Calendar Leaves

Calendar Leaves 2005 is a short Coquitlamshot drama produced by Dudzik Films and based on Michael Serebriakovs short story of the same name. Coming off of the success of his last movie, Joes Package, a comedy in the tradition of The Cat Came Back, director Martin Dudzik was looking for a drama to direct. Through an aide, he had received the plot synopsis of Serebriakovs Calendar Leaves. Serebriakov had written it in the previous year, in response to a cruel practical joke he had witnessed. A month later, on the patio of a Starbucks on Vancouvers East side, the contract that brought Calendar Leaves to life was signed.

Calendar Leaves was shot in Coquitlam, in the usual speedy Martin Dudzik manner in five days. Centennial Secondary School was used for the interior shots. For the day of interior shooting, short story author Michael Serebriakov was invited on set. For the opening scene, the crew spent the morning painstakingly recreating a bus stop. Because of Dudziks love for close shots, no part of the replica bus stop made it into the final cut. Tyler Kranz was initially slated to be the boom operator, but the actor cast to play Steven fell sick just before production. Many consider Kranzs performance the best of the movie. During one day of production, the set was visited by a dreary notorious Vancouver rain. Although soaking the crew, it provided for some of the more memorable scenes of the movie. According to Dudzik, Kranz wasnt available to narrate the film, so he had no choice but to do it personally. To get the narratory voice, he ate copious amounts of ice cream before recording his lines. As a joke, newbies were told the movie would star Ed Harris, because of Peter Nicholas Smiths uncanny resemblance to the actor.Naturally, while writing the screenplay, Dudzik was forced to make some changes from the original Serebriakov version. Firstly, the short story started in a relatively light mood, turning dark by the end. The movie holds an ominous sombre tone throughout in tune with Dudziks vision of the drama he was looking for. What is in the short story a subtlety, Parkers suicidal history is obvious in the movie, since his cut wrists are shown in the opening scene. Some of the foreshadowing hidden in the lines of the short story was cut in the screenplay, leaving the ending to be confusing for some, including a Toronto film critic. ........

Source: Wikipedia