Preview
FALLING ANGELS
Starring Miranda Richardson, Callum Keith Rennie and Katharine Isabelle
Directed by Scott Smith
Calgary International Film Festival
October 1 and 4
Uptown Screen
Excitement. Lineups. Chaos.
As the Calgary International Film Festival enters its second weekend, cinephiles know what to expect. The Calgary festival may have grown, but it’s still the new kid on the block when compared to an event like the Toronto International Film Festival. If you think trying to make all the screenings on time is stressful, imagine what it is like for those with films in submission. According to actress Katharine Isabelle, who appeared in two films showing in the Toronto festival, we have no idea.
"It was crazy," she says. "There was no time to hide. It was nine in the morning until 11 at night with all the parties. It just sucks the life blood out of you."
Not that Isabelle had any time to attend those parties. The glitz and glamour quickly faded away and the festival became a full-time job.
"I couldn’t go out at night. I had to be in bed by 9:30 or else I wasn’t going to make it through the next day," she says. "I think for a good week-and-a-half after the festival my eyes were shocked open and I walked around in a daze – just not quite there. It’s just a shocking experience."
Isabelle is no stranger to the festival circuit. Locals may remember her as the title character in Robert Cuffley’s debut film Turning Paige, which screened in Calgary two years ago. Horror fans will be more familiar with her work in Gingersnaps and Freddy vs. Jason, and those with more mainstream tastes will remember her opposite Al Pacino in Insomnia. It’s that versatility that has made Isabelle the commodity that she is and explains why she has not just one, but two films currently on the festival circuit.
"This year in the Toronto film festival I had two films, so I was going back and forth between both of them and it was crazy. I wasn’t sleeping, I wasn’t eating. I felt like I was at boot camp. Everyone was asking if I had seen any of the festival movies and I barely had time to buy a ticket for my own."
The two films in question are On The Corner, Nathaniel Geary’s gritty drama about addicts on Vancouver’s east side, and a period exploration of family dysfunction called Falling Angels, directed by Scott Smith. Both films capitalize on Isabelle’s trademark brand of teen discontent, yet both offer two extremes of that particular character profile. Though she had to tackle both roles back-to-back, Isabelle says it’s something that comes naturally.
"I’m not a very good ‘actor’ actor. I don’t do research. I just sort of throw myself into it and wing it," she says. "I have always been kind of adaptable that way. If you put me in an environment I’ll adapt to whatever I need to be."
This versatility enables her to move not only from role to role but from Canadian indie films to big-budget Hollywood fare. Working out of her base in Vancouver, she has had the opportunity to do both. Isabelle admits that making money is nice, but overall she prefers the underdog nature of the independents.
"They’re always a lot of fun because everybody there wants to be there. (They’re) doing it because they want to do it, not because they are trying to pay the bills.
"It’s fun to do the big-budget things and have fancy caterers lots of cool clothes and big trailers, but I have always had more fun when I am freezing my butt off in Saskatchewan or Moncton or something."
Given the critical buzz that surrounds both films in which Isabelle co-stars, it appears that fun isn’t the only beneficial side effect of her work. Her filmography continues to grow, so it looks like it won’t be long until she’s back to boot camp on the festival circuit, missing films and sleeping through parties. |
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