Posts (page 2)
I went back to the broadcasters and re-pitched “Road to Avonlea” as an expanded series based on my ideal ensemble cast. Then I employed the characters from two later Montgomery’s books about her childhood memories of P.E. Island. “The Story Girl” and “The Golden Road” became the framework for a prime-time hour-long family drama where I re-established L.M. Montgomery’s “King Family” in the town of Avonlea. Two volumes of short stories “Chronicles of Avonlea” became the springboard to suggest story concepts, as well as additional characters and events that took place in the fictional town. Thematically and visually “Road to Avonlea” began to re-create L.M. Montgomery’s dream world of PEI on paper. However for my team of writers and I it was an opportunity to write for some of Canada’s most remarkable performers. We embarked on an adventure that spanned 91 episodes in which the likes of Gus Pike, Blair Stanley, Louisa Banks, Simon Tremayne and The Pettibone Family were conceived. The show became an actor’s ‘tour de force’ and began attracting big stars such as Faye Dunaway, Diane Weist, Madeline Kahn, Ned Beatty, Peter Coyote, Stockard Channing, Christopher Reeves and Christopher Lloyd (winning an Emmy for his performance) in a cavalcade of delicious guest roles penned by my creative team and me.
All of this talent spawned a revival of interest in the works of L.M. Montgomery, mass tourism to picturesque PE Island, over 50 international television awards, including 3 Emmys and 4 Cable Ace Awards including Best Television Series and drew millions of loyal viewers from Iran to Iceland who surrendered to the abundant charm of Avonlea’s lush settings and genuine characters. Our goal was always to entertain, but along the way each of us got caught up in using this vehicle as an opportunity to tell the audience something about themselves. Why family, community and traditions are important to every culture; and most particularly how the foibles of the human condition shape and change all of us. Rich or poor, cruel or kind; all our lives are intertwined because of our humanity.
I had just completed writing and directing two new movies for The Disney Channel and CBC in the spring of 1989. My thoughts were far away from the idyllic, small-town world of Edwardian Prince Edward Island, which I had brought to the screen in two sumptuously filmed versions of “Anne of Green Gables”. A good friend had challenged me, saying, “No one has ever made a long-running television hit out of a classic novel. You have all the style and experience, why not serialize ‘Anne’?” I wasn’t interested. I felt I was done with bringing Canadian author L.M. Montgomery’s works to the screen. Even when executives from CBC and Disney pitched me on the same notion, I responded by saying “no” once again. I felt there just wasn’t enough story material left in the Anne books to bother and I was uncertain about developing a long-run series on the shoulders of a single character.
Thespian actress Colleen Dewhurst had fallen in love with her role as “Marilla Cuthbert” in “Anne of Green Gables” though. She too had asked me to consider a series. Dewhurst sparked the ignition. Always mindful of great actors in great roles, it occurred to me that if I were able to assemble a really marvelous ensemble of my favorite performers for a long-running television vehicle, it could provide me the opportunity to write wonderful material specifically for them. I rambled through some of L.M. Montgomery’s little known books and short stories. In my mind I began to draw together a parade of characters that might have inhabited the world that “Anne Shirley” had lived in. I saw an occasion to have many of my favorite supporting characters and actors from the “Anne” mini-series reprise their original roles or be given the opportunity to shine in even meatier ones. I began calling on actors like Patricia Hamilton, Jackie Burroughs, Mag Ruffman, Cedric Smith, Rosemary Dunsmore and Marilyn Lightstone who had all appeared in “Green Gables” and were keen to return to Sullivan’s Edwardian fantasy.
I think people are fascinated with Anne of Green Gables because she was a woman out of her time the same way L.M. Montgomery was out of her time. She was rebellious and didn’t conform and I think that inability to conform coupled with a desperate need to be accepted and loved is a wonderful dichotomy in a character. It creates all kinds of dramatic tension. I think because that dichotomy exists in a character, because she’s so feisty and has such a tender heart, she’s transcended time, and she’s pole vaulted over international boundaries because she had that commonality that so many people espouse to. In some ways maybe we want to be like Anne of Green Gables because she doesn’t conform and finds a perfect life. She finds a way of being accepted. She finds the perfect soulmate. She molds the perfect parents around herself with two people who seem to have absolutely no ability to relate to her or even have a relationship between themselves. And I think people are fascinated by that ability - to be able to transform other people. Now she could do that in a very sentimental way or she could do that in a very modern way. I tried to interpret her in a very modern way and tried not to her character be an antique. I tried to interpret the character in such a way that an audience would find the humour in it and also be able to relate. My version of Anne of Green Gables has withstood the twenty-year test of time; people still enjoy her because of those elements.
