|
|
|
Casting Director
Lois Siegel
|
|
|
|
LOIS SIEGEL was
Casting Director in Montreal for 10 years.
Family Motel
Photos
Siegel recently worked as Casting Director
for the alternative drama “Family Motel,” a co-production between Instinct
Films, Montreal, and The National Film Board of Canada. The film is
a sympathetic look at
what happens to families when, in spite of all their efforts, the
rent is too high, and their salaries are too low.
Her casting
projects include the following:
TRAIN OF DREAMS
(docu-drama: young offenders), directed by John Smith,
as well as
TOMMY TRICKER AND THE STAMP TRAVELLER
VINCENT
AND ME
(Emmy Award, Best Children's Special, Disney Channel,
1992)
directed by Michael Rubbo;
PRINCES IN EXILE (cancer camp for kids), directed by
Giles Walker.
THE COMPANY OF
STRANGERS,
HOCKEY DREAMS (Hockey Hall of Fame,
Toronto),
and classical music videos for Rhombus Media,
Inc., Toronto:
PROKOFIEV BY TWO (3 Gemini Awards
1991-1992),
DE FALLA, (Photos)
and BOLERO featuring The Montreal
Symphony Orchestra. |
East end photographer puts out
casting call
By Wes Smiderle
©Photo
by Darren Brown
Lois Siegel, well known
for her photography, has returned to her
movie roots this summer, working as casting
director for an National Film Board
docu-drama.
East end photographer puts out
casting call
Lois Siegel is known in
Orléans and across the city for her skills as a
photographer. Now she's going back to the big
screen and she's looking for a few good
"non-actors" to join her.
Siegel got her big break in
the movie biz about 20 years ago in Montreal
when she landed a job as casting director for a
"docu-drama" being made by the National Film
Board (NFB). She was a casting director there
for 10 years, often working around the clock and
sometimes juggling two feature films at once.
This summer, she's returned to her movie roots.
She's working as casting director for Family
Motel, another docu-drama. This one is being
co-produced by the NFB and Instinct Films, a
company based in Montreal.
A docu-drama is a film that blends documentary
and fictional elements. Generally, the setting
or story being told is fictional, but the actors
involved are "real" -- meaning they're
non-actors representing their own views and
values through a fictional setting and story.
For example, one of the many "characters" Siegel
needs to cast is a social worker. "So I have to
find a real social worker," says Siegel. "I ask
everyone I know, 'Do you know any social
workers?' It's challenging . . . You've gotta
concentrate on it all the time."
Actors won't be required to memorize any lines
but will be improvising scenes and, to a large
extent, representing their own opinions and
reactions to what happens in the scene and the
actions of other characters.
Family Motel is a speculative drama set in a
world where hundreds of Canadian families have
been evicted from their homes because of soaring
rents and lack of affordable housing. With
shelters filled to bursting, city governments
are forced to rent out cheap motels to
accommodate homeless families.
The result is an uncomfortable assortment of the
working poor, new homeowners caught unable to
make mortgage payments and others with troubled
pasts caught in precarious circumstances.
The main characters are a family from Somalia,
new to the country and Ottawa. The family is
being cast by the producers (in consultation
with the Somali community), but all other
speaking roles will be cast by Siegel.
The momentum of the drama will depend heavily on
the mix of characters, meaning Siegel's job is
crucial.
Ina Fichman, producer of Family Motel, chose
Siegel based on her experiences working with her
in Montreal.
"The casting director is extremely important in
this process because we're not using actors,"
says Fichman, who runs Montreal-based Instinct
Films. "We're using people from the community.
Yes, it has a dramatic structure but really
we're counting on the people in your community "
The cast for Family Motel includes management at
the federal immigration department, middle class
homeowners, lower class landlords, tenants and a
motel owner. Siegel is also seeking a wide range
of everyday folks of all ages and cultural
backgrounds, including an "eastern European"
grandfather and grandmother.
Anyone interested in receiving a casting form
and applying to become an actor in Family Motel
can contact Siegel at lois@siegelproductions.ca
Siegel says she's enjoying getting back into the
challenges involved in casting a docu-drama.
For her first job in the mid 1980s, Siegel was
called on to recruit real juvenile delinquents
for the movie Train of Dreams -- Welcome to
Canada. So she recruited the West Island Rebels,
a real youth gang in Montreal.
For another film, she had to recruit a group of
Sri Lankans, audition them, teach them basic
improv skills and then see them off on a plane
to Newfoundland during a major winter storm
"It was like my family taking off for this
foreign country, Newfoundland," she recalls.
"But they were wonderful people . . . all of
these people you meet are just so interesting."
Lois Siegel, well known for
her photography, has returned to her movie roots
this summer, working as casting director for an
National Film Board docu-drama.
|
East end actors check-in at the
'Family Motel'
By Wes
Smiderle
©Photo
by Darren Brown
Orleans actor Justin
Laférière, right, talks with Quebec actress
Kayla Marok as they wait for direction on
the set of Family Motel being filmed at the
Concorde Motel on Montreal Road in Vanier
(Ottawa) Wednesday, Sept. 6, 2006.
Joy Rutherford
Joy Rutherford's acting
aspirations concluded last week with a six-hour
OC Transpo bus ride and she couldn't have been
more pleased.
