KILLER
WAVE
PRESS KIT
CONTENTS
LOGLINE
SYNOPSIS
CREDITS
BACKGROUND
PRODUCTION DESIGN
LOCATIONS
THE CAMERA
THE CHARACTERS
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ACTORS BIOGRAPHIES
ANGUS MACFADYEN
KARINE VANASSE
STEPHEN MCHATTIE
TOM SKERRITT
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CREW BIOGRAPHIES
BRUCE MCDONALD –DIRECTOR
PIERRE JODOIN –CINEMATOGRAPHER
TEDI SARAFIAN – SCREENWRITER
WILLIAM GRAY – SCREENWRITER
GUY LALANDE – PRODUCTION DESIGNER
ROBERT HALMI, SR. – EXECUTIVE PRODUCER
IRENE LITINSKY – PRODUCER
MICHAEL PRUPAS – PRODUCER
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PRODUCTION NOTES
LOGLINE
Killer Wave is an action-disaster mini-series about a conspiracy theory come
true. In the story, a large corporation conspires to devastate American cities on
the east coast with tidal waves so that it can win a multi-billion contract from the
government to build a sea wall along the eastern seaboard. Marine engineers
John McAdams and Sophie Marleau try to find the perpetrators of these “natural
disaster,” but they have to evade both the FBI and paid assassins who are
chasing them before they can stop the evil-doers.
SYNOPSIS
PART ONE
A group of teenagers are frolicking on the beach when a tidal wave slams into
the shore, obliterating them and the entire surrounding beach community.
FBI agents Clark and Brisick appear at the cottage of John McAdams, a former
scientist turned reclusive writer, to escort him to a conference at Preston Point
Oceanographic Institute investigating the anomaly of a tidal wave in the Atlantic
Ocean. As the participants try to establish what could have happened – global
warming, rogue waves, melting ice-caps, undetected tremors on the sea floor –
one scientist, Stanley Schiff, proclaims that this is the time to implement his idea
of a Sea Wall to protect the US coastline, and even hints that he has a big time
investor behind him. Another scientist, Heinz Lichtner, dismisses the idea and
turns the attention to bigger matters: he thinks the tidal wave was man-made and
that is was a deliberate attack. His comments are met by stunned silence. He
eyes John, who had worked on Project Sea Lion, a program designed to use the
power of the oceans as a tactical weapon. But John discounts the idea – the
project was terminated because they couldn’t control the tidal waves produced by
these bombs.
John returns home and realizes that someone has been there. He finds a strange
file implanted on his computer. It's encrypted but there is a map of an unidentified
peninsula.
In Boston, Victor Bannister, CEO of the Camtrell Corporation, receives a
philanthropy award. When a reporter asks about the rumors of a government
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investigation into the finances of Camtrell, Bannister and his associate Edgar
Powell dismiss the allegation.
In his Jeep, John realizes that he’s being tailed by the FBI. Why are they
following him? He goes to meet with Jackson Wilcord, director of the Preston
Point Oceanographic Institute, but finds his second in command, Sophie
Marleau, who tells him there’s been another tidal wave. John sees a map of the
impact zone and realizes, with shock that it’s the same as the map he found on
his computer. The map on his computer was planted there before the tidal wave
hit.
Sophie gets a call from fellow scientist Heinz Lichtner who’s now positive these
waves are not natural disasters. She and John go to meet him in a crowded
market but before they can talk, Lichtner is stabbed and John is fingered as the
killer by a female witness.
Meanwhile, the real killer and his accomplice – the female witness - arrive at the
Camtrell pier to meet Aslan Bukhari, a Central Asian who congratulates them on
a job well done. Then he shoots the woman – no loose ends – and proceeds to
make plans for the next tidal wave with… Stanley Schiff, the scientist from the
conference who was pushing his idea of a Sea Wall.
FBI agents Clark and Brisick, now after John for the murder of Lichtner, are
outwitted when John abandons his car for Sophie’s and the two head to a motel
to hide out. John gets a call from Mel, his computer whiz friend, who decrypted
the file on his computer and found another map. Another map means another
attack. She faxes it to the motel. Horrified, John realizes it’s the coast of Maine,
where he lives. He calls the police to warn them but, worried they won’t take
action, John decides to go warn his neighbor and rescue his cat. Sophie
accompanies him.
At the Camtrell Corporation, Edgar Powell assures Victor Bannister that they
have no choice but to do what they’re doing since the company is bankrupt.
Powell believes that by spreading fear about tidal waves, the government will buy
into their idea of a Sea Wall and Camtrell’s stock price will rise.
Trying to evade the FBI, John and Sophie hop in his powerboat and head toward
his cottage. John swims to shore and climbs the rocks, calling out for his
neighbor Annabelle. He falls right into the arms of Agent Clark, who had been at
the cottage to take John’s belongings into evidence. John insists he’s not the
man they’re looking for and that he’s being set up. Agent Clark tells him to come
down to the station to prove it. Then they hear Sophie calling out from the boat.
They turn to see the tide receding and that the tidal wave is about to hit. Clark
warns John not to leave but John jumps down the rocks and bolts toward the
boat. Clark, furious, hightails it to the car and he and Brisick screech away from
the shoreline to evade the tidal wave.
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Sophie is frantic saying they have to get ashore. But John says they'll never
make it and that their only chance is to go to the wave and reach it before it hits.
He starts up the engine and they head out into the open sea. Ahead they can
hear the rumble - then they see it, a huge wall of water racing toward them.
They hold on and run straight at it, starting to climb the leading edge of the wave,
higher and higher... Will they make it?
END OF PART ONE
PART TWO
The boat containing John and Sophie crests the tidal wave and slams down on
its back end. Mean while, the sedan with Agents Clark, Brisick and John’s
neighbor, Annabelle, races inland. But they’re moving too slowly and a wall of
water crashes over them.
John and Sophie hear about the Red Cross shelter and sneak in to find his
neighbor Annabelle, injured but alive. Victor Bannister, CEO of Camtrell, is at the
shelter, giving a speech. When John hears him mention a Sea Wall, he’s
shocked. Why is Bannister promoting Stanley Schiff’s idea? Then he remembers
Schiff talking about a corporate backer. Before John can confront Bannister, the
police catch sight of him. He runs. He finds Sophie with his computer whiz friend
Mel who has news – she found another map on his computer. John can’t think
about that right now as his photograph has been is circulated to the military who
are creating a roadblock around the camp. Mel offers them a lift in her van and
flirts her way through the barricade while John and Sophie are hidden under her
belongings in the back.
