Big News from Grand Rock

Last updated
Big News from Grand Rock
Directed byDaniel Perlmutter
Written byDaniel Perlmutter
Produced byMichael McNamara
Starring Ennis Esmer
Meredith MacNeill
Aaron Ashmore
CinematographySamy Inayeh
Edited byRoderick Deogrades
Music by Andre Ethier
Sandro Perri
Production
company
Markham Street Films
Distributed byCapital Motion Picture Group
Release date
  • September 18, 2014 (2014-09-18)(Cinéfest)
Running time
87 minutes
CountryCanada
LanguageEnglish

Big News from Grand Rock is a Canadian comedy film, directed by Daniel Perlmutter and released in 2014. [1]

Contents

The film stars Ennis Esmer as Leonard Crane, a journalist for the community newspaper in the small town of Grand Rock. Faced with declining readership and the threat of the paper being sold off by owner Stan (Gordon Pinsent), he tries to save the paper's fortunes by writing fabricated news stories inspired by old movies suggested to him by the owner of the local video rental store (Aaron Ashmore), which works until Lucy (Meredith MacNeill), a journalist from the big city, arrives to investigate after he turns the 1996 thriller Extreme Measures into a story about secret medical experiments being conducted in Grand Rock. [2]

The cast also includes Kristin Booth, Tammy Isbell and Peter Keleghan as colleagues of Leonard's at the paper, Leah Pinsent as Grand Rock's mayor Jane Davis, and Art Hindle, David Reale, Josette Halpert, Ryan Worthing, Lorna Wright, Darcy Gerhart, Darcy Campbell, Shauna Bailey and Joyce Cyr in supporting roles.

Production

The film was inspired by the case of Stephen Glass, an American journalist who lost his job in 1998 after it was determined that many of the articles he had written for The New Republic contained fabrications. [2]

Perlmutter first pitched the project in 2009 at the Toronto International Film Festival's Pitch This competition, which Esmer was hosting, and the screenplay was subsequently developed through the Telefilm Comedy Lab program at the Canadian Film Centre. [3] It entered production in fall 2013 in Midland, Ontario; [3] Esmer described the town as having been so accommodating that the municipal government intentionally dug a pothole in one of its streets because it was needed as a plot point in the film, while Perlmutter noted that over 100 people showed up when a call was sent out for local residents to appear in the film as extras. [1]

Distribution

The film premiered at the 2014 Cinéfest Sudbury International Film Festival. [4] It was commercially released in winter 2015. [1]

Critical response

Ken Eisner of The Georgia Straight wrote that "for his debut feature, writer-director Daniel Perlmutter keeps the proportions exactly right, balancing a steady stream of small laughs with a story that engages, mainly through the hearty efforts of actors all on the same page—Page One, you could say." [5]

Chris Knight of the National Post opined that "while the plot has a slightly by-the-numbers feel – a tepid rom-com angle is ill-advised and does nothing for the story – it gets a lot of mileage out of its kooky concept." He added that "it’s great to see Keleghan as an older, somehow less wise version of his character from CBC’s short-lived series The Newsroom ." [2]

Brad Wheeler of The Globe and Mail called the film "a straight-faced but screwball comedy that's a little dated – rotary-dial phones? – yet absolutely pleasing. Filmed in Midland, Ont., Daniel Perlmutter's quaint (and partly crowd-sourced) feature is 87 minutes of fun time, if a little clichéd in its depiction of village mentalities and humdrumness." [6]

Awards

The film received three Canadian Comedy Award nominations at the 16th Canadian Comedy Awards in 2015, for Best Film, Best Writing in a Film (Perlmutter) and Best Female Performance in a Film (McNeill). [7]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Greater Sudbury</span> City in Ontario, Canada

Sudbury, officially the City of Greater Sudbury, is the largest city in Northern Ontario by population, with a population of 166,004 at the 2021 Canadian Census. By land area, it is the largest in Ontario and the fifth largest in Canada. It is administratively a single-tier municipality and thus is not part of any district, county, or regional municipality. The City of Greater Sudbury is separate from, but entirely surrounded by the Sudbury District. The city is also referred to as "Grand Sudbury" among Francophones.

<i>Made in Canada</i> (TV series) Television series

Made in Canada is a Canadian television comedy which aired on CBC Television from 1998 to 2003. Rick Mercer starred as Richard Strong, an ambitious and amoral television producer working for a company which makes bad television shows. A dark satire about the Canadian television industry, the programme shifted into an episodic situation comedy format after its first season.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Peter Keleghan</span> Canadian actor and writer

Peter Keleghan is a Canadian actor and writer, perhaps best known for portraying Ben Bellow in the comedy series 18 to Life, Clark Claxton Sr. in the comedy series Billable Hours and Ranger Gord in The Red Green Show. Currently has a recurring role on Murdoch Mysteries as government agent/spy, Terrence Meyers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bruce McDonald (director)</span> Canadian film director, film producer and film editor

Bruce McDonald is a Canadian film and television director, writer, and producer. Born in Kingston, Ontario, he rose to prominence in the 1980s as part of the loosely-affiliated Toronto New Wave.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cinéfest Sudbury International Film Festival</span> Film festival in Sudbury, Ontario, Canada

Cinéfest Sudbury International Film Festival, also known as Cinéfest and Cinéfest Sudbury is an annual film festival in Greater Sudbury, Ontario, Canada, held over nine days each September. It is one of the largest film festivals in Canada.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Leah Pinsent</span> Canadian actress

Leah Pinsent is a Canadian television and film actress.