"We got on the bus and off the
bus. We sat here on the bus and there on the
bus," recalled Rutherford. "It was fun."
The movie is "Family Motel," a docu-drama that's
still being shot at a local motel and several
other locations (including one scene to be shot
in mid-October in an orthodontist's office on
St. Joseph Boulevard).
Earlier this week, 14-year-old Rockland resident
Justin Laférière became the latest of many
east end residents to enjoy his film debut.
Laférière played a small role during scenes shot
at a motel, the titular setting of Family Motel.
The movie is a speculative drama set in a world
where hundreds of Canadian families have been
evicted from their homes because of soaring
rents and lack of affordable housing. With
shelters filled to bursting, city governments
are forced to rent out cheap motels to
accommodate homeless families.
The result is an uncomfortable assortment of the
working poor, new homeowners caught unable to
make mortgage payments and others with troubled
pasts caught in precarious circumstances.
The main characters are a family from Somalia,
new to the country and Ottawa. The family is
being cast by the producers (in consultation
with the Somali community), but all other
speaking roles were cast by Orléans-based
photographer and filmmaker Lois Siegel.
©Photo
by Darren Brown
Lois Siegel
Although she originally auditioned to play a
social worker, Rutherford landed a role as an
extra. She played an anonymous civil servant,
essentially part of the background during scenes
used to establish how one of the main characters
must work two or three jobs just to make ends
meet.
Rutherford and her fellow movie extras had to be
"absolutely quiet" during shooting as the sound
technician recorded the sounds of the bus's
engine and its wheels rolling over the road.
Shooting lasted from about 4:30 p.m. to 10:30
p.m. on a bus.
"We thought we'd be in an office, but the focus
was more on going to work," she said.
The docu-drama is co-produced by the NFB and
Instinct Films, a company based in Montreal.
A docu-drama is a film that blends documentary
and fictional elements. Generally, the setting
or story being told is fictional, but the actors
involved are "real" -- meaning they are
non-actors representing their own views and
values through a fictional setting and story.
Actors aren't required to memorize any lines but
instead improvise scenes and, to a large extent,
represent their own opinions and reactions to
what happens in the scene and the actions of
other characters.
Rutherford said when she auditioned for the role
of social worker, she didn't recite written
lines but had to interact with another
character. She found the audition especially to
be interesting insight into filmmaking.
"It was a fantastic experience," said
Rutherford, an Orléans resident and retired
school principal. "It was just fascinating."
Shooting for the film is expected to last at
least another six weeks.
|
|
Indie film
finds home in Ottawa |
|
|
Written by Katherine Ellis
Photos by Lois Siegel |
|
Thursday,
21 September 2006 |
Andre
Gaumond gives directions on set
Ottawa
residents will hit the small screen next
year with the locally produced docu-drama
Family Motel, filming until mid-October.
And they are not professional actors; they
are everyday people like you and me.
"We didn't want professional actors," said
Lois Siegel, casting director for the film.
Siegel was in charge of finding real people
who could fill the requirements for extras.
"I put notices in the paper to fill in the
roles of people to be around the motel,
immigrants, all the other roles like social
workers, landlords and others. My job is
networking, talking to people and getting
connections," said Siegel.
One such person was Patricia Gordon, mother
to one of the actors.
"I'm a mom. I was going with my son to have
his first film experience," she said. "I
never had experience acting on anything,
they asked me to play an assistant. I don't
say anything, I just bring in papers. It was
still fun."
Another was Fiona Gilfillan.
"We rode the bus for six hours so that they
could film the main character going to work
and coming home," she said.
Funded by the National Film Board, Family
Motel is directed by Helene Klodawsky. The
film is about the situation of many Canadian
families living in poor conditions. Many
recently immigrated and Canadian families
are placed in motel rooms before they can
afford low-cost housing.
The film is being shot at one of these
sites.
The Concorde Motel in Vanier, situated in a
high crime area, is not "one of the best
places for newly arrived immigrants," said
Siegel.
The film centers around a family of Somalian
women: a mother and two daughters.
They are not newly immigrated, having been
in Canada for five years, but are still
forced to live in this motel.
The struggle to make a better life in Canada
is at the forefront of the movie, according
to Ina Fichman, producer of the film.
"Almost two years of research went in the
film," said Fichman.
The director came across the situation while
filming another docu-drama, Nickel and Dime,
about homeless families in Canada.
"The concept of homelessness in Canada is
different. If you are middle class and
things happen, you loose your money, you
then become a homeless family," said
Fichman.
The message of the film is "we want to show
the resilience and the strengths of
immigrant women and how they can ultimately
make a life for themselves," she said.
|
|
Tommy Tricker and the Stamp Traveller
Casting Director:
Lois Siegel
Film Director, Michael Rubbo, Searches
for Kids who Auditioned for his Films in the Late 80s
Director
Michael Rubbo
Wikipedia
YouTube
VINCENT
AND ME (Emmy Award, Best Children's Special, Disney Channel, 1992)
directed by
Michael Rubbo
Casting Director:
Lois Siegel
|
|
The National Film Board of Canada
Siegel cast the
Sri Lankans in "Welcome
to Canada," directed by John N. Smith.
Trailer
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Films
|
|
Lois Siegel's
Home Page
|
|
|
