Lauren Lee Smith, Callum Keith Rennie (3/07 Normal)
Excerpt from Canada.com 3/26/07: Lauren Lee Smith and Callum Keith Rennie "Zack Lockhart in "Ex Marks to Spot") | Normal
Filmmaker realigns cultural compass
By Times Colonist (Victoria) March 26, 2007
Not long ago, Carl Bessai couldn't help but wonder why Canadian filmmakers are still struggling to make movies that reflect our identity, and get them seen at local theatres.
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He'll be unleashing his trademark enthusiasm at locations from homes in the Uplands to neon-lit Chinatown when principal photography begins here on Normal. An ensemble drama starring Carrie-Anne Moss, Kevin Zegers, Lauren Lee Smith and Andrew Airlie, it's the third film Bessai will have filmed in Greater Victoria.
© Canada.com
Excerpt from Screen Daily 4/5/07: Lauren Lee Smith, Callum Keith Rennie
Moss, Zegers, Rennie star in Bessai's Normal
5 April, 2007 | By de.seguin@gmail.com
Canadian writer-director Carl Bessai has begun prinicpal photography on his latest picture Normal with Carrie-Anne Moss, Kevin Zegers and Callum Keith Rennie in the lead roles. Travis McDonald conceived the story and co-wrote the screenplay with Bessai, who will also shoot the film. Produced by Bessai's Raven West films and Andrew Boutilier of Submission Films, the film will be sold internationally through London-based Bankside Films. Mongrel Media has the film for Canada. Described as a redemptive drama, the story follows three strangers whose lives have intertwined and then shattered. Supporting players include Cameron Bright, Tygh Runyan, Michael Riley, Camille Sullivan, Lauren Lee Smith, Ben Ratner, Hrothgar Mathews and Gabrielle Rose.
© Screen Daily
Excerpt from Vancouver Sun 6/21/07: Lauren Lee Smith, Callum Keith Rennie
Sexy roles just come her way: B.C.-born Lauren Lee Smith plays seductive TV 'weather girl' in latest movie
Michael D. Reid, Published: Thursday, June 21, 2007
Lauren Lee Smith is in Victoria shooting scenes for Carl Bessai's drama Normal.
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The Chilliwack-born actress and former model says the truth of the material and the chance to play a character she can sink her teeth into are what first attract her to a film -- all the better if it's Canadian. This is why she found herself in a Victoria television studio playing Sherri Banks, a seductive TV "weather girl" who has an affair with Walt, a college professor played by Callum Keith Rennie, while shooting scenes for Carl Bessai's drama Normal. The film, about disparate characters who have lost their ability to communicate following a tragedy, co-stars Carrie Anne Moss, Kevin Zegers, Andrew Airlie, Gabrielle Rose and Tygh Runyan. "Sherri uses her sexuality to rein Walt in but things get too serious," explains Smith. Before filming, she rented To Die For, the thriller starring Nicole Kidman as an aspiring TV news star who uses her feminine wiles and sex appeal to get ahead. She said shooting Normal was a blast because of Bessai's organic and improvisational techniques. "He really got into it and inspired me," she said. "That's how he works, to where you're feeling the vibe."
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Bessai's only half-joking when he says he was lucky to get Smith since he'll no longer be able to afford her. "Oh, that is so not true!" shrieks Smith, after learning what Bessai said. "I've never considered any of that. Maybe I should be caring more about the strategy of my career."
© Vancouver Sun
Excerpt from Canoe Jam!Movies 7/18/07: Lauren Lee Smith
Canada shines at T.O. film fest
By BRUCE KIRKLAND -- Sun Media
Canada is poised to shimmer at the 2007 Toronto International Film Festival.
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Bessai's Normal, Moyle's Weirdsville, Sweeney's American Venus and Lynd's Breakfast With Scot are being placed in Contemporary World Cinema along with Kari Skogland's The Stone Angel, Bernard Emond's Contre Toute Esperance and Leonard Farlinger's All Hat.
© Canoe
Excerpt from Mongrel Media 2007: Lauren Lee Smith
Mongrel Media Presents NORMAL A Film By CARL BESSAI
NORMAL is the story of three strangers who have avoided coming to grips with the aftermath of a senseless tragedy, and their role within it.
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Walt, a reluctant professor of literature, appears to be in the clutch of a midlife crisis. Increasingly apathetic in his life and detached from his wife Abby, his main preoccupations are the routine care he provides for his much-loved high functioning autistic brother Dennis, and the ever-present crutch of whisky. After Abby, walks out, Walt briefly finds solace in the arms of another student, Sherri, a young television reporter. However, when Sherri brings the past to life by reminding him that they had met previously, on the steps of a courthouse two years earlier, Walt realizes that his future depends on his facing his haunting memories.
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LAUREN LEE SMITH as SHERRI
Lauren Lee Smith was born in Chilliwack, British Columbia, but traveled the world with her family, before moving to Los Angeles, California, as a teenager to begin a modeling career before turning to film and television. At the age of 19, she was cast in a small featured role in the remake of GET CARTER and went on to build a lengthy credit list with projects like: CHRISTY: RETURN TO CUTTER GAP, CHRISTY: A CHANGE OF SEASONS and CHRISTY: A NEW BEGINNING, and the show MUTANT X, where she played the character of Emma Delaro. She was also a guest star in an episode of Season 3 of the series DEAD ZONE, and has appeared as a frequent guest star in the drama series THE L WORD, playing the sous-chef Lara Perkins. In 2005, Smith shot to critical acclaim, and controversy, in Clement Virgo's film, LIE WITH ME, where she played the character of Leila. She is currently appearing on screen in the dramatic series INTELLIGENCE as an undercover operative and she stars in the CBC mini-series DRAGON BOYS. Other films due to release shortly for this busy actress are: a J.J. Abrams project for HBO, based on Jerome Groopman's The Anatomy of Hope; PATHOLOGY about a group of medical students who devise a deadly game to see which one of them can commit the perfect murder, and Michael Dougherty’s TRICK ‘R TREAT playing Anna Paquin’s sister.
© Mongrel Media
Excerpt from Straight.com 2/6/08: Lauren Lee Smith
Normal
by Ken Eisner on Feb 6, 2008 at 2:24 pm
Also having a rough time are various spouses, siblings, and, presumably, social workers, although the closest we get to that is the jailbird’s dad, a notably uncompassionate shrink (an underused Michael Riley). There’s brief respite from terminal seriousness with Benjamin Ratner as an officious fast-food manager and Lauren Lee Smith as a promiscuous TV weather reporter.
© Straight.com