REELSIDE: Hunting with Don (and Bruce and Matt)

REELSIDE Episode 105: Don McKellar and Bruce McDonald

REELSIDE is a six-part documentary series that explores the creative process with Canadian filmmakers and actors. Follow them as they tell their stories every Thursday on TMN. We covered the first four episodes during the east coast air dates in the early summer and now we’re back with the last—and arguable best—two episodes for the west coast air dates. Because west is best. And we like rhymes. 

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There’s something magical about a road trip movie. Probably because there’s something magical about road trips. And a road trip with Don McKellar and Bruce McDonald? That’s pretty much the pinnacle of magic right there. If it were a ride at Disney World—er, Canada’s Wonderland—the queue would be hours long.

That’s because McKellar and McDonald rank as two of Canada’s most iconic filmmakers. Even if you aren’t familiar with either of them (or McDonald’s cowboy hat) you can’t help but get sucked into this strange little romp through Ontario. There’s an RV! Weapons advice for a zombie apocalypse! Shooting at things! And a giant nickel! Basically it’s the best time ever and you’ve been invited along for the ride, you lucky duck.

At the start of the trip, McKellar talks about how road trip movies always have a sense of motion and they’re not necessarily about where you’re going but rather a sense of discovery. He’s simultaneously describing the movies he’s made with McDonald and the very episode of REELSIDE they are both in. Meta, guys. Metttaaaaaaaaa. Director Matt Hannam also wanted to create something special with two filmmakers who have meant a lot to him throughout his career.

This sincerity really shows through in the episode, even when Matt is more or less kidnapping these two icons and making them handle weaponry. Did you know you could force someone to go hunting in a sincere way? Welcome to Canada. The episode is fun and a bit wild, yet cozy and familiar—just like a, you guessed it, road trip. McKellar and McDonald discuss their careers, the current and past states of filmmaking in Canada, their friendship and working relationship, and eventually they both fight a bear. Seriously.

Basically, if you have the chance to drag your heroes on a crazy hunting trip in Northern Ontario, you should always take it. (Unfortunately I could never do this with my hero because I don’t think Ikea Monkey, or monkeys in general, could handle weaponry.)

GeekPr0n: How did you get involved with the REELSIDE series?

Matthew Hannam: There was a previous version of this show called Rawside and I edited and co-directed episodes of that. Then when they got this together they called me to ask if I’d be willing to edit some of them and I said, “Totally, but also do you think I could direct one?” And they said, “Well what would you do?” I said, “Well, I don’t know I could do something like “Hunting with Don.” …Do you know Fishing with John? It was on HBO in the 90s and it was sort of this insane documentary. My pitch was just an idea based on that…like, I just said it.  And then I had to ask Don if he would do it.

GP: How organic was that? He was very resistant to the whole idea, but I couldn’t tell if it was put on for the episode. It was delightful and I loved it–super amazing and awkward.

MH: It took me over a year to get him to do it. It wasn’t what I originally set out to do and then I finally realized that I had to submit to whatever it was going to be. He’s a close friend so I knew it would be fun and I thought I would add Bruce…

GP: If one has the opportunity to add Bruce McDonald to things it can’t be passed up.

MH: The basic idea for what I wanted to do was make an homage to these guys that I love in the spirit of the films that they had made.

GP: I loved it. What does Don say about road trip movies in it? The person sets out and either they like where they got to or they don’t? And he begrudgingly went on this trip and shot at things—he was a pretty good shot though. Was that the first arrow he ever shot?

MH: Yeah, that was all real.

GP: That was amazing. And also I could see the spark in his eyes—he liked it. [laughs]

MH: They all liked it. [laughs]

GP: I keep jumping back and forth between my favourite REELSIDE because they’re all so different. You guys were all telling very unique stories—still the same story essentially: how do we work, how do we create things. But they’re all radically different.

MH: They’re all really different. I’m an editor and my take on it was to make a kind of meta-narrative. The whole movie was a take on their first movie, right [Roadkill]. We had the similar RV and we went on the same road trip—

GP: Yeah, to the big nickel! [It’s a big nickel.]

MH: Yeah and all that stuff! I thought it was a funny take on a sort of time capsule of their lives.

GP: I loved the montage of weapon playing in the store. Were the employees terrified to give you any weapons?

MH: That was really uncomfortable. You have to keep it fresh somehow so I didn’t tell them anything that we were doing. Well, Don knew a little bit but Bruce knew nothing.

GP: Oh, he went along really well.

MH: That’s the beauty of both of them and it’s also is a lot about who they are. Don is a more analytical and Bruce just goes with the flow.

GP: I loved the reaction when you asked, “What about bears? Is it bear season?” And he’s just all, “Whoa, wait a minute…No.” You have to draw the line somewhere and he draws it at bears.

MH: That’s what I promised in the pitch, that we would go bear hunting. But I didn’t know when the season was and I only had this one weekend to shoot it.

GP: The local you stumbled upon, who showed you Crown Land and where to shoot, he was awesome.

MH: He was pretty legit. [laughs]

GP: I now know a lot about hunting regulations from this episode. I feel prepped to go out there and shoot things and not get fined.

MH: You’re not going to get in trouble.

