Synopsis
My first short film commission, this one from the BBC in 1994. This was also my first make a secret adaptation of a lost movie, in this case Abel Gance’s La Roue, which I had mistakenly assumed was lost. It ain’t. Based entirely on a two-sentence synopsis of this “lost” film that I had long yearned to see, I decided to see it by remaking it. I tapped actor Caelum Vatnsdal (A butler in Careful, and the Christ impersonator in The Heart of the World) to play one third of the Gance love triangle completed by crusty University of Manitoba English prof Jim Keller (he came with his own beard, thus saving me money!) and local magician’s assistant Brandy Bayes. The full 4-hour version of Gance’s original turned up on DVD years later. Now I have a 4 minute short version one might play before the mammoth original.
Cast
Jim Keller, Brandy Bayes, Caelum Vatnsdal
