Heres a new article from Today
Saturday, June 11, 2005
Meeting Mike Clattenburg for the first time, you may notice he's awfully young for the kind of success he's found in Canadian television. In fact, the 30-something writer, director and creator of Trailer Park Boys, the Showcase Television hit series currently in the midst its fifth season, is both young and confident -- confident enough to joke about the stress of being the lead ringmaster of a circus like Trailer Park.
"I can't sleep," Clattenburg says with the deadpan delivery of a stand-up comedian seasoned by years on the road. There's no doubt he's joking, but if insomnia does become an issue, he's got good reason for being a little, as Bubbles might say, "frisky."
Bubbles is the fellow played by Mike Smith, immediately recognizable by his huge Coke-bottle glasses, who lives in a shed in Sunnyvale Trailer Park, the Dartmouth, N.S. setting for the show. Along with Ricky (Robb Wells) and Julian (Jean Paul Tremblay), his two ne'er-do-well friends constantly struggling to get rich quick and stay out of prison, Bubbles is at the heart of the low-brow, low-budget ensemble comedy. This summer, the show is taking a leap few original Canadian TV creations have made: Trailer Park Boys, with the entire cast in tow, is going Hollywood. It's going to be a movie.
Speaking to the press in a stuffy little hotel room in Halifax shortly after the big announcement, and joined by his executive producer, Ivan Reitman, Clattenburg seems sober, collected and yes, confident.
"I'm surprisingly calm," he says. "We've never had a better script."
If the burgeoning international success of his brainchild wasn't enough to give him a pint full of self-assurance, Reitman should serve him one last shot. The Czechoslovakia-born, Canada-bred and Hollywood-crowned director-producer responsible for 35 movies, including comedy classics such as Meatballs and National Lampoon's Animal House, has taken Clattenburg under his wing. Clattenburg and Robb Wells have spent large portions of this year in Los Angeles with Reitman, hammering away at the script.
"We had talked about the story in broad strokes, then we delivered our first draft," says Clattenburg. "We flew down to Los Angeles. Ivan acted as a provocateur, challenged us to make the story better. We jammed some ideas around, and had Robb and I on our toes."
Plugging his muse directly into the rock 'n' roll side of L.A., Clattenburg and Wells stayed at the "Riot Hyatt" on Sunset Strip, the popular 1970s rock star destination mythologized in Cameron Crowe's movie Almost Famous.
"It's where (Zeppelin drummer) John Bonham's friends drove motorcycles through. Paparazzi out front, classic Hollywood action," says Clattenburg.
The version of Trailer Park Boys shown on American TV (via BBC America) is censored, which Clattenburg says is "not nearly as effective as the show here in Canada, but it's good exposure." He says the biggest bonus of their raised profile in the States has been VIP treatment at comedy clubs.
"We get into the Comedy Store for free now," he enthuses. "It's like, 'C'mon in guys, you're back!' We're at ground zero comedy right there."
Clattenburg does admit it helped when he and Wells made friends with the door guys and gave them DVDs of the show. "That's the way you work the town," says Reitman.
Reitman, whose recent production work has included Old School and Road Trip, has a knack for raw comedy like this, with clear ideas on how to translate the magic from TV to the movies without alienating the core fans or confusing potential new ones.
"You have to make a good movie for one audience, " he says. "I think both (TV and movie) audiences are satisfied that way. The only thing we have to worry about is that there's nothing particular in the story that's required viewing prior" to the movie. Clattenburg is quick to add the big screen version will be independent from the series."The voice of Trailer Park Boys isn't changing, it's only better realized in a longer format."
Reitman admits the group-of-dishevelled-men-on-a-mission dynamic of Trailer Park can track muddy thematic footprints back to some of his earlier work on blockbuster comedies such as Ghostbusters and Stripes.
"They're funny in a very specific universe, in a society that I like. They have great hearts, great aspirations, even though they get dashed a great deal of the time. It's what life is like in this particular microcosm."
Having grown up in Canada, Reitman can also relate to the specific cultural aspects of that society, but finds the real appeal of Trailer Park Boys is something universal.
"Yes, there's all kinds of subtle references that are particularly juicy, especially if you live on the East Coast of Canada, but mostly it's comedy that anybody can relate to. It's character comedy."
The Trailer Park Boys circus won't pull down the tents after the movie, with a projected release date in 2006. They will have two weeks off after shooting is wrapped this summer, then go back to the set for season No. 6.
"So, we're actually shooting 70 days, " says Clattenburg. "Now I will know what it's like for some directors who shoot a 70-day motion picture."
Reitman admits 60 days is the longest shoot he's helmed. Clattenburg shrugs. "I'm trying to do a few push-ups, trying to get in shape," he says. "It's more athletic than it is artistic."
http://www.canada.com/ottawa/ottawacitizen/news/arts/story.html?id=7429722d-e0c7-4f47-8316-f8779882edd4&page=2