GP: Yeah, I know things now. So, what’s your favourite road trip?

MH: When I moved from Winnipeg to Toronto I decided that we had to drive it to actually, really experience it. That was a very epic road trip that began in sort of a frantic hurry and ended in a car accident. It’s kind of harrowing driving through that part of the country. I almost got beat up in Thunder Bay.

GP: My brother’s done road trips from here [Toronto] to Vancouver and he says the saddest part is getting all the way to Thunder Bay and realizing you’re STILL in Ontario and there’s still so much more left to go.

MH: It’s so big. I did the train from Vancouver to Winnipeg once. I’ve ever been more east than Montreal, which is sort of sad.

GP: You’ve gotta go to St John’s. That’s where all the best Canadians are. Newfoundlanders are the best. [Full disclosure: the author’s family hails from Newfoundland so if this wasn’t a fact it would be bias.] Speaking of, Don had a movie come out recently based in Newfoundland—The Grand Seduction. I took my mum to see that! It was great! And unfortunately it’s the only McKellar movie I’ve seen. But watching all of these REELSIDE episodes has really inspired me and I’ve got this awesome list of cool Canadian things to see now.

MH: I think that’s because the defining quality of the Fifth Ground guys [production team behind REELSIDE] and the people who made these is that we’re all fans. There’s a certain fan attitude with the series.

GP: Someone said this in another episode that Canadian film ends up being very genre. Canadian filmmakers aren’t just making films, they’re making very specific films and I kind of agree with that. What do you think about that?

MH: It’s partially something that I was trying to address by making this meta road trip with a director trying to use two other directors to generate his own career. I think we have a lot of problems in this country in wanting to separately be original and different but also having to emulate in order to fit in. There is no money to make the same movies that they make in America. So I think we’re trying to be weird and to trying to be different because it’s all that we’ve got. Genre is a way to get an audience. For example, sci-fi fans in my experience don’t care as much about the glitz. They want a unique story, they want something they haven’t seen before, or an honourable version of something they want. There are fans in science fiction; there aren’t fans in drama.

GP: I really hope REELSIDE continues because we need to celebrate our Canadian filmmakers and our Canadian talent.

MH: I have this memory of my first time at Sundance meeting a guy who was a massive Guy Maddin fan and I was just so amazed at how it was exotic to him. It’s the same as us seeing a crazy French film or something. We are foreign films. I think in some ways accepting that and executing that, or I guess embracing it when making our films different is interesting to me.

GP: That’s a good mindset. I would never consider Canadian films “foreign” but we would probably make better films if we thought of ourselves as a foreign country from the US and just did our own thing. Last few questions—I’ve been asking everyone these ones—if you could do another REELSIDE what would you do?

MH: I don’t know, hm. The other one that I pitched was an iowaska trip, which I think would be interesting.

GP: What’s iowaksa?

MH: It’s like peyote—

GP: Ohhh, ohhhh. That kind of “trip.”

MH: We [Don, Bruce and I] have a relationship, which has a certain amount of trust. I intentionally broke that trust over and over again in order to create a more amusing story. I think that you have to earn that, which is the advantage I had, and why I chose to make a film with friends. If you don’t trust the person who is interviewing you there is a second layer that you need to get through. So I think I would want to do it with someone that I know. I have a lot of friends that I admire. I think Guy Maddin would be a pretty amazing subject. Maybe “Whale Watching with Guy.”

GP: I’d be so into that. We’ve been talking a lot about Canada—I think the most in this interview than anyone else. I want to know some Canadian movies or directors you’d recommend.

MH: Everyone knows about him now, but I love the older Denis Villeneuve films. Maelstrom is a movie that changed my life.  My favourite Canadian director right now is Maxime Giroux. He made a film that was at festivals last year called Felix and Meira and before that a film called Jo pour Jonathan, which is amazing. I love Tu Dors Nicole; Stéphane Lafleur is an amazing filmmaker.

GP: This is all secretly a way for me to find more movies to watch.

MH: Sure! There’s a lot of great Canadian films. Those are the guys that I would consider myself a “fan” of. I love seeing what’s happening right now in Canadian cinema. There was a film two years ago called The Dirties. Those guys just made a new movie and I’m really excited to see it.

GP: Last question: who’s your favourite Batman?—

MH: —Michal Keaton.

GP: Thank you! That was so quick.

MH: And I told him in person once.

GP: YOU TOLD HIM?!

MH: I saw him in an airport bar and I worked myself up and went over—Tim Burton’s Batman is my favourite movie—and I went over and I said, “Are you who I think you are?” And he said, [gravely Batman voice] “Probably.” Because that’s what his voice sounds like. And I said, “You’re the best Batman” and he didn’t care. And I left.

GP: That’s a beautiful story.

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The Don McKellar + Bruce McDonald episode of REELSIDE airs this Thursday for the west coast/best coast, October 1st, at 9pm MT/8pm PT on TMN. Don’t be a goober and miss it now, ya hear? (For all you in Eastern Canada, REELSIDE is on demand right now so what are you waiting for?!) And read the rest of our interviews here: Episode 2: George A Romero, Episode 3: Evan Goldberg, Episode 4: Sci-Fi. 

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