As if more proof was needed that Canadians are everywhere in Hollywood, this year's list of Oscar nominees announced yesterday is one of the strongest for Canadian filmmakers in Academy history.
"Not only is this good for Canada, but it's got to be the best showing London, Ont., has ever had," joked London-raised writer-director Paul Haggis, who, along with Iris Yamashita, is nominated for best original screenplay for the Clint-Eastwood-directed Letters From Iwo Jima. Fellow Londoner Ryan Gosling is up for best actor for his role as a drug-addicted junior-high-school teacher in Half Nelson.
Mr. Gosling, who also grew up in the Ontario cities of Cornwall and Burlington, said he plans to take his family to the Academy Awards on Feb. 25. "I have to take my ma," the actor said yesterday. "It's weird. She's crying harder because I've been nominated than she would have been if I hadn't been. I can't make sense of anything she's saying right now. She's a wreck."
Meanwhile, in a year when foreign films were front and centre on best-of-2006 lists, Toronto-based director Deepa Mehta managed to edge out other formidable competitors and earn a nomination for Water in the best foreign-language film category. Rounding out the Canadian contingent was Norwegian-born Montrealer Torill Kove, nominated for best short animation for The Danish Poet.
The films are hardly standard Hollywood fare, and the detachment and freshness of not having grown up in L.A. could have worked in the Canadians' benefit. Mr. Haggis's and Ms. Yamashita's original story for Letters From Iwo Jima depicts the Second World War battle from the perspective of the Japanese army. Meanwhile, Half Nelson wears its social consciousness prominently on its sleeve. Both have an independent spirit much sought after in the industry.
Wayne Clarkson, executive director of Telefilm Canada, said the reason Hollywood is embracing Canadian talent in a bigger way is simple: the U.S. film industry is finally recognizing the worth and power of independent cinema "and that is our heart and soul."
Still, "Canadians have always had a high profile as far as their talent went and their work went," veteran director and past Oscar winner Norman Jewison said. And while he cautions that artistry gets recognized regardless of the artist's passport, "We really produce so much talent, if you really start to analyze [it.]"
For Canadian actors, though, the only option is to succeed in a big way or return home to bit parts.
"The only way to get [working] visas in the States is to get lead parts," Mr. Gosling said. "So by leaving, you're resigning yourself to only auditioning for the lead roles. That is more difficult, but the payoff is bigger. My hope is that we can take what we've established for ourselves back home -- and use that momentum to focus the light on other Canadian talent and our projects."
Canada has had a presence at the Oscars from the start, from Mary Pickford winning for best actress in the late 1920s, to In the Heat of the Night, directed by Mr. Jewison, winning the 1967 Oscar for best picture. But the tipping point was the 1997 Oscars, when the Kapuskasing, Ont.-born director James Cameron and Toronto-based filmmaker Atom Egoyan were both up for best director, for Titanic and The Sweet Hereafter respectively. Together, they represented both Canada's blockbuster capabilities and also its indie side. Mr. Cameron walked away with the statuette that year. Later highlights included Nia Vardalos's 2002 best original screenplay nomination for My Big Fat Greek Wedding, director Denys Arcand's 2003 best foreign-language win for The Barbarian Invasions, and Mr. Haggis's best picture and best original screenplay awards last year for Crash.
In the lead-up to this year's Oscars, Ms. Mehta's richly shot, Hindu-language feature Water, about the ostracism of widows in traditional India,had been touted for months as a contender for best foreign-language film. But that didn't make it a shoo-in. In fact, yesterday it wound up beating the higher profile Spanish film Volver for a best foreign-language nomination.
