TIFF 2010 Q&A: ‘Small Town Murder Songs’ Director Ed Gass-Donnelly

Small Town Murder Songs follows Walter, the sheriff of an Ontario Mennonite town, as he investigates the murder of a young woman while trying to make sense of his own inner demons. With solid performances and grim cinematography, mixed with powerful music courtesy of Canadian rockers Bruce Peninsula, this is an intense film reminiscent of the early work of the Coen brothers.

This is the second feature film from writer-director Ed Gass-Donnelly and also his second film to premiere at TIFF (This Beautiful City was his first in 2007). CityNews.ca spoke with him about the film, the music, and what it means to be playing at TIFF. Read our Q&A below.

Brian McKechnie: How did the idea to set ‘Small Town Murder Songs’ in a Mennonite community come to you?

Ed Gass-Donnelly: It was going to be an average small town and a more sporadically spread-out film. But as I was exploring the material, a more traditional narrative started to develop and a hero emerged. Then the idea of setting it in a Mennonite town became a device to raise the stakes for a guy with a history of violence — what is it to be someone with a history of violence in a town of pacifists and what are the ripple effects of that.

BM: Was the town you filmed in welcoming?

EGD: [We filmed in] Listowel, Ontario. It’s a larger town within a bunch of smaller towns. Listowel isn’t particularly Mennonite but there are Mennonites there. Mennonite is like saying Christian — you have many different degrees where you could have very traditional fundamentalists in buggies with no electricity, and then there are contemporary degrees of that faith. Overall we were quite welcomed in the community. At one point someone did drive by and yell, ‘I left Toronto to get away from people like you!’ But that was a minority.

BM: Since music plays a huge role in the film did you write the script with it in mind?

EGD: I had written it with very different music in mind and actually wrote it around a specific album. I think what ultimately happened in writing it that way was the writing and the filming got so coloured by the source material, and by the time editing came around, using that music didn’t really challenge the material — everything was being painted with the same colour. When I started exploring outside of that, the music of Bruce Peninsula felt appropriate and it had a strong and striking conflict with the more passive rural beauty shots.

BM: Were you a fan of Bruce Peninsula before?

EGD: I had only actually heard them during pre-production. I was excited by them and had the idea of ending the film with one of their songs. I had them write me some stuff that was going to be at the beginning and soon their sound took over. What I felt their music really added to the film was helping chart the religious presence without me having to rely on stuff I shot and chose to cut out. It allowed us to stay connected to Walter’s more spiritual crisis without having to directly reference it.

BM: What did they think about having their music featured in a film?

EGD: They’re a contemporary band and I was selective with their stuff that is very much a specific colour. They are influenced by gospel and a lot of traditional hymns but they are also a rock band. I definitely focused more on their material that fit my film. They were excited and happy but were surprised in seeing their music used in that way.

BM: Peter Stormare was great as Walter and I can’t imagine anyone else playing the part. Did you have him in mind when you were writing the script?

EGD: Peter was somebody that when I heard his name I didn’t recognize. Then I saw the series Prison Break, which I really liked, and then Armageddon happened to be on TV. After seeing him in all these roles, I started getting really compelled because he was so [versatile]. I looked at more of his material and then my casting director made the enquiry.

BM: What inspired casting Martha Plimpton and Jill Hennessy in their roles?

EGD: I like the idea of casting people against type and against what we would assume they would play. You inherently bring your opinions based on their past work to the character when you see them so what’s interesting is that people start questioning the characters.

BM: Do you find your background working in theatre helps with directing films?

EGD: I think it conditioned me to be apathetic to actors and I try to participate with the emotional journey they are about to undergo. It helps me speak to an actor from an actor’s point of view.

BM: Is it a different experience for you now that this is your second film premiering at TIFF?

EGD: I’m really excited about TIFF this year because we’re in the Contemporary World Cinema programme. It feels like we’re more than just “Team Canada”. We’re actually getting to compete internationally with the best of the best. We’re on the same stage as the Woody Allen’s of the world.

BM: What do you hope the audience gets out the film?

EGD: That’s such a hard question to answer. I don’t really go into projects thinking what someone might get out of it. I want them to participate in the journey and to feel some kind of sense of reward or catharsis by the end of the film. The kind of films I love are the ones where you can treat a character as a mystery, and the more you find out about them the more you participate in that discovery.

BM: What are you working on next?

EGD: I have seven projects on the go at this moment. Which one is next is tough to say. I don’t want to keep doing the same thing every time. My first film was a really dirty handheld urban film and then this one is a more formal, super widescreen, rural composition. One of the next things I’m thinking about doing is a very low-budget horror film but make it a strong character-driven piece that happens to be scary.

Small Town Murder Songs plays at TIFF 2010 on Sunday, September 14 at 6 p.m., Tuesday, September 14 at 12:30 p.m., and Friday, September 17 at 9:30 p.m. Check the full schedule at tiff.net/filmsandschedules.

brian.mckechnie@citynews.rogers.com

Top image: Ed Gass-Donnelly on the set of Small Town Murder Songs with Peter Stormare.