Sophie brings John to a cabin in the woods because she believes they are safe
there, or so she thinks. But Wilcord - her boss and former lover – spies on them
through a little camera he had installed. When Edgar Powell, Bannister’s right
hand man, presses him about Sophie’s whereabouts, Wilcord caves and tells him
that Sophie is at the cabin.
The next morning, after buying food, Sophie drives back to the cabin, not
realizing she’s being trailed by a police car. John works on a flowchart, trying to
figure out who’s behind the tidal wave attacks. As Sophie makes breakfast, an
assassin sneaks into the cabin. John catches sight of him and bashes him over
the head. Then another one appears and lunges for John. Sophie whacks him
with a golf club and they run for the woods, bullets racing past them.
The police, ordered to hang back until the FBI agents arrive, hear shots. They go
in and face off with the assassins. In the woods, John and Sophie spot the killers’
SUV. They hop in and take off, careening down the road, passing Clarke and
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Brisick who take down the plate number, then head to the cabin where they find
John’s flowchart on which all arrows lead to Bannister.
Victor Bannister gets a call from a Washington contact who says that the federal
government is interested in the Sea Wall but is not committing to anything yet.
Victor wonders how much more it’ll take as Powell tells him they’ll send another
wave tonight. This wave will make Washington commit to the multi-billion dollar
project.
Sophie and John go to confront Stanley Schiff. His office is empty. They’re told
he now works at the Preston Point Oceanographic Institute where there’s a big
project underway because of the tidal waves. Sophie begins to shiver as she
recalls that a facility was built the year before underneath the Institute for
launching probes into the sea. The facility was a gift from the Camtrell
Corporation. She never wanted to believe that her old friend Victor Bannister is
behind this but now… John knows what he has to do. But he has to do it alone;
he doesn’t want them using Sophie against him. He kisses her – for the first time,
and maybe the last – then leaves.
In the control room at the Institute, Schiff, although he is uncomfortable hitting
Boston as the next target, configures the system for the next wave. Powell tells
him to readjust the coordinates. Not only will they hit a major city this time, but
they’ll use two torpedoes instead of one to do it. Schiff balks – that’s mass
murder!
Clark and Brisick arrive outside Victor Bannister’s house, not sure under what
pretext to go in. Then Sophie pulls up in a taxi. That’s reason enough for them
since she’s a fugitive, they can go in after her. Inside, Sophie implores Bannister
to call off the next wave. He says it’s out of his control. He wants to explain
everything but she won’t listen. He pulls a gun on her. The FBI agents bang on
the door. In fear, Bannister lets Sophie go. A minute later, shots ring out.
Everyone hurries up to find Bannister and his wife dead, the gun clutched in his
hand.
On a security monitor, Wilcord spots John approaching the Institute. Bukhari
jumps on John and forces him down to the control room where Schiff reluctantly
launches the first torpedo. Powell orders Schiff to launch the second but he
refuses. Powell holds the gun to Schiff’s head but Schiff doesn’t budge. Then
John steps forward and offers to do it. They all eye him suspiciously but Powell
lets him work the calculations and lock the second torpedo in place.
Clark, Brisick and Sophie sneak through the woods toward the Institute. They
head to the window of her office and slide in. John launches the second torpedo.
On a security monitor, Wilcord spots Sophie and the agents. He sends Bukhari
after them. Sophie hides in a classroom as the agents head off to fight.
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In the control room, Schiff moves toward a keypad on the wall. He enters a code
and Red lights begin to flash. Furious, Powell shoots Schiff then goes to
deactivate the keypad but John lunges at him and they fight for the gun. On the
computer screen, the image of the first wave grows larger and larger.
Brandishing a pistol, Wilcord enters the classroom where Sophie’s hiding.
John wins control of the gun. He looks at the screen – the second torpedo is
arcing back. Powell doesn’t understand it. How can the torpedo miss? It won’t
miss, John tells him. It’ll hit the back of an undersea mountain and block the tidal
wave from hitting Boston. Powell is aghast. John moves to the keypad. Powell
implores him not to touch it – he’ll blow the whole building and they’ll both die.
Upstairs, Bukhari and agents Clark and Brisick are engaged in a shoot out. Agent
Clark is hit.
Holding a gun to Sophie’s head, Wilcord shoves her in front of a camera and
calls to John through the intercom: She’ll die if he doesn’t change the trajectory
of the torpedo. Powell pounces on John and grabs the gun. But it’s too late. On
the screen we see the torpedo hit the impact zone. John moves to the keypad.
He presses a button.
Outside the Institute, the ground shakes with a powerful explosion. The screen
displaying the control room goes blank. Wilcord, deflated, drops his gun.
Out in the ocean, the two waves collide and a geyser shoots up, engulfing a
tanker like it’s a bath toy.
Later Sophie returns home to find a voice message from John. He left it before
going to the Institute. He knew what would happen. He says goodbye and tells
her not to have regrets.
Sophie sits on the rocks outside John’s cabin, watching the calm ocean. She has
no regrets.
END OF PART II
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CAST CREDITS
John McAdams
Sophie Marleau
Marlon Clark
Frank Brisick
Victor Bannister
Edgar Powell
Annabelle
Jackson Wilcord
Stanley Schiff
Aslan Bukhari
Mel
Heinz Lichtner
Angus MacFadyen
Karine Vanasse
Louis-Philippe Dandenault
John Robinson
Tom Skerritt
Stephen McHattie
Ellen David
Bruce Dinsmore
Christopher Heyerdahl
Andreas Apergis
Anna Hopkins
Vlasta Vrana
CREW CREDITS
Executive Producer
Producer
Produced by
Story by
Teleplay by
Directed by
Production Designer
Director of Photography
Music Composer
Editor
Canadian Casting by
Casting Directors
USA Casting by
Costume Designer
Robert Halmi Sr.
