Cynthia Preston Article

Halifax Daily News
March 30, 2002

Star-powered Event hits Halifax
by Marla Cranston, Sensible Shmooze

The winter lull is over -- Halifax is Haliwood again, thanks
to Thom Fitzerald's new film, The Event. After several weeks filming
exterior shots in New York -- including Parker Posey on a rooftop,
gazing at the twin towers of light memorializing the fallen World
Trade Centre -- the production swooped into Halifax 10 days ago,
setting up camp in the old Halifax school board building on
Brunswick Street.

Between takes, the acclaimed U.S. indie film darling passes time
knitting a bulky, multicoloured sweater, and one of her first stops
here was the yarn shop in the Hydrostone Market.

She's the biggest name in town since last summer's spate of
blockbusters, and has starred in such movies as Best In Show, You've
Got Mail, Party Girl, Dazed and Confused and The Anniversary Party.
Her next role is in Christopher Guest's movie about a reunion
concert of early 1960s folk singers, with Michael McKean, Eugene
Levy, Catherine O'Hara and others.

She agreed to brave Halifax's harsh spring weather because she
loved the movie's script -- written by Fitzgerald and university
pals Stephen Hillier and Tim Malback -- and says there are very few
decent scripts about realistic human beings and actual life issues
anymore.

She also relished the thought of playing a principled and tough
district attorney, delving into a series of suspicious deaths in New
York's AIDS community.

Joining her in Fitzgerald's incredible cast are Oscar-winning
actress Olympia Dukakis and Toronto's Sarah Polley (neither of whom
will appear in Halifax), Tony-winner Brent Carver (Kiss of the
Spider Woman), Frasier's Jane Leeves, L.A.'s Cynthia Preston and
Halifax's Chaz Thorne, Glen Michael Grant and Rejean Cournoyer, who
plays an outrageous drag queen. Don McKellar (The Red Violin, Twitch
City) stars as Matt, a dying musician who plans a huge farewell
party with lasting consequences.

Local film crew workers are also raving about the script, which is
heartwrenchingly sad yet beautifully warm and funny, and it raises
heavy moral questions about the complex issue of assisted suicide.

The low-budget digital film is produced by Fitzgerald's Emotion
Pictures, and he hopes to finish it in time for next winter's
Sundance Festival. He's also putting the finishing touches on his
last film, The Wild Dogs, for imX's series of linked digital movies.

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