VNU Entertainment News Wire (Online)
May 6, 2009 Wednesday

Egoyan serves up food for thought

by ANGELA DAWSON

HOLLYWOOD _ Atom Egoyan was nearing completion of production on
"Chloe" when he learned the devastating news about British actress
Natasha Richardson’s untimely death in a Quebec skiing
accident. Richardson was married to actor Liam Neeson, who stars in
the dramatic thriller. The Irish actor still had a few scenes to
complete and the tragedy left a cloud of uncertainty about Neeson’s
ability to return to Canada to do them. Just a couple weeks after his
wife’s fatal fall, though, Neeson returned and finished the job.

"There were some really emotional scenes he had to do," says Egoyan
admiringly. "It was unbelievable that he was able to be so
professional. He was really committed to finishing the film and it was
the only time he could have done it. He’s a professional and a great
actor."

Egoyan is now editing the film, which is due out later this
year. Meanwhile, the Canadian filmmaker is promoting "Adoration," his
12th feature film. It stars Rachel Blanchard, Scott Speedman, Devon
Bostick, Noam Jenkins and Arsinee Khanjian, his wife and muse, who
appears in all of his films.

The story revolves around Sabine (Khanjian), a high school French
teacher who gives her class an exercise based on a news story about a
terrorist who plants a bomb in his pregnant girlfriend’s airline
luggage. The assignment has a profound effect on Simon (Bostick), an
orphan who lives with his uncle (Speedman). In the course of
translating the assignment, the boy re-imagines the news item is his
own family’s story with the terrorist standing in for his
father. Turns out, his father was behind the wheel of the family car
when it crashed, killing both himself and his wife. Simon has always
suspected the accident was intentional, an idea fueled by his maternal
grandfather, who intensely disliked his son-in-law. When Simon puts
his story on the Internet, strangers start to believe it’s true,
creating chaos for Simon and his teacher. Meantime, a mysterious woman
starts showing up at Simon’s house, making things uncomfortable for
the boy and his overwhelmed uncle.

Egoyan, 48, says the film speaks to people’s connections with each
other, their family history, technology and the modern world. He
insists the drama is not anti-Internet or anti-technology, but merely
cautionary about how these communication tools are used in the modern
age.

"Any democracy or democratic process has to accommodate wildly
different views, and some of them are going to be absurd," the
filmmaker says. "Some will be given more credence than they should,
but if the alternative is to censor, then I think it becomes really
dangerous. You just have to know when to turn it off and not take it
seriously."

Egoyan, who directed the 1997 Oscar nominated drama, "The Sweet
Hereafter," was inspired to include the terrorist plot line in
"Adoration" from a news story in which a Jordanian man reportedly
talked his pregnant Irish girlfriend into boarding a passenger jet
after surreptitiously planting a bomb in her suitcase. The plot was
uncovered before the woman boarded, and the man was arrested and
jailed. As Egoyan was writing "Adoration," he was reminded of the
terrorist story because the man was up for parole at the time.

"He was completely unrepentant," Egoyan says. "That has to be the most
extreme example of someone who is evil."

Egoyan figured the incredible story would be just the type of fantasy
his teenage character, who has been raised to believe his father
intentionally killed his mother, would tap into.

Egoyan immediately thought of Blanchard, whom he had cast in his 2005
thriller "Where the Truth Lies," for the role of Rachel, Simon’s
mom. "There’s something ethereal about her," he says. "I sensed that
when we made ‘Where the Truth Lies.’"

He wasn’t so certain about Speedman, whom he initially thought was too
young for the role of Simon’s uncle. "It was written for an older
character, but he was insistent on auditioning for it and I was kind
of resistant," he recalls with a chuckle. "When we finally connected,
it was interesting to see his read and see how emotionally invested
that character was with a whole other dimension which I hadn’t really
anticipated."

Lanky and serious, Bostick previously had appeared on Canadian
television and in a few small movie roles when he was cast at 16 in
the pivotal role of Simon. "He was just this incredible gift, because
he looks so amazing," says Egoyan. "There was just a sincerity to him
which is rare and I didn’t want to make it too manufactured."

TKhanjian’s character of the teacher is complex and her actions
unpredictable. "She’s been obsessed with her ex-husband and maybe it’s
been out of her control for several years," he says cryptically. "Her
relationship with the boy reawakens all these feelings, and she begins
to realize she’s done the wrong thing, but she’s not a completely
stable character."

Egoyan, who made his first feature, "Next of Kin," in 1984, is
astonished he has just finished shooting his 13th feature film. Other
credits include "Family Viewing," "Speaking Parts," "Exotica" and his
very personal "Ararat," which delved into the Armenian genocide.

"It never seems particularly easier," he says of making independent
movies, which he usually writes, directs and produces himself.

"The independent film scene has evolved from when I started," he
says. "It wasn’t glamorous or what anyone else wanted to do, but now
it has so much attention paid to it. I don’t know if I would have been
able to have the career I’ve had in this current climate."

He thinks the mid-range independent films he is used to making may be
endangered, so he’s looking either to go bigger or perhaps make
smaller, less expensive films.

"The role of the filmmaker has changed radically, and I think it’s
time to reflect a little bit," he says.