Michael Prupas
Irene Litinsky
Tedi Sarafian
Tedi Sarafian and William Gray
Bruce McDonald
Guy Lalande
Pierre Jodoin – CSC
Normand Corbeil
Denis Papillon
Andrea Kenyon & Associates
Andrea Kenyon, CDC, CSA
Randi Wells, ADCQ
Lynn Kessel
Claire Nadon
Visual Effects by
Buzz Image Group
BACKGROUND
For Director Bruce McDonald, Killer Wave is a political thriller about the
manufacture of fear for profit. “In the world of politics and power today there are
plenty of parallels,” he says.
The idea of tidal waves as a form of terrorist assault was born out of recent
natural disasters; such as 2004’s Boxing Day Tsunami and 2005’s Hurricane
Katrina flooding.
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“Those disasters were our jumping-off point but we put a sinister twist to them.
Our natural disasters are created by evil corporate weasels in America,”
McDonald says. “Killer Wave has a James Bond - Dr. Evil premise. It is in the
tradition of The Day After Tomorrow and Poseidon but taken one extra step.”
THE PRODUCTION DESIGN
The design team headed by Gemini-Award winning production designer Guy
Lalande faced a daunting challenge - and “they did a terrific job,” says McDonald.
The first thing the design team did was to look at hundreds of images of the 2004
Indonesian tsunami. Many of them were painful and shocking – but some were
fascinating “in a surrealistic way,” says McDonald. “There were images of bodies
up in trees 5 km from the shore. There were huge boats on top of rooftops. Our
job as visual mechanics was to dig up these references and bring them back to
our dream factory.”
McDonald and Lalande decided to not show gruesome details of death but to
concentrate instead on conveying the sense of chaos and emotional shock.
According to Lalande, the Red Cross camp was visually the peak of the show as
it was where “all the devastation scenes were put together.” It had the
atmosphere and ambiance of a real disaster. The Camp was built inside the big
yard of an old Montreal factory.
The script called for six different wrecked sets including flooded streets, tornapart buildings, uprooted trees and a broken pier. “Since we had only 40 days to
shoot I decided to group them in one place,” explains Lalande. Over an area of
2000 ft. by 1000 ft. Lalande’s crew spread wrecked cars, buses, boats, tons of
debris including steel and wood fragments, earth, dirt and of course a lot of
water.
Production used three dozen 40 ft.-containers of debris for the Red Cross set.
“After filming we had to reload the containers and ship them back!” says Lalande.
“We even brought seaweed in from Gaspésie,” he says. “Workers went into the
ocean to cut 20 ft. tall seaweed, shipped the bundles to Montreal and we spread
them around the set for shooting the next day.”
Lalande even added two upturned school buses to the rubble as well as three
large boats which he was proud to have purchased for a good price at a fire sale.
“A marina burned down last autumn. We were very happy to have these huge
boats for next to nothing. Otherwise they would have cost a fortune,” says
Lalande.
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He rented Red Cross vehicles, ambulances, police cars and army jeeps to add to
the action at the Red Cross set.
The Red Cross set was further expanded by computer special effects during post
production. The ocean was built into the background and in between it and the
Red Cross camp were six streets of wrecked houses. Special effects even
created a 400 ft. burning oil tanker that had crash-landed on a street in the
background. Computer special effects also created a crowd of thousands from
only 150 dirtied and bandaged extras on the Red Cross camp set.
The second most challenging scene to set up for the production designer was the
control room from which missiles are fired by the villains into an undersea
mountain range, causing tremendous displacement of water – and tidal waves.
“We created a secret, below-ground control room underneath the oceanic
research centre. We built it on a sound stage. We made it look like a concrete
bunker full of high tech machines, cameras and big computer screens,” says
Lalande.
A team led by C.G.I. supervisor Mario Rachiele at Montreal’s Buzz Image Group
built a miniature model – 120 ft. long and 20 ft. high – of the underwater
mountain range - to receive the missile attacks. The missiles and explosions
were added digitally.
Lalande was able create all this magic with a very small crew consisting of three
Decorators, two Assistant Decorators, Art Director and Graphics Prop person. He
hired “swing” workers on a daily basis, when needed, and heavy machine
operators.
LOCATIONS
The filming of Killer Wave was done in more than 45 locations. One of them was
at the historic Mount Stephen Club in Montreal which had been built and
furnished in the 19th century by a railway tycoon and served as Victor Bannister’s
mansion.
“There is not a single nail in this beautiful building. Every single piece of wood
and wood carving is tongue and groove, done in the old technique,” says
Lalande.
A week was spent in idyllic fishing villages south of Halifax, Nova Scotia which
doubled as the coast of Maine.
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A far less pleasant location - and the dirtiest - was a water treatment plant
outside of Montreal that processes raw sewage. “It was very loud and very
smelly,” says McDonald.
“We shot a scene on St. Laurent Boulevard, right in downtown Montreal, inside
an old theater school. The scene was a big conference with many scientists
discussing the fate of America’s coastlines. It was great shooting there because
we could go next door and have good coffee and great corned beef sandwiches!”
McDonald adds.
THE CAMERA
Filming was mostly done with Sony CineAlta HD cameras and a smaller 5 lb.
Canon Excel HD, which Cinematographer Pierre Jodoin used in very small
locations and on car rigs.
He kept the camera moving as much as possible, he says, in keeping with an
action movie. The camera is alive even in talking scenes.
He explains: “As the action progressed, the camera got a little bit more nervous.
We used what is called a ‘loose head’. We took the tension off the gear head, so
that it became a bit jerky. The camera was hand-held for the fight scenes. The
only time the camera was still and wide was when we shot establishing scenes.”
The most challenging scenes to shoot were the ones on the sea, in Nova Scotia.
“We never knew what the day would bring; whether we’d have clouds or sun. The
camera was on a small, 21-ft. Zodiac boat in the open sea, being pushed around
by the wind and the waves. Rain deflectors protected the cameras from getting
wet. I was constantly worried about salt water damaging our cameras. We were
at the mercy of the elements and there was little we could do about them,” says
Jodoin. He and the camera operator juggled two hand-held cameras in the
speeding boat. “We were sitting in the bow of the boat, bouncing up and down,
jumping the waves. It was probably the worst ride of my life,” says Jodoin.
It all turned out well … and there were no camera problems whatsoever.
