Cas & Dylan premieres tonight, Friday, April 4, at Vancouver's Fifth Avenue Cinemas. A Q&A with director Jason Priestley will follow tomorrow's early evening screening.
From Lynn Valley to Los Angeles, Argyle secondary grad Jason Priestley's career in the entertainment industry has continued to take him to new heights.
From his breakout role in beloved '90s TV drama Beverly Hills, 90210, to recently starring in acclaimed HBO Canada comedy Call Me Fitz, the actor has logged lots of onscreen time. He's also no stranger to working behind the scenes and has long been an avid director, working on both of his hit TV shows, as well as countless other projects.
"I've been directing for 20 years and it's something that I really love and something that I've always loved," says the Los Angeles resident. "It's something that I've always been able to do in combination with my acting career - But I seem to be spending more and more time directing these days, which is fine with me, because it's something that I am incredibly passionate about."
Priestley's latest foray saw him tackle his first feature film, Cas & Dylan, starring Academy Award-winning actor Richard Dreyfuss and rising star Tatiana Maslany (a Regina native whose credits include science fiction thriller Orphan Black as well as Grown Up Movie Star and Picture Day).
Cas & Dylan, which was awarded at, and served as the opening night film of, the 2013 Whistler Film Festival, is getting its theatrical debut tonight, premiering at Vancouver's Fifth Avenue Cinemas. A Q&A with Priestley will follow tomorrow's early evening show, co-presented by the First Weekend Club and the Canadian Cancer Society.
"I'd wanted to direct a feature film for quite some time and this film found its way to me," says Priestley.
"I thought that the film felt like the right size and scale of film to tackle as a first film. It's a very character-driven piece. It's essentially a two-hander," he adds.
The comedic drama follows a 61-year-old terminally ill doctor, Cas (played by Dreyfuss), whose plan to check out on his own terms take a detour when he winds up on the lam with an 'anything-but-normal' 22-year-old, Dylan, (Maslany), according to the film's promotional materials. After accidentally hitting Dylan's boyfriend with his car, the duo head West: Dylan in pursuit of her dream of becoming a writer; and Cas intent on overcoming his case of suicide note writer's block.
The film was written by Jessie Gabe (Mr. D, and Being Erica). Producer Mark Montefiore, in search of a director, got in touch with Priestley.
"I had a lot of creative solutions for the problems that there were with shooting a road movie on the limited budget and limited timeframe that we had to do it," says Priestley.
Coming to an agreement, Priestley signed onto the film and they began their search for the perfect Dylan.
"We were able to find Tatiana Maslany, who gives an amazing performance in the film," says Priestley.
Next they went in search of their Cas.
"Richard wasn't even on our radar until I sent the script to my agency in Los Angeles," says Priestley.
As it turns out, Priestley and Dreyfuss share an agent, and it was their agent who suggested the veteran actor might be a great fit for the role and got the script into his hands.
Cas & Dylan struck a chord with Dreyfuss and Priestley gave him a call to discuss working together. They ended up chatting for three hours.
"At the end of that conversation he was getting on a plane and coming to make a movie with me. So it was pretty exciting," says Priestley.
Priestley couldn't be happier with the performances of his two leads. "Richard and Tatiana really delivered beautiful performances for me in the film," he says, crediting the collaborative approach they took on the project. From the rehearsal room to the final day of filming, they were constantly rehearsing, rewriting scenes, throwing things out and making changes.
"The script was evolving right until the last day of production," says Priestley.
"I think the fact that we were all able to be as collaborative with each other as we were, really paid big dividends for us in the final edit of the film," he adds.
Priestley plans to continue directing feature films and currently has a few in development, including one he hopes to shoot in Vancouver this summer.
He's also still busily working as a director for television, including on new sitcom Working the Engels, starring Andrea Martin. Priestley directed four episodes this winter and his next is set to air April 9.
"I had Scott Thompson and Eugene Levy in that episode and it's a really funny episode.. .. " he says. "(Growing) up, I was such a huge SCTV fan and for me to be there on the floor with Eugene Levy, it was unbelievable. Those two were putting on a comedy master class. It was unbelievable. It was a really beautiful thing to get to behold. It was really a lot of fun."
When asked whether Call Me Fitz, which just finished its fourth season, will be returning, Priestley is sad to say the series will not be coming back for a fifth.
"We had a really great run on Call Me Fitz and we had a great time making that show. I couldn't have asked for a better experience.. .. I will miss working with all those people a lot," he says.
However, next month, Priestley will mark another career first, adding yet another feather to his cap, this time: writer. In May, his autobiography, Jason Priestley: A Memoir, will hit shelves.
"I don't know when I had time to write that but I did," he says.
"I figured I'd better write it all down before I forgot any more of it," he adds.
The book covers Priestley's life growing up on the North Shore and his early years of being in Los Angeles, a "crazy time," he says, carrying through his Beverly Hills, 90210 days.
"What a life-changing experience that was for a kid from Lynn Valley," he says.