Maud had no troubles getting her poetry published by small local papers. But, when she set her sites on a New York paper that was rumoured to pay for its publications, she was rejected again and again. Due to her tenacious nature, Maud did not know the meaning of defeat. She continued writing while fulfilling all of her jobs; from working at the newspaper to teaching in a small school house. She went to the extreme of rising an hour early each morning, bundling up warmly so as not to freeze, and writing her fill before her busy day began. This religious devotion to her work paid off. Her writing abilities matured and bloomed, until one day, while searching for some content to write a short series with, she came across some forgotten scribbles that would later flourish into the world’s beloved "Anne of Green Gables". Maud’s intense love affair with this story culminated when the small serial becoming a full novel. When we consider the current popularity of the story, it’s hard to believe that five publishers turned Maud down. I can only imagine their surprise four years later when another company decided to publish "Anne". 19,000 copies sold in the first five months! This first novel spurred a further seven sequels starring our beloved red-headed orphan. This is the ultimate proof that persistence does pay off!
While producing the recent release of the Anne of Green Gables 20th Anniversary Special Edition, we began researching into the life of Lucy Maud Montgomery for a special edition documentary to include with the 5-DVD set. Considering her iconic Canadian status, we found plenty of information on her, her work and her life. Reading through all this material really opened my eyes to the actual woman behind the magical and timeless stories of Anne and Avonlea.
For many years I have felt a deep connection with Maud through the Anne book series and my previous commitment to bringing this incredible piece of literature to life on the ‘big screen’. Our mutual adoration of Anne, Marilla, Matthew, Gilbert, Diana, Rachel, and all the other invaluable characters led me to deeply consider the specifics of Maud’s life and what brought her to create such a quintessential Prince Edward Island existence. I learned that Maud, although not an orphan, was easily able to empathize with Anne, having lost her own young mother not even two years after Maud was born. Her father left her in her strict grandparents’ care while he traveled west and remarried. Maud turned to the comfort and adventure of her imagination and creative writing as a coping mechanism to deal with her austere life. All these years later, Maud’s contribution to Canada and world literature cannot be undervalued. From those severe conditions, she was able to rise above— to create a masterpiece.
The really unique thing about the world that Montgomery created is that sometimes you have the sense with the way characters relate to each other is that they actually despise each other. The relationship that Marilla and Rachel Lynde have for example seems to be one where they can barely tolerate each other and yet they often refer to each other as being good friends for nearly forty years. And I think that’s part of the unique experience of a little bit of familiarity breeds contempt. But on the other hand it also speaks to the closeness that exists in tight-knit communities. That really was the crucible under which I was able to create so many different stories about the people who lived in Avonlea. When we developed Road to Avonlea, for example, I went into other versions of Anne of Green Gables. They were all based on that one commonality – through thick and thin people will stick together in tight-knit communities whether they have disagreements, whether they have a falling out. The nature of that tight-knit community is very different from an urban community where people can escape. They’re forced to live together and they’re forced to work it out. I think that’s another reason why the world of Avonlea has been so popular, because it’s about people sticking together as opposed to people breaking up.
Years after my work on Anne of Green Gables, I missed the freedom of a mini-series. Having 4 hours of television to tell a story really opens up the realm of possibility. Especially when covering a span of forty years as I did with Love on the Land.
For this production, I acted as producer. Joe Wiesenfeld, whom I had worked with on the first Anne of Green Gables film, wrote the screenplay. I was drawn to this story as it had the idyllic qualities that I have so enjoyed working with in the past coupled with a gritty and provocative tone. The story is based on the novel ‘The Earth Abideth’ by George Dell. This story was written in 1938 but remained undiscovered until it was published in 1986.
Love on the Land follows the story of the Linthornes, a quintessential American family’s disintegration and eventual unification over the course of forty years. Despite years of endured lament, the Linthorne saga proves how the strength of family love will prevail and triumph.
For any fans of ‘Grey’s Anatomy’, this film is one of the first acting roles for Justin Hall, Dr. Alex Karev. The mini-series also stars Peter Strauss, Rachel Ward and Rip Torn.
