Hugh Dillon and CKR news

[theamusedone.livejournal.com]

Sudbury Star, 02 Dec 2005
Stoking the fire of your dreams
by Bonnie Kogos

Let's say your dear friend's daughter, Debra Granik, all grown up now, has been
a struggling filmmaker.

She has been labouring over writing a screenplay with Richard Lieske and
directing this independent film for more than five years.

She has struggled with the story, gathered the finances, the actors, the
producers, film crew and secured a location.

And the independent film, Down To The Bone, had its unbelievably successful
debut simultaneously in New York City and Los Angeles.

Of course, I attended the opening and brought friends. "Down To The Bone," one
tough critic wrote, "is a tour de force."

The New York Times bestowed a high rating: Three-and-a-half stars out of four.

Debra is no longer a struggling movie director. Financing came to her and she's
now working on her next movie.

I learned Debra had been accepted to and studied at Robert Redford's Sundance
Film Festival. The Sundance Film Festival honoured Down To The Bone with two
prestigious awards: Best director and one for its beautiful actress Vera
Farmiga. They became the talk of the festival and now they're the talk of the
indie scene in New York.

I'm so proud of her. How difficult it must be to stay focused on writing a
screenplay, then directing it and working in concert with so many other people,
technicians, actors, makeup people and the editor.

And, boy, was this a tough film. It raises issues about why some people keep
going, while others give up.

"I was drawn to this story because of the questions: Why do some people change
and how do they do it?," Debra told me. "Why do some of us stay with people who
are not good for us? When does a person become dangerous to another? When is it
safe to trust?"

Down To The Bone addresses all of these questions. The story deals with Irene,
who is in a rough place in her life. She's a young, blue-collar married woman,
with two small children. She struggles to keep her marriage together in snowy
rural Ulster County, in upstate New York. It's so desolate in winter.

To me, this could have been rural Northern Ontario.

Irene somehow manages to keep her cocaine addiction a secret, until a series of
near-fatal mishaps. Hoping to make a change, she checks herself into a rehab
centre, where she meets Bob, a male nurse. He's a reformed addict, who is sexy
and inviting. Bob falls in love with her.

When Bob falls into a painful drug relapse, their commitment to staying clean
shatters. There was this movement toward health and well-being that had me
cheering, but Irene gets sucked in again and again.

I sat on the edge of my seat as this beautifully wrought film authentically
explored the wrenching road to recovery, without resorting to high drama. The
telling is beautifully controlled, compelling and fascinating to the end.

Irene and Bob's stories are complicated and full of paradoxes.

Although there's no sweeping or dramatic resolution, it was the tension that
bound the film to my belly.

At the end of the film, we watch Irene, sad and constricted, standing inside
her front door after she has asked Bob to leave her life forever.

Her beautiful face is reflected in the glass door.

"The pent-up emotions and disappointments simmering inside Irene are expressed
with magnificent quietude by actress Vera Farmiga," wrote Variety critic Robert
Koehler.

I was thrilled to learn Canadian Hugh Dillon, who grew up in Kingston, plays
the role of Bob. He handles it beautifully. Hugh was a singer/songwriter with
the Headstones.

Adding acting to his resume, he now lives in Los Angeles. Hugh fashions his
technique after such forceful actors as Rod Steiger.

In Down To The Bone, Hugh has captured a realistic portrayal of a complicated
character. He has acted in Hard Core Logo, a Canadian independent film directed
by Bruce McDonald.

I recently got Hugh on the phone to chat.

"Bonnie, I don't feel Canadian or American. I just feel me," he said. "I had a
great education in Kingston, with some wonderful teachers. I've been lucky."

Hugh's now working on a movie called Low Life Kings with Callum Keith Rennie,
who also appeared in Hard Core Logo.

"Isn't the life of an actor tricky?" I ask.

"My life is the best ever," he said. "I've got clarity, I've been given amazing
breaks and I'm surrounded by awesome people. They nurture the creative life.

"Being a professional actor or songwriter is almost like being a gambler. To
have, at this point, some of those risks pay off for me is unbelievable. For
all the ups and downs life can have, I feel I've achieved something.

"My addictions? You can get compulsive or obsessive about anything. I go toward
health now and play on a hockey team here."

So, what about the fire in the belly that makes each of us do what we yearn
for?

I go home, pondering my own life, giggling about my addictions. OK, shopping is
one, exercising another and being in Sudbury and Manitoulin another.

But the fire in my belly is writing, sharing miracles and laughter with you.

I strive to write about people -- how each of us search, learn, grow and
mature.

To learn more, go to DownToTheBoneTheFilm.com.