Best known for 1989's Roadkill and 1991's Highway 61 (Best Canadian Film, Vancouver, and Best Director, San Sebastián), Bruce McDonald here completes his 'rock 'n' road' trilogy. Billed as 'Spinal Tap's mean little brother,' Hard Core Logo are a down and dirty punk band who re-form for a reunion tour. As the Hard Cores cover 5,000 miles between Vancouver and Winnipeg in a debauched, five-night schedule, close-quarter pressures of life on the road mean tensions become more than a little strained.
Based on Michael Turner's book, Hard Core Logo plays the musicians' egos off against each other for laughs, but is intended as a distinctly darker affair than Rob Reiner's 1984 spoof rockumentary, This Is Spinal Tap… According to co-producer Brian Dennis, who produced McDonald's last feature, 1994's Dance Me Outside, this documentary-style, US$1.1 million production charts the band's gradual disintegration with 'a more biting, more realistic edge.'
The realistic feel carries over to the casting of Hugh Dillon, star of Dance Me Outside and real-life singer for rock outfit The Headstones, as Hard Core's front man, Joe Dick. Along with rock and hip-hop groups The Dream Warriors, 54-40, and The Odds, The Headstones appear on the film's album tie-in. Financing came from Téléfilm Canada and British Colombia Provincial Film Funding, plus Everest in return for domestic rights.
McDonald has built up a cult following in Canada and Germany (TiMe pre-bought the German rights) and Venice may be his springboard to a wider market. He is now preparing The Elimination Dance, a short based on Michael Ondaatje's Booker prize-winning novel.
Adam Minns
Prod co: Ed Festus Productions Ltd
Prods: Christine Haebler, Brian Dennis
Dir: Bruce McDonald
Scr: Noel S Baker
Ph: Danny Nowak
Prod des: David Wilson
Mus: Shaun Tozer
Ed: Reginald Harkema
Cast: Hugh Dillon, Callum Keith Rennie, John Pyper-Ferguson
Running time: 95 mins
Int sales: CFP International
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