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by Bruce Kirkland
Toronto Sun
Making Deepa Mehta's new film The Republic Of Love was a wild emotional ride for Bruce Greenwood, who co-stars as a man desperate to understand the essence of love.
"This film has a bunch of passionate people in it, you know," Greenwood tells The Sun, referring to both himself and co-star Emilia Fox, the object of his affection on screen. His character, a late-night radio talk-show host, is obsessed with finding love and is thrice-divorced. Her character is in denial, paralyzed because she wrongly believes her parents already have the perfect marriage -- and who can compete?
Put them all on set with Mehta -- who, says Greenwood lovingly, "has a massive appetite for highs and lows" -- and the place was electric during the Toronto shoot. (The action was transferred from Winnipeg, where it is set in the novel by the late Carol Shields, who died before the film made it to the Toronto filmfest last September.)
The intense mood of the project was charged from the first day, the first meeting, even before cameras rolled, says Greenwood, a 47-year-old native of Noranda, Quebec.
"We had a fantastic dinner at Deepa's house, where she cooked and she's a spectacular chef, right? And it was at that moment when I thought, 'Wow, what if the whole trip is as aromatic as this? It would be great.' Then some of the stuff got a little too spicy, to stretch the metaphor a little far. It was really passionate.
"We're all very strong people and some days it worked great, because we were really on the same page, and other days it was a struggle. But, I think at the end, we came out feeling like we had made something good. I think it's full of little moments that make it absolutely worthwhile."
Greenwood has parlayed two decades of hard work and experience into a solid Hollywood career. While an Oscar nomination eluded him for playing John F. Kennedy in the true-life political thriller Thirteen Days in 2000, Greenwood's name is strong enough to keep him working steadily. With The Republic Of Love now in release, Greenwood will follow up with the American film I, Robot, the Canadian-backed production Being Julia and the light Hollywood flick Racing Stripes, the story of talking animals and a zebra who thinks he's a thoroughbred racehorse.
"I'm going to take a little time off now," says Greenwood. "I've been working steady for a couple of years. I just came back from four months in South Africa (on Racing Stripes) and two months in Budapest (for Being Julia) and I'm ready for a little break." I, Robot has also wrapped shooting.
When he is lured back, it will have to be a quality project and not just a paycheque. "It ain't going to be money," Greenwood promises. "I just hope it doesn't happen tomorrow. I've never taken any time off on purpose. It's just not because of any stress (on movies such as The Republic Of Love). It's just the whole trend of the last couple or three years, just never lighting for long, you know."
In the meantime, Greenwood is enthused about Racing Stripes -- which will be released later in 2004 with Whoopi Goldberg providing the voice of the goat and Dustin Hoffman the voice of a Shetland pony -- and not just because the African experience is fresh and was so exotic because of the locales in the midst of game parks.
"It's such a sweet story. It's a very simple story and the format is much like Babe. The animals are already standing there looking stupidly at one another. Soon they will be infused with artificial life and the dialogue is quite clever."
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