Snitch Pictures in association with Foundry Films presents PICTURE DAY ~ Production Company: Snitch Pictures Inc. Canadian Distributor: Mongrel Media 826 Bloor Street West, Suite 201 U.S. Distributor: Ketchup Entertainment Toronto, ON M6G 1L9 CANADA Foreign Sales Agent: H20 Motion Pictures [email protected] 416-892-8035 USA: Media contact: Katrina Wan, Katrina Wan PR [email protected] 323-240-9996 CANADA: Media contact: Cynthia Amsden, Roundstone Communications: [email protected] 416 910 7740 High Resolution Stills and Video Clips may be downloaded from http://picturedaythemovie.com SYNOPSIS Forced to repeat her senior year of high school, Claire's (Maslany) reputation is sliding from bad-ass to bad joke. Armed with an acid tongue and shielded by ever-present headphones, Claire locks onto the only student clueless to her sordid rep: Henry (Van Wyck), a nerdy freshman she used to babysit. At night, Claire escapes to raucous concerts where she catches the eye of 33-year–old Jim (McCarthy, frontman of The ElastoCitizens), a would–be rock star who feeds on young fans’ adoration. Jim leads her into an intoxicating world of hard- partying musicians, while at school, Claire takes Henry under her wing. She reinvents her dorky friend as the mysterious rebel, throwing Henry's life into hilarious turmoil. As Claire dances across the surface of these relationships, she eventually learns hard lessons about the difference between sex, intimacy, and friendship. ABOUT PICTURE DAY Kate Melville makes her feature film directorial debut with the brutally comic coming-of-age film, Picture Day, starring Sundance Special Jury Prize winner (for a breakout performance in Grown Up Movie Star) Tatiana Maslany (The Vow, Orphan Black ), Spencer Van Wyck (“Degrassi: The Next Generation”), Steven McCarthy (Eye of the Beholder, The Skulls, lead singer of The ElastoCitizens), Mark DeBonis (“Great Canadian Laugh Off,” “The 11th Annual Canadian Comedy Awards”) and Susan Coyne (“Less Than Kind,” “Slings & Arrows”). Picture Day is based on a screenplay written by Melville (“Degrassi: The Next Generation,” “Endgame,” “Being Erica”). Picture Day is executive produced by Daniel Iron (Inescapable, Bang Bang Club, Cairo Time, Away From Her), produced by Kate Melville, Lauren Grant (Savage, A Window Looking In) and Peter Harvey (Seven Sins: Greed) and co-produced by Aeschylus Poulos (Inescapable, Molly Maxwell). Cinematography by Celiana Cárdenas (Foreverland, No eres tú, soy yo), editing by Dev Singh (An Insignificant Harvey, The Last New Year) with production design by Brian Garvey (Prick), costume design by Megan Oppenheimer (“Cancel Christmas,” “The Santa Suit,” “Re-Wire”) and music supervision by Danielle Holke. Picture Day is a Snitch Pictures production and is produced with the financial participation of Telefilm Canada and The Harold Greenberg Fund, in association with The Movie Network, an Astral Media Network and Movie Central. PICTURE DAY PRODUCTION NOTES The last year of high school is an auspicious time for teenagers. It signals both the finish line of adolescence and the ‘starting blocks’ for adult life. But Claire had a false start: She didn’t graduate, and must repeat Grade 12 – a ‘victory lap’, she calls it. Her friends have moved on, she’s older than everyone else, and contrary to her own self-image, she is not wise beyond her years. Maybe this time, she’ll learn. * * * Picture Day is written by award-winning playwright and screenwriter, Kate Melville. The characters evolved from a play she initially wrote at age 17 (I HATE YOU ON MONDAYS, staged in 1995 at Theatre Passe Muraille in Toronto and 1998 in Vancouver). Eight years ago, it became the screenplay, Picture Day, about growing up and age differences (the main characters are Claire - 18, Henry -14 and Jim-33) and how just a few years can be a generation gap. “Sometimes, we look back five years and feel revulsion or compassion for our younger selves. I had to do that myself because I originally wrote this 20 years ago. This is a script about growing up that I’ve literally grown up with,” said Melville “the characters of Claire, Henry and James has been in my life for that long”. Melville has a deep affection for stories and situations borne out of character, rather than those about people being forced into unusual circumstances. In the case of Claire, who is in equal parts endearing and annoying, her predicament of repeating Grade 12 is entirely of her own making. Claire is stuck. HENRY So why didn’t you just take summer school? CLAIRE Because it’s school in the summer. Suffering from an emotional