People have email me and asked, “Tony, why did you go to Montreal and what’s it like?” Well, I went there to discuss a screenplay I wrote with my producer/actor friend. Montreal and Quebec are kind of like Western Pennsylvania in French.
All the signs are French, so the stores have strange names like “Couche Tard”. I assumed that meant it sold couches made by retarded people, but it turned out that it meant “Sleep Late” in French and the store was the all nite mini-mart. I learned a little French so I could ask for the important things “tae glasse son sucrave sivouplay” “iced tea unsweetened please”. Alas, like the south, they only had the sugary kind. However, most people seemed to speak English and the rude French stereotype did not seem to pan out.
I guess it’s because Canada is so small. Even the major cities don’t seem that scary. On the street, I was checking out this girl who walked by while I was standing around with two associates. Out of the blue, a total stranger who happened to be walking by chimed in with “She’s nice, huh?” Like he was a friend of ours sharing a joke.
People get shot more often since I last visited Toronto to the west. The news said three people got shot when I was there. No one died and no one else got shot while I was up there. Our money is equal to Canada’s now, so the exchange rate really wasn’t much of a problem. (Actually, US dollars are a little ahead, but it wasn’t worth changing out my money for a few cents.)
I saw one of the highest grossing Canadian movies while I was there. It was called “Bon Cop, Bad Cop”. It’s about a cop from French Quebec teaming up with a White bread English cop from Toronto to solve a murder that happens on their border. It also ties in with hockey. It was a little too inside and the French jokes didn’t translate. Also, I know little of hockey. Still, it was pretty watchable, even if the buddy-cop formula is a little tiring.
I also met Bernie Haim, Corey Haim’s dad. Nice guy. I wouldn’t want to print anything he said about his son here because he’s very protective of him and some of the stuff he shared was pretty personal. But he did mention he’ll be on the Two Corey’s in an upcoming episode and it sounds like Corey is getting his career back on track. I’ll have to check that show out. Apparently, it’s the thing to watch if you’re in L.A.
Anyhow, without giving away too much, the trip to Montreal was a great success and I learned a lot about making low budget movies. I’ll be tweaking my screenplay this week, while my partner writes up a business plan. We’re hoping to get financing for next year. Keep your fingers crossed bros!