Although the mini-series format did allow us to travel through forty years without confusing the audience, it did prove to be quite a momentous task for the art and costume designers. The time period changes had to be reflected in the costumes and sets. But we all ensured that we were true to the era.
This is a great production about family trials and tribulations. I really enjoyed working with the amazing cast and the incredibly talented director Dan Petrie. If you would like to learn more about this production, check out our website: www.sullivanmovies.com
I have often used this space to discuss my work on Anne of Green Gables and Road to Avonlea. But I wanted to write today about my experience on my very first film, it’s called ‘The Wild Pony’. The movie was filmed in rural southern Alberta in the fall months, from October to December, leading to some very cold days on location.
‘The Wild Pony’ was first released in 1983. Marilyn Lightstone played the part of Sarah Chase, most of you may know her as Miss Stacey, of Green Gables-Avonlea fame. The story centers around the character of Christopher played by Josh Byrne. When his mother, Sarah Chase, chooses to marry the man who was responsible for the mishap that caused his father’s death, Josh becomes distant from her and finds comfort in his friendship with a wild pony. The pony was actually played by five different horses.
Although so long ago, this film remains one of my favorites, perhaps because of the challenges that arose from filming in snowy, cold Alberta; or perhaps because it was my first film. This film marked the beginning of my work using natural light to create rich and stunning images. It is a great family movie and is really quite beautiful.
You can read more about it at http://www.sullivanboutique.com/Anne/stores/1/product1.aspx?SID=1&Product_ID=1812&Category_ID=159
She took a gamble, she had no idea who I was as a filmmaker, and she had no idea what the project was going to be like. She took a gamble because she was so strongly connected to the literary material. She understood the material in ways that were much more profound than I was able to. She was a wonderful mentor in some respects because I was a young filmmaker who often, my instincts were there but I didn’t always try to understand the material on a strong intellectual level, but she did and she was able to really clarify things for me. She was able to put the characters into context for me; she brought an incredible sense of reality to the character and an unbelievable sense of humour. She was really fun to work with, fun because she was so eclectic about how she approached the role. She never knew her lines in her rehearsals. But I’ll tell you, when the cameras rolled, rock solid. The character just came storming out of her mouth and took over the screen and took everyone else that was on screen with her and whipped them up in the whirlwind of intensity, both from a dramatic and a comic point of view. She was magnificent to work with because she brought such depth of understanding, not only to her character but also on a much more general level of what people in communities like this face in trying to live together. It was a real exploration of the human condition. I fascinated her because I was a young filmmaker trying to bring a literary antique to the screen. She was stunned that I was able to do it with such authenticity and I’d been able to find the right beats in the material to make it work for a general audience. So we quickly became friends and worked on a real collaborative basis in terms of my making the film and directing her. She was a great mentor and a great touchstone for ideas.
I actually don’t know what it was that possessed me to think of Colleen Dewhurst playing Marilla Cuthbert. I was familiar with Colleen’s body of work because she was known in American theatre as being a great interpreter of Eugene O’Neill. She was a great actress in her own right, on film and on stage, and I don’t know what it was that drew me to her. You wouldn’t think that there would be something intrinsic in the kind of roles that Colleen had played to make her appropriate to play a spinster because she had played some earthy characters. But she kind of had this New England iconoclast look about her and she had these piercing blue eyes and when I was looking at availability of about a dozen actors to play the part, I get a call from her agent. I had inquired about her availability and he said, “I don’t know why Colleen wants to do this but she’s very, very determined that she will play this part and you will offer it to her.” And I said. “That’s terrific, thank you very much and I would love to send you the script.” The day after I sent her the script, the agent called back from New York and said she really, really wants to play this part. Colleen and I had never met but she pretty much made it 300% clear that I was not offering the role to anybody else. Although we’d never met, I felt a kind of serendipitous opportunity; I liked the fact that someone was so strongly interested in playing the part. And then when I met Colleen and got to know her, I realized that there’s this enormous background behind her. She had this strong primal connection to Prince Edward Island. It had been a summer place where she had raised both of her sons. She’d bought a place on Prince Edward Island and those were her magical summers, it was her special time with her two sons. She brought them up pretty much reading Anne of Green Gables because if you lived on the island, you’d read Anne of Green Gables. So she was firmly connected to the psyche of Lucy Maud Montgomery, to the island and to the community.