short-sightedness Claire sees only as far as the next distraction. She finds just that in Henry, the shy 14 year old she encounters at the start of the year. Coming from a school for gifted children, and smothered by his doting parents, Henry's life had revolved around elaborate science fair projects and extensive (some might say obsessive) collections. Claire’s exalted role as Henry’s babysitter has been brought crashing down that they are now both at the same school. That said, they fall quickly into their familiar dynamic: Claire is still the all-knowing elder, while Henry still hangs on her every wise word. Watching Henry move invisibly through this new school, Claire sees he needs her help making an impression. This is one thing she can do, not wisely, but very well: Henry becomes her willing pet project and she revels in his unconditional devotion. The isolation Claire experiences at school leads her to seek cohorts further afield. A die-hard music fan, she sweet talks her way passed bouncers to get into the hottest concerts in Toronto. Dancing at the front of the crowd, she catches the eye of Jim, the lead singer for the spectacular funk rock band The ElastoCitizens. Though happy to hook up with an adoring fan, Jim is thrown for a loop when he discovers Claire’s age. Claire groans and tries to extricate herself from James’ arms. James stirs. CLAIRE I have to go. I have to go. They kiss. JAMES Where do you have to go so early? CLAIRE School. JAMES School...like U of T? Claire pulls on her clothes. CLAIRE I have Math. JAMES Just Math. CLAIRE Yep. JAMES Math, like - CLAIRE No, fucking Grade 12 Calculus at A. Meighen High. Second time. “We talked in rehearsal about how each of the three characters were about a year away from pathetic,” recalled Melville. “In a year, Claire could be just a high school dropout. Henry's ‘kid self’ is not ready for high school, but if he stays stuck in the dork stage he’s at when he meets Claire, he'll be an official loser by grade 10. Jim's band is on the verge of breaking up, but he's also stuck in an old rock star way of being that isn't working for him any more - his bandmates are getting day jobs and having kids, and he's not keeping up with their changing needs and priorities. When Claire is on the road with Jim and sees that she is replaceable, that moment is a pivotal part of her coming of age - she grows up, even if Jim doesn't. Henry and Claire save each other through friendship. They're not a couple by the end, but they’ve given each other the push that the other one needs most at that moment in their lives.” CLAIRE, ON HER OWN Having seen Tatiana Maslany in Grown Up Movie Star, as well as several television series, Melville recognized this actress had something very special. “She made interesting choices in her acting,” Melville noted, “When she won the Sundance Award, I realized I wasn’t the only one who had noticed. She seemed like she would be a great fit for the role of Claire.” Maslany was sent the script and met with Melville in August, 2010 to discuss the role. It was, in the director’s estimation, the beginning of a real collaboration. “This is a character we have very much built up together. Tatiana’s an incredibly generous and dedicated actor.” “We talked a lot about Claire’s youth,” recalled Melville. “The story is about this 18-year-old who is repeating her last year of high school. She’s in a relationship with a 33-year-old at the same time that she’s spending a lot of time with this kid she used to babysit. Both relationships have these power dynamic imbalances. So something Tatiana and I worked on capturing was Claire’s youth, the gleeful insolence that she has. She’s a loveable shit-disturber and her thoughtlessness is a sign of how emotionally young she is. We wanted Claire to seem authentically 18.” “There was so much about Claire I wanted to explore,” said Maslany. “She’s tough and outgoing and obnoxious. I don’t think you see a lot of that in young girls on screen. She’s repeating that last year of high school, maybe by choice and maybe not by choice, but she’s there.” Maslany gravitated to this idea of stalling at a crucial stage in a young person’s life and resisting the decision to move forward. “She hasn’t made that bold step out of her old life and into the uncharted territory. The indecision and the waffling is very relatable for people my age. She’s tough and funny and snarky - always looking the next thing that’s going to entertain her or the next person she’s going to entertain. I see her as a person who is constantly flitting from thing to thing like a bug.