Jodoin’s lighting scheme was naturalistic. “I did not overwhelm the heroes – John
and Sophie – with light, but kept the lighting natural. I used stylistic lighting only
with the antagonist, Powell. In his case I used shadows, high contrasts and
silhouettes.” The lighting for Tom Skerritt’s character, Victor Bannister, is dark
and moody, to amplify the emotional weight that he carries. The lighting used for
the two FBI characters, Clark and Brisick, is more direct and old-fashioned, “just
like in Dragnet,” says Jodoin. “The FBI characters are cartoon-like, with the little
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muscular chubby guy and the long, stick-like one. They were like Mutt and Jeff
and needed a different lighting scheme.”
Jodoin also used cranes, ladder pods and scissor lifts for shooting scenes from
high angles and for CGI plate shots and crowd replication.
Blue screens were used for Bannister’s office windows on which stock shots of
Boston were composited in postproduction. “His office was supposed to be on
25th floor in Boston. The actual office where we shot was on a second floor
building in St. Hubert, Quebec! The days of painted back drops are long gone.
They are too expensive.”
THE CHARACTERS
John McAdams (played by Angus MacFadyen)
According to McDonald, Killer Wave’s main character, John McAdams, is
inspired by the story and character of J. Robert Oppenheimer, the father of the
atom bomb in America.
“Oppenheimer was a scientist and idealist, who, like our hero, was trained as a
weapons designer. He created this new technology which was then co-opted by
the military industrial complex. He had wanted it to be used for the forces of
good, but then it was used for evil.”
John is a guy with a lot of anger from his days with the corporation and the
military. He developed the technology to make tidal waves to benefit mankind,
but after his fiancée (Victor Bannister’s daughter) is killed in a tidal wave
experiment, he withdraws from his work as a marine engineer and lives like a
hermit, alone and cut off. Then his life is turned upside down by a series of very
strange events.
Says McDonald: “Angus is not your smiling hero. His character John is paranoid,
suspicious, angry and broken. The only time he smiles is in the final act, when
he’s finally turned the tables on the bad guys. He breaks out into this laugh which
is so unexpected and shocking because up to that point, it’s been a very dark
journey for him carrying the weight of his terrible tragic past.”
Sophie Marleau (played by Karine Vanasse)
“To balance out the dark intensity of MacFadyen, we cast the beautiful, young
Karine Vanasse as the female lead, who is full of light and curiosity,” says
McDonald. Together the two make a very odd, but effective team. He has a slight
Scottish accent and she has a French Canadian accent.
“So here you have these two people, both outsiders and scientists, dealing with
the heart of corrupt, corporate America.”
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Sophie’s character is an ambiguity. Is she working for the other side? How much
does she really know? Is she toying with John McAdams?
“Karine plays the character so that she is many things at once: innocent yet
sharp, keen, intelligent and complex. She keeps John McAdams off-balance. He
was so paranoid and suspicious to start with. And then he doesn’t understand
what’s happening to him, with FBI and assassins coming out of nowhere, and
strange information showing up on his computer. He doesn’t know who to trust,”
McDonald says.
Even Sophie is suspicious of John at the beginning. She wonders how much
does he really know? How much is he telling?
“We play with the audience, back and forth, to the end,” says McDonald. “They
won’t know for certain who the bad guy is and who’s the good guy.”
The relationship that develops between John and Sophie is not about romance,
but trust.
Victor Bannister (played by Tom Skerritt)
Bannister is the CEO of Camtrell Corporation which Tom Skerritt describes as “a
Halliburton that cleans up after somebody has made a mess.” Camtrell is
bankrupt because money has been misused.
“Bannister is desperate in a lot of ways; his home life is dysfunctional, he’s
clearly hanging on by his nails, trying to make something work here and he goes
over the line into greed, into losing perspective on to what he’s doing,” says
Skerritt.
Edgar Powell (played by Stephen McHattie)
Powel is an executive officer at Camtrell Corporation and Victor Bannister’s right
hand man. He thinks that the way to save the company from bankruptcy is by
causing “creative destruction.” Powell designs a number of tidal waves to hit the
eastern seaboard of the United States. Camtrell gets the clean-up contract and,
he hopes, a multi billion dollar contract will follow to build a Sea Wall all along the
Atlantic coast. He is in cahoots with marine engineers Jackson Wilcord (played
by Bruce Dinsmore), Stanley Schiff (played by Christopher Heyerdahl) and
terrorist-thug Aslan Bukhari (played by Andreas Apergis).
Clark (played by Louis-Philippe Dandenault) and Brisick (played by John
Robinson) are two FBI agents who arrive on John McAdams doorsteps after the
first tidal wave hits to take him to a hastily-called conference of scientists
examining the possible causes of the tidal wave. But when Scientist Heinz
Lichtner (played by Vlasta Vrana) is assassinated, and a bystander tells police
that McAdams is the killer, they attempt to capture and arrest him – but he keeps
slipping away from their grasp.
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ACTORS BIOGRAPHIES
ANGUS MACFADYEN
As “John McAdams”
Angus MacFadyen is a very intense and dramatic actor. “He brings magnetism,
intelligence, originality and suspense to his character,” says Director Bruce
McDonald.
Scottish born MacFadyen plays the role of John McAdams, an oceanographic
engineer who had worked in creating ocean wave technology for humanitarian
purposes. But his work is taken over by terrorists and a rogue corporation and
being used for wrong purposes: to spread fear so that the corporation can profit.
“John is like a hermit crab at the start of the film,” says MacFadyen. His fiancée,
who was also an engineer, died accidentally in a wave-making experiment six
years before. John withdrew from his job and the world to live alone in a small
fisherman’s house. But when a tidal wave hits the east coast – and then another
– he gets drawn back into the world both by the FBI who come to question him
and by his past colleagues at the Oceanographic Institute.
At the Institute he meets Sophie Marleau, another engineer, who joins him on his
hunt for the cause of the tidal waves.
“Sophie and my character don’t have a romantic relationship,” says MacFadyen.
“She is more of a spiritual inspiration to him; a guide who pushes him at certain
points when he is the reluctant hero. She pulls him out of his shell.”
MacFadyen has worn different hats as an actor, including the romantic lead as
Richard Burton in Liz: The Elizabeth Taylor Story (1995), the historic turn-coat
Robert the Bruce in the Academy-Award winning feature Braveheart (1995), and
the romantic actor Peter Lawford in the The Rat Pack (1998). He also played the
genius director, writer and producer Orson Wells in Cradle Will Rock. MacFadyen
played the character Lucius opposite Sir Anthony Hopkins and Jessica Lange in
Titus (1999) and played the lead in A Woman’s a Helluva Thing (2001).
