Film | Producer says tax rules need to change if N.B. wants to star in more films

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By KYLE MULLIN
mullin.kyle@dailygleaner.com

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Corey Haim may be the star of American Sunset, but he said New Brunswick had the biggest role to play in making the film one of his best.

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Lights, camera, action: Corey Haim, left, and Frank Molina act in a scene from American Sunset.

"The location has made it such a better movie," said the star of such hits as The Lost Boys during a news conference at the Delta Fredericton Hotel on Friday. "You can actually see the river. There's no yellow clouds of smog (here). It all feels so real."

"I think New Brunswick is the first character in the film," said co-star Frank Molina, who's been shooting scenes with Haim and the rest of the cast at Kings Landing Historical Settlement, El Burrito Loco and other Fredericton hot spots this week.

"The whole area, to me, worked (for) the trials and tribulations of our (characters') demons. In scenes, I'm looking around and I forget that I'm working, because I'm just so overwhelmed by the beauty. It wouldn't have worked anywhere else."

But Jackie Giroux, the film's writer and producer, said the province wasn't without its character flaws. She objected to unions such as Nova Scotia's International Cinematographer's Guild 667 demanding she hire its members.

Giroux also took issue with New Brunswick's low tax credits compared to regions with similar climates, such as Wisconsin.

She said those credits should be available to all Canadian cast and crew members, not just those who reside within the province.

"Our star can't even get a tax credit here," she said of Haim, who hails from Toronto. "We're not talking about an outsider; we're talking about a hardcore Canadian that should be eligible anywhere in his own country."

Angela Cullins, an actress from Hartland who plays Haim's wife in American Sunset, agreed those pitfalls will likely keep local talent from making their big breaks here.

"I loved working with Corey because we're both method actors - it helps give us such great chemistry," she said.

"I want the rest of our talent to have those kinds of opportunities, but things really have to change in this province first. Otherwise, we're just shooting ourselves in the foot."

But Giroux said she was happy to shoot the film in New Brunswick, despite those obstacles. The story is set in the province and it was inspired by locations she didn't have the chance to use in the last film she brought here, 2008's Blue Seduction with Billy Zane.

She said Kings Landing, for instance, was the perfect place for a standoff between Haim and a crew of sinister undercover spies, who hid their high-tech gadgets and guns under Quaker robes.

"You have a very special woodsy, downhome attitude here," she said. "You're not uptight or looking to make a great deal of money off our budget. People are friendly and want to be extras. New Brunswick has the potential to go through the roof."

Haim agreed that lax tax credits and meddling unions couldn't sour the time he spent working in the province.

"With what's going on in the industry right now, we're just lucky to be working," he said. "The world is on shutdown, we're in a depressed recession everywhere and it's an honour to be working, especially out here. I prefer these small, local types of crews. It's much more down to earth and grounded, which is why I appreciate working here."