Mike Clattenburg on Trailer Park Boys: Interview
Alliance, Odeon Films Produce Countdown to Liquor Day
Sep 24, 2009 Dominic von Riedemann
Fans of the Canadian mockumentary Trailer Park Boys will be saddened to know that the latest film adaptation – Countdown to Liquor Day – will be the last time they see Dartmouth's finest in one place. But rest assured the series goes out on a high note, as the Boys wreak havoc on everything around them, including Lahey's liver.
In Part #1 of our exclusive interview, the show's creator/director Mike Clattenburg discussed why he made the film. In this installment, we learn how the show is shot and how Rush guitarist Alex Lifeson appeared in Trailer Park Boys.
S101: Were you ever tempted to showcase the other Boys’ hidden talents in the show?
Mike Clattenburg: “We write to the strengths of our actors. For example, John Dunsworth (Lahey) is a classically trained, Shakespearean actor. We did a scene for a Season 5 episode called ‘I Am the Liquor.’ In the scene, Randy says, ‘Is that you talking, or is that the liquor?’
“And Lahey says, ‘Oh Randy, I am the liquor!’ And it has this Shakespearean weight. To me, that is so absurd so, in those kinds of scenes, John’s theatrical training will play, and anyone who knows theatrical acting will see it. But that’s tricky when doing naturalistic, documentary-style film acting. But all of the characters do bring their talents.”
S101: How much of the dialogue is improvised?
“Some people think we just turn the camera on and go, ‘Okay! Whatever happens, happens.’ It’s not the case. We have a script, and we rehearse a scene. We rehearse a tremendous amount and we’ll change a line, to this or that and we’ll all start laughing. And then we start rolling film. So it appears off-the-cuff, but nothing has really happened without rehearsal. A couple of things are improvised but not as much as you might think.
“So we have a real focused rewrite as we’re working before we start shooting. A lot of times, I’ll change stuff as I’m shooting. In this film I operated the camera, so I’ll listen and say, ‘Let’s try this.’
“Normally on a film set, it’s ‘CUT!’ and everything breaks down, hair and wardrobe come in, and 10 to 15 minutes passes. But we have a very in-the-moment feel when we’re shooting with the Handycam that we were able to do on this film, not so much in the previous film. So it’s very open; we’re discovering the scenes as we’re shooting them.”
S101: Which members of the cast are the most fearless about improvising?
“I would say Jonathan Torrens (J-Roc). He’s very, very good at it. Mike Smith (Bubbles) too: he always has lots of good ideas, Robb Wells (Ricky) as well. John Dunsworth does not like to improvise, he likes to know what he’s doing before the scene rolls.
“But Smith, Torrens and Wells are just like fountains: they go, go, go!” (Everyone laughs)
S101: How much have the actors changed your original characters?
“The actors contribute an enormous amount to the characters. For example, Lahey has his Shakespearean thing. So they really contribute a lot.”
S101: I have to ask: how did you get Alex Lifeson in a dress?
“It goes way back to when we first started. The show came out and no one really liked it, everyone thought ‘What is this cheap garbage?’ Trailer Park Boys was a slow-burn: the audience had to get used to the characters and it’s shot on a Handycam. It looks really cheap and people didn’t realize that was by design. But once they got past that and tuned into the humour, they got it. But we didn’t realize it: we thought, ‘Oh my God, no one’s getting our stuff.’
“Then I heard from a friend who said, ‘There’s a very prominent rock star who’s a big fan of Trailer Park Boys. Can I give him your email?’
“So Alex sent me the sweetest email, saying ‘I love the characters; I find the show very, very funny. Great work, congratulations. Alex Lifeson.’
“We sent emails back and forth, and I found that Alex is an actor in his own right: he’s really good at sketching characters and I think that’s why he appreciated the show. I find musicians tuned into our show long before most other people did. Musicians have an unusual sense of humour.
“I asked Lifeson to appear on an episode – called ‘Closer to the Heart’ – wrote the script and sent it to him. He came to town and the very first scene we did with Alex was in a car and we started improvising. Wells hit him with, ‘Why don’t you play your big, fancy f*****g guitar or whatever it is the f••k you do!’ and Lifeson loved it.
“Because you could go one of two ways: one is a Rush love-in, or you can flip it. And Ricky doesn’t get it; he thinks Alex is from April Wine.
“So I asked Alex if he wanted to play a cop in the first film, and he said, ‘Sure.’ And we wanted to bring him back for the 2nd film and I thought, ‘How do we put a twist on that? Maybe he’s in disguise.’ We shot that scene in one night and he was wonderful.”
S101: How did you get past the fanboy thing?
“I never did. One time I was at his house at 3 am banging on pots and pans in his kitchen and I think we woke his wife up. But I admire Rush so much and, in particular, Alex. He doesn’t make you feel that way; he makes you feel comfortable, but he’s such a shining artist that I had to look at my feet sometimes.”
(In Part #3 of this exclusive interview, Mike Clattenburg discusses some of Trailer Park Boys' biggest influences.)
Bubbles from Trailer Park Boys
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