MacFadyen’s other feature film credits include Lanai-Loa, Nevada, Still
Breathing, Warrior of Virtue and The Brylcream Boys, opposite Gabriel Byrne. In
Snide & Prejudice he played a schizophrenic who thought he was Hitler.
For television, MacFadyen portrayed Zeus in the NBC mini-series Jason and the
Argonauts. He also starred in Takin’ Over the Asylum, The Lost Language of
Cranes, and God of Happiness.
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Educated in France, the University of Edinburgh and the Central School of
Speech and Drama, he performed several plays as part of the Edinburgh Fringe
Festival. MacFadyen has also written several plays, including 1905, which
received the 1991 Questors Theatre Student Playwriting Award.
MacFadyen paints, sculpts and plays the clarinet and saxophone.
KARINE VANASSE
As “Sophie Marleau”
Karine Vanasse is already a star in her province of Quebec. Killer Wave is her first
major English-speaking role. Vanasse plays the role of Sophie Marleau, an
oceanographic engineer, who joins John McAdams (played by Angus MacFadyen) in
a desperate cat-and-mouse-chase, to discover the cause of the killer tidal waves that
are pounding the shores of the eastern United States. At the same time they are being
pursued by hired killers and two FBI agents Clark (played by Louis-Philippe
Dandenault) and Brisick (played by John Robinson).
“Sophie is young but she’s a professional and a perfectionist,” says Vanasse. “Sophie
is very analytical, calm and mentally strong.”
The relationship between Sophie and John is an unusual one.
“They make an odd couple. He’s older than she is and they have different
temperaments. And they are suspicious of each other’s motives,” says Vanasse.
The emotional turning point in the film for Sophie is when she discovers that her
mentor Victor Bannister, the CEO of the Camtrell Corporation, is not the great
man she thought he was. He is complicit in the making of the destructive tidal
waves – so that his company will make money from the clean-up and the building
of a sea wall.
Vanasse says she really enjoyed working with Tom Skerritt, who plays Bannister.
“He is so calm and never rushes his acting. He lets everything just come and he
tries to give you something even if the camera is on you and not him.”
Born in Drummondville, Québec, Vanasse wanted to be a singer or actor from
the age of nine. That desire became an ambition when she appeared in
Quebec's teen show Club des 100 watts after winning a lip sync competition.
Soon afterward she won small roles in TV commercials and supporting roles in
French-Canadian TV movies.
In 1998, she became the co-host of the popular children's science show, Les Petits
Debrouillards, for which she won a Gemini Award for Best Host in a children's TV
show. She was spotted and hired by producer Lorraine Richard and director Léa Pool
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to play the role of 'Hanna' in her first big break Set Me Free (Emporte-moi ), a 1999
film about a teenager trying to find her identity in a tormented family environment. The
film was presented in 40 festivals and earned two Oscar nominations for best foreign
film. Her performance was highly acclaimed both nationally and internationally and
earned her a Jutra Award as best actress.
Vanasse then played Lucie in the controversial Quebec TV series 2 frères and
the lead in the feature Du pic au coeur (2001). In 2002 her career changed when
she took on the role of the beautiful Donalda, in Charles Binamé's masterpiece,
Seraphin: Heart of Stone (Séraphin: un homme et son péché) opposite Roy
Dupuis. She won another Jutra Award for Best Actress.
“With that film I went from a child star to a young woman and a young actress
who could play more mature roles. That kind of transition is not always easy,”
she says, “because the audience, if they’ve known you as a little girl, wants to
keep you in naive, charming roles.”
Vanasse is loved by fans for her natural acting talents, her sparkling personality and
her radiant presence. In 2002, she was named Woman of the Year by Châtelaine
magazine.
Her other credits include John Duigan’s Head in the Clouds, Sans Elle, Un homme
mort, the docu-comedy Marie-Antoinette, October, 1970, and Ma fille, mon ange,
STEPHEN MCHATTIE
As “Edgar Powell”
Stephen McHattie plays Edger Powell, an executive at Camtrell Corporation and
the film’s antagonist. McHattie was happy to come on board Killer Wave because
he had worked on a number of projects in the past with Director Bruce
McDonald.
“Powell’s Camtrell Corporation is experiencing serious financial problems and
Powell cooks up a creative but evil solution: create a bit of destruction with some
attention-getting waves and he will get his way and recapitalize Camtrell,” says
McHattie. Powell is driven by lust for power … and comes close to succeeding.
Powell is Victor Bannister’s right-hand man. Bannister, the CEO of Camtrell is
played by Tom Skerritt.
McHattie believes that there are a number of rogue corporations in the world, just
like the fictional Camtrell. “We are in very roughish times right now and creative
destruction seems to be operating in many places,” he says.
A Nova Scotia native, McHattie has performed leading roles in over 50 films in
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the US and Canada. His most recent role was in David Cronenberg’s A History
of Violence, nominated for the Golden Palm in Cannes 2005. He played Maggie
Gyllenhall’s father in Secretary with James Spader, and also had a role in The
Lazarus Child with Andy Garcia, Francis O’Connor and Angela Bassett.
Upcoming films include Shoot ‘Em Up with Clive Owen and Monica Belluci, and
he recently finished Poor Boy’s Game with Danny Glover.
McHattie is well known to television fans for his work on successful series such
as Cold Squad, Emily of New Moon and Beauty and the Beast. His recent
television works include the TV movies Stone Cold and Jesse Stone: Death in
Paradise with Tom Selleck.
McHattie’s memorable episodic performances were in Seinfeld, Monk, The XFiles, The Hunger and a famous live television project performed at the Toronto
Film Festival called American Whiskey Bar directed by Bruce MacDonald.
McHattie won a Gemini Award for Best Actor in the TV movie Life with Billy.
TOM SKERRITT
As “Robert Bannister”
Tom Skerritt plays the CEO of the fictional Camtrell Corporation, an engineering
company on the verge of bankruptcy, which Bannister and his underling Edgar
Powell (played by Stephen McHattie) try to save by winning a huge federal
government contract to build a sea wall along the eastern seaboard of the United
States. If Bannister can convince federal official Olivia McPhee, (played by Linda
E. Smith) to buy into his company’s plan for a sea wall, Camtrell will have a rosy
financial future.
