Butler Brothers (filmmakers)

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Brett M. Butler and Jason G. Butler, known together professionally as the Butler Brothers, are Canadian film directors, writers and producers. They are known for darkly funny, character driven movies, [1] including First Round Down , Mourning Has Broken , and Confusions of an Unmarried Couple. The pair have been collaborating since 2005 and have also co-produced feature films from other writer/directors including Love in the Sixth by Jude Klassen and The Notorious Newman Brothers by Ryan Noel, which they also starred in.

Contents

Early lives

The Butler Brothers were born and primarily raised in Toronto, Ontario, by their parents, Robert and Barbara (née MacPherson). They both graduated from Earl Haig Secondary School in Toronto. Jason attended Laurentian University and Brett enrolled at Carleton University.

Career

Opting out of his final year at Carleton, Brett moved back to Toronto and began working on a script with Jason that would eventually become their first feature film, Alive and Lubricated. Shot with a shoestring budget on 16mm film, it was a crash course in indie filmmaking for the Butlers who wrote, produced, directed, acted and edited the film. The Butlers quickly began production on their second feature, Bums, once again sharing duties as writer, producer, director and editor, eventually releasing both films independently. With two actors (one being Brett) and no budget the Butlers shot their third feature, Confusions of an Unmarried Couple, a story revolving around a former couple debating whether or not they should get back together - it was a critical success. [2] In 2012 the Butlers were among thirty-five filmmakers that submitted to the $1K Film Challenge created by independent filmmaker Ingrid Veninger. [3] Their pitch was one of five that were selected for production. With a budget of $1,000 it became their fourth feature, Mourning Has Broken. [4] Around that same time the Butlers starred in the debut feature by Ryan Noel, The Notorious Newman Brothers, which they also co-wrote and produced with Noel. In 2016 the Butler Brothers released their fifth feature film, First Round Down , an action-comedy starring Dylan Bruce. [5] All five of their films have been produced under their film production company banner, Substance Production and are known as "Butler Brother Brews".

In 2015 the Butlers co-produced, edited and had supporting roles in Jude Klassen's debut feature film, Love in the Sixth.

Filmography

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Mourning Has Broken is a 2013 Canadian dark comedy film written and directed by the Butler Brothers. The film stars Robert Nolan as a man who wakes up to find that his ailing wife, laying beside him in bed, has died in the middle of night. After finally getting out of bed the husband proceeds to go about the day as if nothing has happened, systematically going through his 'to-do' list that was left on the fridge for him by his wife. As the husband attempts to complete the tasks, his interactions with various people and things along the way become increasingly aggressive, often in a darkly funny manner. As he completes his list it becomes very clear that he is not coping with the loss of his wife very well at all, becoming emotionally unhinged, resulting in him taking his own life at the end.

References

  1. ↑ CAWSEY, HANNAH. "Toronto based Butler brothers tackle themes of life and death with low budget film". Calgary Journal Online. Retrieved 2019-04-03.
  2. ↑ Confusions of an Unmarried Couple (2009) , retrieved 2019-04-09
  3. ↑ "1K Wave: Can a great film be made for $1,000? Ingrid Veninger thinks so" . Retrieved 2019-04-09.
  4. ↑ "Projections: Mourning Has Broken, a dark Toronto comedy | The Star". thestar.com. Retrieved 2019-04-09.
  5. ↑ Trapunski, Charles (2017-04-19). "Interview: First Round Down's Butler Brothers". Brief Take. Retrieved 2019-04-09.
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