Tag Archives: Jordan Gavaris

The Lake’s Julian Doucet: “I love production, putting together that world, anything that’s creating the sandbox”

They say, “Write what you know.” That’s exactly what Julian Doucet did.

The writer and producer for shows like Killjoys and Hudson & Rex turned to his own life for The Lake, available now on Prime Video. Starring Jordan Gavaris (Orphan Black), Madison Shamoun and Julia Stiles, The Lake tells the story of Justin (Gavaris) a man who has returned from living overseas after breaking up with his long-term partner. Hoping to reconnect with the biological daughter he gave up for adoption in his teens, he and Billie (Shamoun) head to cottage country for time on the lake from Justin’s youth.

We spoke to Julian Doucet, while he was attending the Banff World Media Festival, about bringing the story to life.

There’s the saying, ‘Write what you know.’ And in this case, that truly was the case for you with The Lake. Was it easy to write down these ideas and create these characters?
Julian Doucet:  Yeah, weirdly, it was. What was not easy is the 22 years prior to doing it. When people heard about my situation, they are always like, ‘You should write about it, you should write about it.’ But I didn’t 100 per cent feel that it was my story to tell because there’s also my daughter, her birth mother and her parents. It took a long time to get to a place where I thought, ‘Yes, write what you know, but also maybe not exploit it or pimp it out.’

I don’t know why this felt like the time, it sort of felt right. We had been taking vacations together since she was 16 and it was just something about that dynamic, which I had never seen before on television. And, somehow, when I started to write them, it was so easy once it was on the page, I couldn’t put the genie back in the bottle.

It was so easy to like these characters and the dialogue is so natural. Is it difficult to write dialogue? Is it partly the writing, and the performers that are making it so natural and relatable?
JD: I think it’s a combination of all. I started as an actor, so very much dialogue for me is rhythm, it’s music. I do feel like every character has their own rhythm, and then every actor has their own rhythm. When you get one actor that lines up with the rhythm of your character or how they’re going to transform it, that is gold. And with both Madison and Jordan and really our whole cast just kind of seamlessly fused with the flavour, the rhythms of each of the characters.

[Writing dialogue] is my favourite thing because it’s like a catchy tune and I do feel like we always try to find the words that get us there the most efficiently. I do think it’s probably not easy, but for me, it is the thing that I love.

Jordan did have funny moments on Orphan Black, but he’s so good with his physical comedy and body movement. What’s it been like working with him on The Lake?
JD: Amazing. Jordan just killed it, and we share weird chemistry. We kind of wonder, are we the same person, just separated by 12 years? We have most of the same anxieties. We both order the same coffee. We both collect weird plaid blankets without knowing. It’s just bananas, and we feel like we can’t spend too much time in the same place because the universe might collapse as we could be from the same person from different dimensions. He just knows the character and understands not only the huge need that Justin has but also the anxiety, the heart and the resilience that Justin has.

You are the showrunner, creator, writer and executive producer of The Lake. What’s your favourite hat to wear? What’s it been like show running your own program?
JD: I loved the writing. The writer’s room as always, that’s my happy place. Just creating, problem-solving, how imaginative and resilient writers are. They just astonish me every time. But I loved putting together the music. I loved the costumes, the look. I love production, putting together that world, anything that’s creating the sandbox.

The Lake is available for streaming on Prime Video now.

Images courtesy of Prime Video.

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Amazon Prime Video begins production on the first scripted Canadian Amazon original comedy series – The Lake

From a media release:

Amazon Prime Video today announced the start of production of the first scripted Canadian Amazon Original series, The Lake. Set in cottage country, the 30-minute episodic comedy will film in northern Ontario from August to September. The Lake stars Jordan Gavaris (Orphan Black), Julia Stiles (Hustlers, The Bourne Identity) and Madison Shamoun (#blackAF, Black-ish). The series will launch in 2022 and be available exclusively on Prime Video in more than 240 countries and territories worldwide.

The Lake centres on the quintessential Canadian cottage experience, and one man’s attempt to recreate his childhood memories in an effort to re-connect with his biological daughter. Produced by AMAZE and filmed in northern Ontario, the series taps into the family bonding, relaxing in nature and the peacefulness of cottage country then turns it on its head, with petty rivalry, strained relationships, day drinking, and mosquito-ravaged sunburns.

In The Lake, Justin (Jordan Gavaris) returns from living abroad after a break-up with his long-term partner, in the hope of reconnecting with the biological daughter that he gave up for adoption in his teens. His plans to create new memories with his city-loving daughter Billie (Madison Shamoun) at the idyllic lake from his childhood go awry when he finds out his father left the family cottage to his “picture-perfect” stepsister, Maisy-May (Julia Stiles). Additional cast include Jon Dore (Funny As Hell, Humour Resources), Carolyn Scott (Pushing Tin, Goosebumps), Natalie Lisinka (Orphan Black, The Expanse), Travis Nelson (Tucker and Dale vs Evil) and Declan Whaley (Criminal Minds).

The Lake is produced by AMAZE, with Michael Souther and Teza Lawrence serving as executive producers for AMAZE (Carter, Call Me Fitz), and is written and executive produced by Julian Doucet (Killjoys, St Nickel). The Lake comes from Amazon Studios and is part of Prime Video’s continued investment in Canada. The Lake is the fourth announced Canadian Amazon Original series following the revival of the sketch comedy The Kids in the Hall, docu-series All or Nothing: Toronto Maple Leafs, and comedy-variety series LOL: Last One Laughing Canada. Since 2015, Amazon Studios has filmed 24 Amazon Original series and films in Canada, including The Man in the High Castle and Upload in Vancouver, The Boys and The Expanse in Toronto, Tales from the Loop in Winnipeg, as well as parts of Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan and The Voyeurs in Montreal.