To convince the government – which is slow to make up its mind – Bannister and
Powell decide to use powerful weapons and technology to create huge tidal
waves. They believe that the ensuing fear and destruction caused by the tidal
waves will force the government’s hand to issue the contract to Camtrell.
“My character is hanging on by his nails,” says Skerritt. “His company is close to
bankruptcy and he’s accused of misusing money. Bannister is so desperate that
he goes over the line into greed and loses perspective on what he’s doing.”
Skerritt believes that rogue corporations like Camtrell that exploit consumers
unreasonably for profit, do exist in this world.
“We all know about U.S. corporations that collapsed because they went way over
the top with creative book-keeping. Our fictional Camtrell is just a mirror of what’s
already gone on,” he says.
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Skerritt says he’s just as happy to play a villain as he is to play a good guy. “I
have to be really attracted to the character,” he says. “If I like the script, and it
arcs well and is put together well, I’m happy to work on it…I have always felt a
responsibility to the audience to do the very best I can … and I’ve never
compromised that.”
Skerritt is one of the most versatile and acclaimed American actors of both the
big and small screens. From the early classic, Robert Altman’s M*A*S*H, to a
roster of acclaimed films including The Turning Point, Alien, A River Runs
Through It, Steel Magnolias, Top Gun, Contact, The Other Sister, and Tears of
the Sun, his work in both television and film continues to be a study in strength
and subtlety of performance.
Skerritt won an Emmy Award as Best Actor for his starring role in David Kelley's
CBS series Picket Fences. He also directed several episodes of this awardwinning series.
His most recent projects include episodes of Huff, as Hank Azaria's father, the
Stephen King thriller, Desperation and the CBS disaster mini-series, Category 7.
His other television projects include Path to War, High Noon, Jacqueline
Kennedy Onassis: A Life and What the Deaf Man Heard. In Divided by Hate, for
the USA Network, he juggled acting and directing simultaneously in the story of
the leader of a controversial religious cult.
Born in Detroit, Skerritt studied at Wayne State University and UCLA. Originally
interested in directing, performances in a UCLA theater production lead to his
being cast in his first film, War Hunt (1961).
His roles have run the gamut through comedy, science fiction, westerns and
thrillers to psychological dramas, romances and mysteries. Through the years,
Skerritt has starred in dozens of productions.
Occasionally he has returned to the stage most recently starring as the Stage
Manager at Seattle's Tony Award-winning Intaman Theater. He also co-starred
with Lee Remick in the Los Angeles theatrical production of Love Letters, which
was her last appearance before her death from cancer. He also re-teamed with
Picket Fences co-star Kathy Baker for several charity performances of Love
Letters, including one to benefit the Laguna Art Museum.
Although heavy work demands do not leave much spare time, Skerritt teaches
screenwriting at the Filmschool that he co-founded in Seattle with award-winning
writer, Stewart Stern (Rebel Without a Cause). The school's aim is to teach
aspiring writers "how to tell a story well" and they hold two intensive three-week
sessions a year, attracting such filmmakers as Sidney Pollack, Ed Zwick, Ed
Solomon and Chris McQuerrie to their Speakers Series.
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CREW BIOGRAPHIES
BRUCE McDONALD
Director
Bruce McDonald is one of Canada’s most celebrated independent filmmakers.
His unique voice and offbeat sense of humor have resulted in his impressive
body of work in feature film including Roadkill, Highway 61, Dance Me Outside,
Hard Core Logo, Picture Claire, Claire’s Hat, The Love Crimes of Gillian Guess
and 2003, a mockumentary about the unmaking of a film.
McDonald has executive produced two television series, The Rez, a CBC
comedy series about growing up on an Indian reserve, and Twitch City, a CBC
comedy series about a love triangle between a man, a woman and a TV set.
McDonald’s television credits include Lonesome Dove, This Is Wonderland,
Queer As Folk, Degrassi: The Next Generation, Playmakers, Kevin Hill, The
Collector, The Tournament, Tilt and Regenesis II.
McDonald’s Toronto based production company, Shadow Shows, develops
television and feature films.
PIERRE JODOIN
Cinematographer
Filmography
1. Flood (2006) (post-production)
2. Fatal Trust (2006) (TV) (co-cinematographer)
3. Living with the Enemy (2005/I) (TV)
4. Forbidden Secrets (2005) (TV)
5. Audition, L' (2005)
6. When Angels Come to Town (2004) (TV)
7. Aimants, Les (2004)
8. Baby for Sale (2004) (TV)
9. Espérance, L' (2004)
10. Secrets des grands cours d'eau, Les (2003) (TV)
11. Stiletto Dance (2001) (TV)
12. Ne dis rien (2001)
13. Believe (2000/I)
14. Homme perché, L' (1996)
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Miscellaneous Crew - Filmography
1. Decoys (2004) (director of photography: second unit)
... aka Piégés (Canada: French title)
2. Café Olé (2000) (director of photography: Mexico)
3. Revenge (2000) (camera operator: second unit) (director of photography:
second unit)
... aka Eternal Revenge (USA: TV title)
... aka Fallen Angel
4. Xchange (2000) (director of photography: second unit)
5. Little Men (1997) (camera operator) (director of photography: second unit)
... aka Louisa May Alcott's Little Men
6. Squanto: A Warrior's Tale (1994) (second assistant camera: second unit)
... aka The Last Great Warrior (International: English title)
7. Octobre (1994) (second assistant camera)
... aka October
8. Meurtre en musique (1994) (second assistant camera)
9. Coyote (1992) (second assistant camera)
10. Moody Beach (1990) (second assistant camera)
11. The Kiss (1988) (camera trainee)
TEDI SARAFIAN
Screenwriter
Tedi Sarafian’s early training in film came from two legendary iconoclasts in the
industry; his father, award winning screenwriter/director Richard C. Sarafian
(“Vanishing Point”) and his uncle, Academy Award honored director, Robert
Altman.
Growing up on sets and trained in his youth as a production assistant, he was
given a rare inside education in all aspects of filmmaking and by his late teens
was working as an Assistant Editor. He took a hiatus from the family business to
attend North Texas University where he studied film and music. He then left
college to play guitar with a traveling R&B funk group, touring the country for 2
years.
