So last night we attended a screening of “The Tracey Fragments,” at a Diesel event where director Bruce McDonald and Broken Social Scene-r Brendan Canning were at for a Q&A after the film (Canning’s stripped down version of the Social Scene wrote the film’s score; the soundtrack of which came out yesterday via ITunes).
More on the film in a review tomorrow, but the Q&A yielded some interesting tidbits: Namely that Rush’s high alto wailing singer Geddy Lee might be the person to thank for the film. It was Lee who first sent McDonald the ‘Fragments book as a gift and after he read it, he was inspired to make into a film.
But being that Canadian filmmakers are generally broke, the canny McDonald sent author Maureen Medved a pair as his cowboy boots as his way of saying he wanted the rights to the book. Charmed, she agreed and even penned the screenplay for the film (her first and she “wasn’t precious about adapting her own material,” the director said)
The movie stars Ellen Page, but anyone who thinks they scored the star to capitalize off of “Juno,” would be wrong. ‘Tracey’ was shot way before that phenom-film hit and it was Page’s performance in “Hard Candy” that impressed director – that and her love for Patti Smith.
“I was impressed that someone so young would be into her. That pretty much secured her the part,” McDonald recalled of the casting meeting.
When asked how Broken Social Scene became involved in the film’s score Canning was to the point. “Bruce called and we said yes” (the band and director have a friendship that dates back a few years and projects now). When asked what their scoring process was Canning said it wasn’t rocket science. “We watched it, toured, gestated on it, watched it again and tried to compose for it.”
He joked that people aren’t exactly ringing their phone off the hook with score requests (young filmmakers take note!) “Yeah, we were up for “There Will Be Blood,” it was either us or Jonny Greenwood,” he joked. “We take take the offers we like, were good at bleakness so we tend to get offers in that vein.”
And as for the film’s talked-about experimental editing approach – a fragmented, Mondrian-like splitscreen technique that at times sometimes jarring, effective and obnoxious?
McDonald said that it was an indeed an “cubist-like” experiment to see if they could make the film stand out from other indies and to try and convey that splintered psyche of the protagonist. The author Medved fucking hated it at first. “She wouldn’t take my calls. She was shocked and horrified at first,” he laughed.
Like a lot of McDonald projects, the editing was rock n’ roll at the end of the day t. “People add their parts, it’s construction and deconstruction. It was like a rehearsal jam with lots of fucking around.”
“The Tracey Fragements” opens up this Friday, May 9 in limited release. Oh yeah, McDonald told us that he’s working on a horror film next. By that point, we were too drunk to ask details.