The Lake will join the thousands of TV shows and movies from Hollywood and worldwide in the Prime Video catalog including award-winning and critically acclaimed Amazon Originals like The Tomorrow War, The Underground Railroad, Borat: Subsequent Moviefilm, The Boys, Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan, and Emmy and Golden Globe award winners Fleabag and The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, all on Prime Video, which is available at no extra cost for Amazon Prime members.

Prime members will be able to watch all episodes of The Lake anywhere and anytime on the Prime Video app for smart TVs, mobile devices, Fire TV, Fire TV stick, Fire tablets, Apple TV and stream online.

Image courtesy of Peter Stranks.

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Orphan Black: The cast and creators say goodbye

This is it, Orphan Black fans. The last dance. The final farewell. Or, as the production sheets said during filming of Season 5: Swan Song. This Saturday at 10 p.m. ET on Space, that beloved club of clones returns to the small screen for the last 10 episodes.

Earlier this year, TV, Eh was among a handful of media who were invited to the set for a super-secret tour guided by co-creator John Fawcett (I’ve included some images in this story) , got up close and personal with the experts on hair, makeup and wardrobe and locked in a few precious moments with Fawcett and Graeme Manson and stars Tatiana Maslany, Kevin Hanchard, Maria Doyle Kennedy, Jordan Gavaris, Evelyne Brochu and Kristian Bruun.

Here are the answers we got to the queries we gave:

Co-creators John Fawcett and Graeme Manson
What are you most proud of when it comes to Orphan Black?
John Fawcett: There are so many things. I think I’m most proud of the fact that this was a show that shouldn’t have gotten made in the first place. Nobody wanted to make it and the show is a bit weird. What Graeme and I had in our brains was a mashup and I don’t think there was a lot of conviction from anyone. It was a ludicrous premise that we somehow made a believable place and garnered enough support from the media and from fans that we could keep the thing going for five seasons. It’s been a really, really wild journey. Graeme and I were new coming into this. Tatiana was new. We had all worked in the industry before but this was kind of our first show. It’s been life-changing.

Graeme Manson: We’re also all very proud of the fact we took this somewhat ludicrous sci-fi conceit, grounded it enough and imbued it with enough character that it became inspirational for so many young people, so many young women and that Tatiana and so many other women who work on the show kept the feminist themes of the show—identity, nature versus nurture, themes of diversity, inclusion—this is the fabric of the show and we were able to say important things on this crazy clone show. That’s something we’re all pretty proud of.

Did you always have the same final scene for the show in your heads from Episode 1 of Season 1?
John Fawcett: Graeme and I have had the same thing in our head from the very beginning. The process of making this show … there has been a very organic nature to it. Sometimes you absolutely know how things are going to go and often it doesn’t and it goes in a different direction. Our collaboration goes beyond just us. We have a much bigger collaboration because we have a very talented group of writers and really talented performers and we have a small family around us from the beginning and we’re very tight. The inspiration comes from all different directions. Things have altered, but have kind of stayed the same.

Season 5 will be a hair-raising ride

Jordan Gavaris and Maria Doyle Kennedy
Jordan, you said you grew up on Orphan Black. What did you learn about yourself as an actor and a person?
Jordan Gavaris: I learned I’m an activist. I learned that, if I wasn’t an actor I’d probably have gone to law school and probably working for the ACLU or in politics. What I learned more than anything is about the intersection between genders. I’ve been watching some very interesting artists over the years and the really, really great ones that everyone seems to celebrate culturally are these people who understood that gender is not real. David Bowie is a really good example. He got the intersection between masculinity and femininity, men and women. He figured out that women are great. And they always have been great. I’ve also learned a lot about leadership watching Tat. She moves through a business that is very much about aesthetic and it can be very oppressive. She is a unique paradigm when it comes to how she leads a set and there is a trickle down effect of her leadership. That perspective is what makes Orphan Black so unique. Her voice is in everything you see. Felix was such

Felix was such an exploration of all my feminine parts and I think it’s important to take the femininity to other characters that aren’t necessarily Felix or look like Felix or sound like Felix. They might be an attorney or doctor or whatever … I can bring what I discovered about my own feminity to them.

Are you taking anything from the set as a souvenir?
Jordan Gavaris: Oh yeah, I’ve gone full klepto. I’ve taken paintings, necklaces, cool pieces of costume. I’m stealing stuff.

Maria Doyle Kennedy: The only thing I want to take aside from my memories is this little wire bracelet. I think it’s the only thing I’ve had since Season 1 and I pretty much never take it off.

Kevin Hanchard
What are these final episodes going to be like for fans?

Kevin Hanchard: I don’t think we’re going for cheesy gotcha moments, it’s about the wonderful base and the wonderful story we’ve built and the tangents we’ve built from that. It’s time for the laser focus. It’s only 10 episodes, so it’s gotta go really quick. It builds to a head. I think fans will be happy.

Tatiana Maslany
Where did you put your Primetime Emmy?

Tatiana Maslany: My mom didn’t know it was in this box and she put a plant on top of it. It’s in a pretty chill zone.

Orphan Black airs Saturdays at 10 p.m. ET on Space.

Want to make Alison’s face lotion? Here’s the recipe!

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