If you haven't yet heard of Canadian wunderkind director Xavier Dolan, don't worry, you will. At 21 years old he's already written, directed and starred in two films -- "I Killed My Mother" and "Heartbeats" -- that have premiered at Cannes, with the former taking home three awards. In Canada, he is already becoming the nation's Pedro Almodovar and his films, while not masterpieces, are worth getting excited over because it's rare for a talent so young to be so ambitious out of the gate. If he wears his influences -- Godard, Truffaut, and yes Almodovar -- obviously, he also does so sincerely.
This spring his next film was announced as being "Laurence Anyways" with funding set to be coming from France. However, in an interesting twist, Dolan is crowdsourcing $28,000 to go towards production on the film, which according to his funding page, will begin in May of next year. No word yet on why the film, which was last said to be budgeted at around $6.5 million needs such a random sum of money. If we had to guess, we would wager that somehow Dolan was unable to secure funding from Canadian film agencies SODEC and TeleFilm Canada that he was applying for in August. In Canada, the government helps provide funding for the arts, but it should be noted that outside of some of the money for post-production on "I Killed My Mother," Dolan's films have been independently financed; he was a child actor and used a lot of his savings and credit cards to make 'Mother' while "Heartbeats" was financed be three anonymous investors.
Anyhow, the film is set in 1989, and will follow, "Laurence Alia, who is celebrating his 30th birthday with Fred, his girlfriend. Their world collapses when Laurence reveals his deepest desire: he wants to become a woman." The cast will include Monia Chokri ("Heartbeats"), Suzanne Clement ("I Killed My Mother") and Jacques Yves. No word yet if Louis Garrel ("La Belle Personne," "The Dreamers") -- linked in early talk surrounding the film and who made a cameo in "Heartbeats" -- is still on board. Dolan will not be taking a role in the film.
At any rate, it's an interesting development and as the film gears up for production, more updates are surely on the horizon.
Friday 8 October 2010
Canadian Wunderkind Director Xavier Dolan Is Crowdsourcing Financing For Next Film 'Laurence Anyways'
Posted on 06:23 by Unknown
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