“This film is about a 25-year-old man who grew up in Minneapolis, still lives there and has been in a state of arrested development because his father died 10 years before. He can’t keep a job. His friends make fun of him, and he still lives in his home town. You might say he’s a bit of a slacker,” says James Burke, director of “Aurora Borealis.”
He’s referring to Duncan Shorter (Joshua Jackson), a young man unable to move on with his life since his father’s death. Complicating his situation is his ailing, suicidal grandfather (Donald Sutherland), whose health is rapidly deteriorating from Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s diseases. Duncan does not want to see his grandfather in this condition, but his family forces him to visit. In doing this, he creates a bond in which eventually the grandfather asks his grandson to help him end his life.
“Believe it or not, the story has a lot of humor in it,” according to Burke during a telephone interview shortly after production wrapped. “It’s dramatic, but also has some witty dialogue and humor in the situations. Much of the humor comes from the cold environment.”
Produced by Entitled Entertainment of Los Angeles for under $10 million and released nationwide in September, “Aurora Borealis” also stars Juliette Lewis as a free-spirited nurse attending to the grandfather, and Louise Fletcher as the grandmother. The plot follows two storylines: the grandson/grandfather relationship; and Duncan’s romance with the nurse. The film was produced by Scott Disharoon and Rick Bieber, and written by Brent Boyd.
The story takes place in Minneapolis during the winter, and the cold is a metaphor for Duncan, who is frozen in one spot.
“We shot in Minneapolis and Toronto during 36 days in November and December of last year. The day we shot the opening sequence on the Mississippi River, ice was on the river and it was 60 degrees below zero with the wind chill factor. Trying to shoot, trying to keep lenses warm, trying to do anything at that temperature was a challenge,” Burke says.
“Aurora Borealis” was shot on anamorphic lenses, formerly cinemascope, according to Burke. “They are a widescreen format that creates a painterly effect, and has a specific sort of look that is able to accommodate more characters and more things on the screen. These are still 35mm lenses, but they act a different way. It’s hard to get good focus with these lenses, so we did a lot of complicated focus pulling on these characters and it takes longer to shoot on these lenses. Because this is a character-driven story, these lenses give it a different kind of energy that’s good for the many characters interacting at the same time.”
Boyd’s script is specific to the Midwest and especially to Minneapolis, the city where he was raised.
“Minneapolis is perhaps the coldest place on the planet in winter,” Burke says. “There are skyways that go from building to building, so people don’t actually have to walk outside on the street in the cold weather.”
“Aurora Borealis” premiered at Tribeca Film Festival and later screened at Maui Film Festival where audiences saw the film when it was 80 degrees outside.
“Even people there could appreciate the 60 degrees below zero weather in the film,” Burke says. “Everybody can relate to the place where they came of age, where they grew up.”
Although the cold presented on-going problems for the cast and crew, Burke says his most daunting task was finding the right actor to play the grandfather.
“Finding the right grandfather was very difficult because many actors – even older actors – don’t want to play older characters,” Burke says. “Sometimes they’re not working anymore or can’t keep to the film schedule. It’s very hard to find actors of a certain age and of a certain quality. Getting Donald Sutherland for the part was more than I ever expected.”
Copyright 2006 Leslie Halpern
Interview With “Aurora Borealis” Director James Burke
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