{"id":3166,"date":"2018-03-08T16:00:11","date_gmt":"2018-03-08T16:00:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thunderbird.tv\/2018\/03\/08\/never-steady-never-still-a-stunning-first-film-for-vancouverite\/"},"modified":"2018-03-08T16:00:11","modified_gmt":"2018-03-08T16:00:11","slug":"never-steady-never-still-a-stunning-first-film-for-vancouverite","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thunderbird.tv\/2018\/03\/08\/never-steady-never-still-a-stunning-first-film-for-vancouverite\/","title":{"rendered":"Never Steady, Never Still a stunning first film for Vancouverite"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dana Gee\/ The Vancouver Sun<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

When writer\/director\u00a0Kathleen Hepburn\u00a0thought about the lead in her first feature film,\u00a0Never Steady, Never Still,\u00a0Scottish actor\u00a0Shirley Henderson\u00a0was first to come to mind.<\/p>\n

But with a resume that includes co-starring performances in Trainspotting, Bridget Jones\u2019s Diary, 24 Hour Party People and Harry Potter, you wouldn\u2019t think the actor would even see the script.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe sent her a letter and a script to her agent and crossed our fingers,\u201d said Hepburn.<\/p>\n

Those are some good fingers as Henderson got the script, loved it and agreed to play Judy, a 50-something woman who is living with Parkinson\u2019s disease and trying to maintain her independence after the sudden death of her husband.<\/p>\n

Hepburn thinks the raw, stripped-down and very challenging role of Judy gave Henderson a shot at carrying a film and not playing the quirky girlfriend, the quirky best friend or a Muggle-born, bathroom-haunting, moaning ghost.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think she plays a lot of character parts and this is a lead role, and I think she connected with the material and felt that it was a good part,\u201d said Hepburn. \u201cThat\u2019s how that went down. I was very surprised.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was the moment when I felt like the film was really happening.\u201d<\/p>\n

Yes, Hepburn was going to have a multiple BAFTA-nominated actor at the top of the call sheet for her first feature film, which is in theatres now.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was scary. I hadn\u2019t worked with an actor that had that much experience, that kind of resume before,\u201d said Hepburn, who first did Never Steady, Never Still as a short. \u201cI was terrified, but she\u2019s an angel. She\u2019s so sweet. As soon as I talked to her on the phone I felt much safer.\u201d<\/p>\n

There was a lot to talk about as Judy\u2019s condition \u2014 the body tremors, lack of strength, slurred and muffled speech \u2014 called for a lot of work on Henderson\u2019s behalf.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe was exhausted,\u201d said Hepburn, when asked about the toll playing Judy took on Henderson.<\/p>\n

In the film, Judy lives just outside of Prince George on a remote lake with her husband (Nicholas Campbell) and her 19-year-old son (Th\u00e9odore Pellerin). Her son goes off to work on the gas rigs in Fort St. John and her husband expectantly dies, leaving Judy on her own as her Parkinson\u2019s advances. After some time on her own, her son returns home and tries to help, but is struggling to come to terms with his sexuality and where he fits in the world.<\/p>\n

For Hepburn, writing about a woman living with Parkinson\u2019s was a very personal exercise as her mother Margaret de Grace, 70,\u00a0has been living with the disease for 25 years.<\/p>\n

\u201cHer first words when she watched it in the theatre were, \u2018You hit the nail on the head,\u2019 \u201d said Hepburn. \u201cI think for us it is not just about the difficulty of the disease, but the affect it has on our relationship and how she feels people perceive her. The carrying on \u2014 you have to continue on and you can\u2019t make a big deal about everything.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hepburn\u2019s mother actually shows up in the film as another member of Judy\u2019s support group.<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t intend to tell a story about Parkinson\u2019s. I think I was just\u00a0writing a family story and it just made sense to do it that way,\u201d said Hepburn. \u201cIt wasn\u2019t hard to write it or shoot it. I think it was emotional, but it\u2019s so much a part of my life. When I watch the film I don\u2019t see what other people see in terms of how difficult it is because it just feels very normal. That\u2019s every day.\u201d<\/p>\n

What Hepburn has found a bit tough is enduring the responses from people who have seen the film.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s hard now to show people the film and then hear their thoughts on your work. I find that a bit more overwhelming then it was to actually create the thing,\u201d said Hepburn. \u201cIt was pretty overwhelming to go through the whole process. It was such a personal film, but I feel really proud of it. Really proud of the creative team, the cast, everyone.\u201d<\/p>\n

Shot mostly in and around Stuart Lake in the Fort St. James and Binche Keyoh\u00a0reserve areas in northern B.C., Never Steady, Never Still is like looking at a series of beautiful paintings. Cinematographer Norm Li has truly captured the staggering landscapes and incredible light of the north.<\/p>\n

Hepburn knows the area well, as her mother grew up there and she spent many summer vacations in the area.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe locations I think were very particular in my mind when I was writing,\u201d said Hepburn. \u201cIt was written for that place. We had scouted out locations that were closer to Vancouver, but none of them felt quite as right as that place.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know the area very well. I know the light really well. It\u2019s so beautiful up there, so it is kind of hard to go wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n

The film, which was also shot in Fort St. John and Calgary, has made the festival rounds and just recently earned eight Canadian Screen Awards nominations. In January, it was named best Canadian feature film by the Vancouver Film Critics Circle.<\/p>\n

\u201cEveryone was 110-per-cent committed to this film and put so much of their own sweat and tears into it. It just felt like everybody\u2019s baby, so that was really rewarding,\u201d said Hepburn. \u201cSo when I look at it now I think about all that work and how proud we are of what we put into it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Right now the Simon Fraser Film School graduate is prepping a new feature with co-director\u00a0Elle-M\u00e1ij\u00e1 Tailfeathers. The film, says Hepburn, is a real-time story about two Indigenous women who have a chance encounter in East Vancouver when one of them has just run away from a violent partner. It\u2019s the story of the two hours the women spend together.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dana Gee\/ The Vancouver Sun When writer\/director\u00a0Kathleen Hepburn\u00a0thought about the lead in her first feature film,\u00a0Never Steady, Never Still,\u00a0Scottish actor\u00a0Shirley Henderson\u00a0was first to come to mind. But with a resume that includes co-starring performances in Trainspotting, Bridget Jones\u2019s Diary, 24 Hour Party People and Harry Potter, you wouldn\u2019t think the actor would even see the … Continued<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nNever Steady, Never Still a stunning first film for Vancouverite - Thunderbird Entertainment<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/thunderbird.tv\/2018\/03\/08\/never-steady-never-still-a-stunning-first-film-for-vancouverite\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Never Steady, Never Still a stunning first film for Vancouverite - Thunderbird Entertainment\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Dana Gee\/ The Vancouver Sun When writer\/director\u00a0Kathleen Hepburn\u00a0thought about the lead in her first feature film,\u00a0Never Steady, Never Still,\u00a0Scottish actor\u00a0Shirley Henderson\u00a0was first to come to mind. 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