Returning home, Tedi found he was able to draw from the wealth of his
experiences and colorful people he met on the road and turned to writing
screenplays. Prolific
Imaginative, his storylines were fast-paced with smart characters and his affinity
for epic action sequences quickly got the attention of major studios. His first
produced credit, Tank Girl starring Lori Petti, became an underground cult film.
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He then went on to write and co-produce Road Flower (aka “Road Killers”) for
Miramax.
Throughout his twenties, his spec screenplays consistently sold, increasing in
value. Now, garnering seven figures per project, he branched out to deliver
rewrites of existing material on such major projects as the television mini-series,
Dinotopia and the hit feature film, Rush Hour.
In 2003, Tedi wrote an original screenplay that attracted Arnold Schwarzenegger
and director Jonathan Mostow. The resulting feature film, Terminator 3: Rise of
the Machines, became the 3rd installment of Sony Pictures’ blockbuster franchise
grossing $450 mil worldwide firmly establishing Tedi as a major screenwriter.
Working with top directors such as Ridley Scott, John Singleton, Gary Ross,
Michael Bay and Sam Raimi, Tedi has several screenplays presently being made
into feature films including, Sinbad (with Keanu Reeves) and Arabian Nights
based on a treatment by Sam Raimi who will also helm the adventure feature.
Presently, Tedi’s television projects include the half-hour sci-fi comedy, Hoax, for
Fox Television ’07; as well, a dark, twisted family comedy titled, Blood Relatives
has Tedi teaming up with his brother, Deran Sarafian (renowned television
director: House, Lost, CSI).
Early next year, Tedi will make his directorial debut on the feature film of his own;
the supernatural thriller, Witch, to be produced by Mark Canton (Frank Miller’s
300).
WILLIAM GRAY
Screenwriter
William Gray, one of the writers of Killer Wave, finds the premise of the plot "all
too plausible - and frighteningly so".
"In today's troubled world, beset by terrorism and incipient environmental
breakdown, it is not too far-fetched to imagine the use of sophisticated weaponry
in combination with our natural environment - in this case the oceans - to create
"natural" disasters. It amounts to turning nature into the ultimate Weapon of
Mass Destruction,” he says.
“It is also not beyond belief that an international conglomerate, like the Camtrell
Corporation, answerable only to itself and its stockholders, might be tempted to
lend a hand to such catastrophes in the hope of securing massive financial
rewards on the back end. Just think about the fortunes that have been made by
the handful of companies participating in the cleanup of New Orleans after
Hurricane Katrina.
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“Obviously, Killer Wave is a work of fiction - but it is not science fiction. It is
within the realm of possibility."
The Toronto-born Gray has many feature film credits to his name, including The
Changeling, Prom Night, The Philadelphia Experiment, Eye for an Eye, Cross
Country and Black Moon Rising. Television credits include the NBC movie, The
Abduction of Kari Swenson, In The Heat of the Night, Dark Shadows (the prime
time remake), Robocop, FX - the Series, Beastmaster and Largo Winch.
He currently splits his time between Los Angeles and London, U.K. where his
wife is a Professor of International Relations at Royal Holloway College,
University of London.
GUY LALANDE
Production Designer
Filmography
Human Trafficking (2005) (mini) TV Series The Wool Cap (2004) (TV) Baby for
Sale (2004) (TV) Bad Apple (2004) (TV) Going for Broke (2003) (TV) Riders
(2002) Jewel (2001) (TV) Nuremberg (2000) (mini) TV Series Bonanno: A
Godfather's Story (1999) (TV) Babel (1999) In the Presence of Mine Enemies
(1997) (TV) The Alibi (1997) (TV) Chercheurs d'or (1996) (mini) TV Series
... aka Adventures of Smoke Bellew (Canada: English title) (International: English
title) aka Jack London's Wilderness Tales (International: English title) Maternal
Instincts (1996) Circumstances Unknown (1995) (TV) Not Our Son (1995) (TV)
The Return of Tommy Tricker (1994) ... aka Retour des aventuriers du timbre
perdu, Le (Canada: French title) Imagine (1993) Urban Angel (1991) TV Series
Dracula: The Series (1990) TV Series Mindfield (1989) Tisserands du pouvoir II:
La Révolte, Les (1988) Tisserands du pouvoir, Les (1988) (mini) TV Series Crazy
Moon (1986) .. aka D'amour et d'eau fraîche (Canada: French title)
Blue Line (1985)
Art Director - Filmography
Glory & Honor (1998) (TV) Dr. Jekyll and Ms. Hyde (1995) Haute tension - La
mort en dédicace (1990) (TV) Haute tension - Pour cent millions (1990) (TV) Day
One (1989) (TV)
Art Department - Filmography
In Love and War (1996) (art director: Canada) Choices (1986) (TV) (set dresser)
Set Decorator – Filmography
Shades of Love: Lilac Dream (1987) (V)
Awards:
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2006 Gemini Award, Best Production Design, Human Trafficking mini-series
2001 Gemini Award, Best Production Design, for Nuremberg mini-series
ROBERT HALMI, SR
Executive Producer
Robert Halmi, Sr. is described in his 1999 Peabody Award citation as "perhaps
the last of the great network television impresarios." TV Guide calls him "TV's
master showman." These and other descriptions sit comfortably on the
shoulders of one of the industry's most prolific and respected producers; a man
who, in little more than two decades, has created a signature niche in the
television business, producing quality, family-friendly long form entertainment.
Halmi has produced nearly 200 television films, miniseries and motion pictures,
including five-time Emmy® Award-winning The Josephine Baker Story. Among
his other “event” productions include, Gypsy (Bette Midler), Arabian Nights (John
Leguizamo,), Cleopatra (Timothy Dalton), Dinotopia, Dostoevsky’s Crime &
Punishment (Ben Kingsley, Patrick Dempsey), Merlin (Sam Neill, Isabella
Rossellini, Martin Short, Miranda Richardson), Moby Dick (Patrick Stewart,
Gregory Peck), The Odyssey (Armand Assante, Greta Scaachi), and Gulliver's
Travels (Ted Danson and Mary Steenburgen), another winner of five Emmy®
Awards.
