Trailer Park Boys star/producer releases his directorial debut in theatres today

CITYnews halifax / By Steve Gow

A familiar face to Trailer Park Boys fans has returned to Halifax theatres.

After spending years producing as well as appearing in the supporting role of Ray LaFleur in the hit comedy series, Barrie Dunn moved on to other projects – his directorial debut, The Madones, getting a cinematic release.

Making its debut at Park Lane Cineplex Cinemas today, The Madones has been a passion project for the award-winning producer for several years since leaving The Trailer Park Boys franchise to pursue other projects.

“It takes time to get projects off the ground and this one just seemed like a good one to sort of reappear with,” Dunn tells CityNews Halifax, noting that he actually came up with the idea for the film about five or six years ago after researching the story of 1960s American girl group, The Ronettes.

Famous for hit songs like “Be My Baby” and “Walking in the Rain” as well as launching the career of Ronnie Spector, Dunn was captivated by the family band’s dynamic and, in particular, Spector’s sister Estelle Bennett, whose life following The Ronettes included bouts of mental health struggles and even homelessness.

“I started to think about that idea of sisters and how serious mental illness can destroy a family,” says Dunn. “I started to think about what are the responsibilities of sisters and how do they stay apart? What happens when fame is gone.”

As Dunn considered the possibilities, he eventually came up with a fictionalized comparison set here on the East Coast involving a successful musical trio called The Madones.

The movie picks up years after the one-hit wonder’s act has fallen apart and the performing sisters have separated. After one of them (played by Trailer Park Boys’ alum Lucy DeCoutere) has a psychotic episode, the family is reunited with the possibility of a Madones’ reunion spinning the situation into chaos.

Although it is a plot that could take place in almost any setting, for Dunn, it was important to anchor the film to the Maritimes.

“Everybody in the film is Nova Scotian — cast, crew, you name it — we’re all Nova Scotian and that was very important to us,” he says.

Filling out the cast are such local talents as actress and former Cumberland-Colchester MP Lenore Zann, Tara Doyle and many others.

Of course, it wasn’t just the actors that Dunn wanted to ensure were local. Filming in Nova Scotia was also important to the first-time director not only because he wanted to keep the money here, but also because he wanted to show off the region’s beauty on the big screen.

“I live out on the Eastern Shore on the other side of Dartmouth and we shot it all out here at Porters Lake, Seaforth, Musquodobit Harbour,” says Dunn.

“Most of the films that come to Halifax and Nova Scotia want the South Shore vistas, the traditional fishing villages but those of us who live out here think we live in the most beautiful part of the province. It’s rugged and some of the vistas we have here are just stunning.”

The Madones is now playing at Cineplex Park Lane Cinemas in Halifax.