunder is very much about a men’s soccer team, but if you look at all the female characters in the show, there are all strong and intelligent women. I also think the show really highlights what it’s like to be a strong woman in a man’s world. In terms of shooting, these guys are the best group of guys you could ask for. They really are a team and the chemistry between all of us is evident on screen. We’ve all become very good friends, and that’s why this show has been particularly special to be a part of.

Can you tell fans a bit about yourself? Where you grew up? How you came to the business of acting? How you got this role?
I was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba. My parents emigrated over from China with my two older sisters, but we’ve lived most of our lives here in Toronto. I started taking an interest in acting back when I was in high school but because my parents valued academics, I went to university for kinesiology. Shortly after my first year, I realized I need to pursue my passion and the rest is history.

I was filming Kim’s Convenience last year when I got the call about 21 Thunder. I put myself on tape and eventually had a Skype callback with the producers and director. I thought for sure I didn’t get the part because it was three weeks later that I got the call. It was a surreal moment for me.

What about this role are you most proud of now that the season is wrapping up?
I feel most proud of representing a strong Asian woman on screen. Lara has been capable of holding her own in a room full of dangerous men. She’s smart and she’s a survivor. She may not be making the best choices in her life but there’s no denying that she’s powerful. I think that’s a portrayal of Asian women that we haven’t seen enough of.

My thanks to Eileen for squeezing me in for a few questions!

21 Thunder‘s season finale airs Monday at 9 p.m. on CBC.

 

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21 Thunder, Featured

21 Thunder: Together We Part

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The penultimate episode of 21 Thunder arrived, and delivered! This episode was all about preparing the players—and viewers—for the upcoming friendly against London, creating lots of tension and setting us up for what I am sure will be a great season finale.

The cold open quickly set the tone for the episode: Nolan ( RJ Fetherstonhaugh) put his father on notice: Declan (Colm Feore) “can go to hell,” Stefan (Stephan Arnaud) and Damien (Lucas Chartier-Dessert) exchanged blows over Marie (Kimberly Laferriere) and Junior (Emmanuel Kabongo) was determined to enlist the expertise of Joseph Bamba (Clauter Alexandre) in order to learn the truth about his brother Gregoire, despite knowing Bamba was once involved with Fatima (Gabrielle Graham). All of this set the stage for further tensions during the remainder of the episode.

On the field and off, players and staff tried to focus on the game but external distractions were at war with that goal.  The team needed to move on from the loss of captain and keeper Alex (Andres Joseph) and Nolan was unanimously elected as his replacement. But Coach Rocas (Conrad Pla), hindered by his wife’s departure, officially resigned leaving Christy Cook (Stephanie Bennett) to fill his shoes as head coach. A fortuitous by-product of this promotion? Fix the league’s “woman problem” that was created by Davey’s (Ryan Pierce) misogynistic vlogging. Still, uncertainty had the players on edge, so Christy had the team relieve some of their pressures with a fun match of bubble soccer. Unfortunately, followers of the team were not impressed by this latest turn and lashed out online. Stefan, ever the team philosopher, pointed out, “These people are not fans. They are fanatics. They don’t love the game. They want to own it.”

Meanwhile, the mystery behind the disappearance/death of his brother Gregoire continued to plague Junior. Bamba contacted Junior to advise he thought he found Isaac Boka (Ryan Allen)—the last known contact with Gregoire—and the two set out to confront him. Unfortunately for Junior, and I suppose Boka too, Isaac was found dead of what looked to Junior as suicide. Later we learned things were not as they seemed and by the episode’s end the police tracked down Bamba and took him in for questioning for the murder of one Isaac Boka.

That brought us to Nolan and his attempt to free Emma from any connection to Declan, even association through himself. But Declan, in a calculated and desperate move, contacted Emma on his own and showed her the video of Nolan, effectively making her an accessory to the crime. In order to ensure Emma’s safety, Nolan deliberately pushed Emma further away, denying his love for her, telling her their relationship was all a lie and all but demanded that she attend medical school in Dublin. Without Nolan in her life, Emma is safe from harm. Without Emma in his life, Nolan has nothing to lose. Together they part.

And as I had expected last week, Lara (Eileen Li) did indeed exploit Davey’s financial woes and coerced him to be her coach on the ground during the friendly. She fronted him 50k as a down payment to secure a loss by the Thunder. That left Davey torn with wanting to support Christy as head coach and getting himself out of trouble with the tax man. At any rate, with Nolan wanting to save Emma from Declan, and team owner Ana (Christina Rosato) refusing to investigate Christy’s suspicions about ref Desjardins (Trevor Hayes), it looked like Thunder’s match against London may well be headed for failure.

Not a great deal of actiony action this week but all of the odds and sods dished out created suspense and lots of possibilities for the season’s close.

Hopefully, the finale will address some final questions:

  1. The obvious: will Thunder beat London?
  2. Will Nolan’s efforts succeed in protecting Emma from Declan?
  3. Will Lara’s and Kevin’s canny plan to fix the match work?
  4. Will Junior—and viewers—ever learn the truth about Gregoire?

How do you think the season will end? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below.

21 Thunder airs Mondays at 9 p.m. on CBC.

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