Most recently Halmi was honored by Reed MIDEM with a Lifetime Achievement
Award at the 2004 MIPTV international market in Cannes, France. While there,
he received the city of Cannes’ Palme D’Or, from the Mayor of Cannes, Bernard
Brochand, at a special event held in his honor at the Villa Domergue. That same
week he was also named Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Letters by the
French government, the country’s highest honor in the fields of art and culture.
2004 was truly a benchmark year, ushering in several major Halmi productions
including the highly acclaimed The Lion in Winter (Glenn Close, Patrick Stewart)
for Showtime, a musical version of A Christmas Carol (Kelsey Grammer, Jason
Alexander, Jesse L. Martin) for NBC, Mitch Albom’s The Five People You Meet in
Heaven (Jon Voight, Jeff Daniels, Ellen Burstyn, Michael Imperioli) for ABC, and
Legend of Earthsea (Isabella Rossellini, Danny Glover, Shawn Ashmore, Kristin
Kruek) for The Sci Fi Channel. In 2005-06, Halmi continued to churn out epic
dramas including Human Trafficking (Mira Sorvino, Donald Sutherland) for
Lifetime and The Ten Commandments (Dougray Scott, Omar Sharif, Naveen
Andrews, Mia Maestro) for ABC.
The Hungarian-born Halmi was active in the anti-Nazi underground in World War
II, and later was arrested by the Communists when they took over the country.
He came to the U.S. in 1950 and worked for many years as an award-winning
photographer for Life Magazine. In 1994, Halmi sold his company, RHI
Entertainment, Inc. to Hallmark Cards and in January 2006 Halmi Sr. together
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with his son, Robert Halmi Jr. and affiliates Kelso & Company, acquired all
ownership interest in Hallmark Entertainment LLC and re-launched the company
as RHI Entertainment, LLC
IRENE LITINSKY
Producer
When Irene Litinsky joined Muse Entertainment in 2000, she brought over
20 years of production experience with her. She is responsible for the
supervision and production of film and television projects shooting in Quebec.
Throughout her career, Ms. Litinsky has collaborated with some of the industry’s
top producers including Jodi Foster, Richard Gladstein, Robert Greenwald,
Daniel Blatt, Ivan Reitman, Linda Reisman, Iain Smith and Robert Altman. She
has worked with such distinguished directors as Robert Dornhelm, Steven
Schachter, Vincent Ward, Darren Aronofsky, John Smith, Alan Rudolph and
Steven Spielberg.
Among her numerous television credits as producer are: the GeminiAward winning mini-series Human Trafficking, The Tournament, The Wool Cap,
Baby for Sale, Bad Apple, When Angels Come to Town, The Scent of Danger,
Obsessed, The Heart Within, It Must be Love, Sign of Four, The Hound of the
Baskervilles and The Royal Scandal, Revenge of the Land, The Audrey Hepburn
Story, The Sleep Room, Million Dollar Babies, All Souls and Redeemer.
Ms. Litinsky was the Canadian production supervisor of Steven
Spielberg’s The Terminal and Catch Me if You Can, and of Darren Aronofsky’s
The Fountain. Her other feature film credits include, Mrs. Parker and the Vicious
Circle (Miramax), Map of the Human Heart (Miramax), Waking the Dead
(Gramercy/Polygram) and Jacknife (Paramount).
MICHAEL PRUPAS
Producer
Michael Prupas, President of Muse Entertainment Enterprises, is a
veteran of the Canadian and international film and television industries having
practiced entertainment law for 20 years, including 15 years as a senior partner
at the law firm Heenan Blaikie. Prupas was the head of the firm’s entertainment
law practice, which is the largest in Canada. As a lawyer, Prupas was involved in
the initial public offerings (IPO’s) of several Canadian entertainment companies
With his extensive experience in international production financing as well
as legal and business affairs, Prupas launched Muse Entertainment Enterprises
in June 1998, which has quickly become one of the major independent
production companies in the country.
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In 2006 Prupas co-produced The Wind in the Willows, starring Bob
Hoskins and Matt Lucas, the first live action adaptation of the famous children’s’
novel for the BBC, CBC and PBS. He also co-produced the feature film The
Flood, starring Robert Carlyle, and executive produced three television movies
including Tipping Point, The House Sitter and Proof of Lies as well as the
television series Durham County.
In 2005, Prupas was the executive producer of the award-winning
television miniseries Answered by Fire, starring David Wenham and Isabelle
Blais, and of the award-winning Human Trafficking mini series starring Donald
Sutherland and Mira Sorvino. He was executive producer of the television movies
Murder in the Hamptons starring Poppy Montgomery and David Sutcliff as well
as two murder mystery TV movies, Mind over Murder, starring Tori Spelling, and
Black Widower, starring Kelly McGillis. Prupas also executive produced three
award-winning seasons of This is Wonderland, a series sold for broadcast in over
100 territories.
In 2004 Prupas produced the feature film Niagara Motel starring Craig
Ferguson, Anna Friel and Kevin Pollak which was in official competition of the
Shanghai International Film Festival in June 2005. He executive produced the TV
film Plain Truth, starring Mariska Hargitay and Alison Pill.
His other credits include the TV film Ice Bound, starring Susan Sarandon,
The Clinic, starring Mike Farrell, the television series Twice in a Lifetime, Largo
Winch, Doc (Season 1) and Tales from the Neverending Story that won two
Awards of Excellence in 2003. He also executive produced a collection of
Sherlock Holmes TV movies including The Hound of the Baskervilles, The Sign
of Four, The Royal Scandal and The Case of the Whitechapel Vampire, starring
Matt Frewer and Kenneth Welsh.
He was also executive producer of the television movies The Legend of
Sleepy Hollow, The Stork Derby, The Investigation, The Many Trials of One Jane
Doe (winner of 4 Gemini Awards), Chasing Cain II: Face and Silent Night,
starring Linda Hamilton.
The feature films he executive produced are The Guilty, starring Bill
Pullman and Joanne Whalley, Tracker, starring Casper Van Dien and Russell
Wong and Savage Messiah (winner of 3 Genie Awards), starring Polly Walker,
Luc Picard and Isabelle Blais.
Prupas established the first entertainment law course at McGill University,
which he taught from 1997-2002. He coached a minor league baseball team for
five years, served on the Board of Trustees of the Banff Television Festival and
sits on the Board of Advisors of the Just for Laughs comedy festival and on the
finance committee of the Association des producteurs de film et de télévision du
Québec.
(xxx)