> SFU wrestlers score roles in new feature film
SFU wrestlers score roles in new feature film
Contact:
Meaghan Cochrane, film publicist, 604.623.3369 (ext. 101), meaghan@insightfilm.com
Carol Thorbes, PAMR, 778.782.3035, cthorbes@sfu.ca
Scott McLean, 604.505.5519 (cell), srmclean@sfu.ca
Meaghan Cochrane, film publicist, 604.623.3369 (ext. 101), meaghan@insightfilm.com
Carol Thorbes, PAMR, 778.782.3035, cthorbes@sfu.ca
Scott McLean, 604.505.5519 (cell), srmclean@sfu.ca
November 30, 2007
Simon Fraser University wrestlers are winning accolades from the supervising producer of a new movie being shot at the university’s Burnaby campus.
Personal Effects, a drama about people reconstructing their lives after personal loss, features major stars — Michelle Pfeiffer, Ashton Kutcher and Kathy Bates — but Raymond Massey says SFU wrestlers deserve applause.
“These guys have been instrumental in helping us to train our guys as wrestlers, create competition sequences and act like real wrestlers,” says Massey, a 1983 SFU business grad turned television and film producer. The North Vancouver resident is also the son of Geoffrey Massey, who co-designed the original SFU campus buildings with architect Arthur Erickson.
SFU draws big movie card in ring
Walter (Kutcher) and Linda (Pfeiffer) meet outside a courtroom where trials are underway for the murder of their loved ones. The rape/murder of Walter’s sister has interrupted his wrestling career. Gloria (Bates) plays Walter’s mother. Linda has a teenaged deaf son, Clay, played by Spencer Hudson, a 17-year-old deaf Burnaby South Secondary student, who is having difficulty adjusting after his father has been shot to death. Hudson has no acting experience and this is his and Kutcher’s first wrestling gig.
SFU assistant wrestling coach Justin Abdou plays a referee who names Clay the winner of a final high school tournament round in which SFU wrestler Stephen Dunlop plays the opponent. Abdou is an 1995 SFU business grad. Vancouver is doubling as Pittsburgh, the setting of the movie, which is produced by Insight Films, a Vancouver-based company. Ten SFU varsity and alumni wrestlers are extras in the movie. SFU’s Central Gym and combatives room are doubling as competition venues at Ohio State University, world renowned for its wrestling program.
“In a flashback scene, we’re recreating Ohio State University’s wrestling venue on the floor of SFU’s Central gym,” says Massey, who has produced more than 20 feature length films. “Director David Hollander did his homework and knew before coming here that SFU has a top-notch wrestling program and that’s why we’re here.”
Star venues at SFU
SFU’s Halpern Centre has been transformed into a courtroom. A hallway in the new Arts and Social Sciences Centre (ASSC1), serving as a hall outside the courtroom, is where Walter and Linda meet. The shoot is extremely nostalgic for Massey who says ASSC1, SFU’s latest addition, is much more light infused than his dad’s and Erickson’s original design.
“Because there’s so much window space in here we’ve had to put up 12-18k lights to cancel out the existing light,” says Massey. “This enables us to have consistent lighting during 12 hour shoots. We actually only have eight hours of natural daylight in the fall.”
Massey’s other challenge is steering ASSC1 students around all of the shooting. “I saw one girl coming out of a class exclaim ‘Oh my God that’s Ashton,’ as we were wrapping up a scene,” says Massey who has his own star-struck tale to tell.
Close encounters on the movie set
Twelve years ago, he and his wife, kinesiology grad and now SFU lecturer, Anne-Kristina Arnold, had played the “who would you date if you could date anybody game?”
Massey remembers with a sly smile, “I had said Michelle Pfeiffer.”
After Nov. 30, shooting for Personal Effects will continue in the Vancouver area until January 15th. There’ll be one more day of shooting at SFU on January 15.
(electronic photo file available on request)
Personal Effects, a drama about people reconstructing their lives after personal loss, features major stars — Michelle Pfeiffer, Ashton Kutcher and Kathy Bates — but Raymond Massey says SFU wrestlers deserve applause.
“These guys have been instrumental in helping us to train our guys as wrestlers, create competition sequences and act like real wrestlers,” says Massey, a 1983 SFU business grad turned television and film producer. The North Vancouver resident is also the son of Geoffrey Massey, who co-designed the original SFU campus buildings with architect Arthur Erickson.
SFU draws big movie card in ring
Walter (Kutcher) and Linda (Pfeiffer) meet outside a courtroom where trials are underway for the murder of their loved ones. The rape/murder of Walter’s sister has interrupted his wrestling career. Gloria (Bates) plays Walter’s mother. Linda has a teenaged deaf son, Clay, played by Spencer Hudson, a 17-year-old deaf Burnaby South Secondary student, who is having difficulty adjusting after his father has been shot to death. Hudson has no acting experience and this is his and Kutcher’s first wrestling gig.
SFU assistant wrestling coach Justin Abdou plays a referee who names Clay the winner of a final high school tournament round in which SFU wrestler Stephen Dunlop plays the opponent. Abdou is an 1995 SFU business grad. Vancouver is doubling as Pittsburgh, the setting of the movie, which is produced by Insight Films, a Vancouver-based company. Ten SFU varsity and alumni wrestlers are extras in the movie. SFU’s Central Gym and combatives room are doubling as competition venues at Ohio State University, world renowned for its wrestling program.
“In a flashback scene, we’re recreating Ohio State University’s wrestling venue on the floor of SFU’s Central gym,” says Massey, who has produced more than 20 feature length films. “Director David Hollander did his homework and knew before coming here that SFU has a top-notch wrestling program and that’s why we’re here.”
Star venues at SFU
SFU’s Halpern Centre has been transformed into a courtroom. A hallway in the new Arts and Social Sciences Centre (ASSC1), serving as a hall outside the courtroom, is where Walter and Linda meet. The shoot is extremely nostalgic for Massey who says ASSC1, SFU’s latest addition, is much more light infused than his dad’s and Erickson’s original design.
“Because there’s so much window space in here we’ve had to put up 12-18k lights to cancel out the existing light,” says Massey. “This enables us to have consistent lighting during 12 hour shoots. We actually only have eight hours of natural daylight in the fall.”
Massey’s other challenge is steering ASSC1 students around all of the shooting. “I saw one girl coming out of a class exclaim ‘Oh my God that’s Ashton,’ as we were wrapping up a scene,” says Massey who has his own star-struck tale to tell.
Close encounters on the movie set
Twelve years ago, he and his wife, kinesiology grad and now SFU lecturer, Anne-Kristina Arnold, had played the “who would you date if you could date anybody game?”
Massey remembers with a sly smile, “I had said Michelle Pfeiffer.”
After Nov. 30, shooting for Personal Effects will continue in the Vancouver area until January 15th. There’ll be one more day of shooting at SFU on January 15.
(electronic photo file available on request)