<i>Termini Station</i> (film) 1989 film by Allan King

Termini Station is a 1989 Canadian drama film directed by Allan King and written by Colleen Murphy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ennis Esmer</span> Turkish-Canadian actor and comedian

Ennis Esmer is a Turkish-Canadian actor, comedian, voice actor, writer, producer and presenter. He is best known for his roles as Osman 'Oz' Bey in The Listener, Kurtis 'Maz' Mazhari in Private Eyes, Nash in Red Oaks, and as Rich Dotcom in Blindspot – a role that was specifically written for him.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">B. P. Paquette</span>

Benjamin Patrick Paquette, commonly known as B. P. Paquette, is a Canadian film director, screenwriter, film producer and academic.

<i>The Woman of Ahhs: A Self-Portrait by Victoria Fleming</i> 2008 Canadian film

The Woman of Ahhs: A Self-Portrait by Victoria Fleming – also known as The Woman of Ahhs – is a 2008 Canadian dramatic comedy film directed by B. P. Paquette and starring Darryl Hunter, Holly O'Brien, and Stephanie Dixon. Set predominantly in Montreal, the film is a parody of The Wizard of Oz, and contains performances of original songs, including "Not Bad " by legendary bluesman Mel Brown (guitarist), wherein the lyrics comment upon and propel the narrative, as do a triad of contemporary dance performances by celebrated Cirque du Soleil choreographer Debra Brown. The Woman of Ahhs is the second panel in Paquette's triptych on "the psychology of romantic love," preceded by A Year in the Death of Jack Richards (2004), and followed by The Anonymous Rudy S. (2019).

<i>Perspective</i> (film series) 2012 Canadian film

Perspective is an episodic drama film from Canada written and directed by B. P. Paquette and starring Stéphane Paquette, Patricia Tedford, and Pandora Topp in a love triangle. The film is divided into nine chapters, shot over nine years, that span nine years in the lives of three characters named “Alex”. The nine chapters, titled, respectively, Chapter 1: Salt & Soda (2012), Chapter 2: Chris and Other Beards (2013), Chapter 3: Hush, hsuH (2014), Chapter 4: Reflecting (2015), Chapter 5: Triangulation (2016), Chapter 6: The Saddest Lines (2017), Chapter 7: Me, Myself, and I (2018), Chapter 8: Marital Accumulation (2019), and Chapter 9: The Shed of Theseus (2020) have been completed and presented exclusively at Cinéfest Sudbury International Film Festival as of 2020.

<i>Sex After Kids</i> 2013 film by Jeremy Lalonde

Sex After Kids is a 2013 Canadian comedy film written and directed by Jeremy Lalonde. The film features an ensemble cast, and depicts various ways in which adults struggle to reconcile their sex lives with the demands of parenthood.

<i>Dirty Singles</i> 2014 Canadian film

Dirty Singles is a 2014 Canadian romantic-comedy feature film written and directed by Alex Pugsley. The film was released by Video Services Corporation in Canada in September 2014 and was released in the United States in March 2016.

<i>Sharkwater Extinction</i> 2018 Canadian film

Sharkwater Extinction is a 2018 Canadian documentary film directed by Rob Stewart. It premiered at the 2018 Toronto International Film Festival. A sequel to his 2007 film Sharkwater, the film, which Stewart was working on at the time of his death in a diving accident in January 2017, was completed by the Rob Stewart Foundation in collaboration with director Sturla Gunnarsson and editor Nick Hector.

Little Brother is a Canadian short comedy film, directed by Rémi St-Michel and released in 2014. The film stars Étienne Galloy as Antoine, a troubled teenager who is spending the day having fun around the city with his Big Brother Julian before the latter's departure for Russia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gail Maurice</span> Canadian actor and writer

Gail Maurice is a Canadian actress, writer, and producer. She is most noted for her performances as the title character in the film Johnny Greyeyes, Dorothy Pine in the television series Cardinal, and Georgina in the television series Trickster.

Coopers' Camera is a 2008 Canadian comedy film, directed by Warren P. Sonoda. The film centres on the Coopers, a dysfunctional family who are recording their family Christmas in 1985 on their new video camera, only for the holiday to descend into chaos.

<i>Kicking Blood</i> 2021 Canadian horror comedy film

Kicking Blood is a 2021 Canadian horror comedy film directed and co-written by Blaine Thurier. The film stars Alanna Bale as Anna, a vampire who decides to try to quit her addiction to blood after meeting and falling in love with Robbie, a human recovering alcoholic.

<i>Portraits from a Fire</i> 2021 Canadian comedy-drama film

Portraits from a Fire is the first narrative feature film written and directed by a Tsilhqot'in filmmaker.

Doug and the Slugs and Me is a Canadian documentary film, directed by Teresa Alfeld and released in 2022. The film documents the history of the 1980s Canadian rock band Doug and the Slugs, jumping off from Alfeld's own childhood friendship with bandleader Doug Bennett's daughter Shea.

References

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.