Adapted
from an award-winning play that broke box office records across North
America and Europe, The Wild Guys follows four middle-aged
men on an often-hilarious “soul exploring,” trek into
the wilderness. Along the way, they find adventure, danger, anger,
confusion, forgiveness, friendship and, yes, a glimpse of their souls.
The Wild Guys stars Kenneth Welsh (Legends Of The Fall, The Freshman),
Hrothgar Mathews (Death’s Dream, The Core), Jackson
Davies (The Exxon Valdez Story, Bird on a Wire) and Lochlyn
Munro (Freddy vs. Jason, Scary Movie).
Both Matthews and Davies previously appeared in the stage play, written
by Andrew Wreggitt and Rebecca Shaw. Davies and Rex Bromfield wrote
the screenplay. The Wild Guys was produced
by Robert Frederick and directed by William F. Gereghty.
From
Stage to Screen
It took
producer Robert Frederick and MVP Entertainment several years to bring
The Wild Guys off the stage and onto the
screen. Unusually, for a Canadian film, The Wild Guys
was largely financed through private investment.
“It’s difficult in Canada, especially for small producers,”
says Jackson Davies. “You have to make a feature film for a
budget similar to an American TV episode. You have to believe in the
product. Bob [Frederick] has said, ‘I believe in this product.
I’ve worked with it for eight or nine years and I’m going
to get the movie I want made.’”
For Frederick, whose MVP Entertainment Inc. produced The
Wild Guys, believing in the project was the key.
“Today, for feature films to be funded is usually through a
studio with wide distribution. Generally, people will only do that
if you have a ‘box office star’ you can market. Our challenge
was to make a theatrical feature film using a fine ensemble cast.
We had to get support for it, believing in the material, believing
in the script, believing in the cast and the director. Often the best
films come out of that belief in the project.”
Frederick had seen the play 13 times during its wildly-successful
run at Vancouver’s Arts Club Theatre. He knew that audiences
loved the material: the dialogue and the characters. With its wilderness
setting, it just made sense that it could be a successful film.
“If it works on a proscenium stage,” says Frederick, “it
lends itself to a wide-screen scope with a real cliff and a real river
and all the beauty of B.C.”
The beauty of B.C. was captured on the Sunshine Coast. Using an actual
river and cliff heightened the sense of danger for the audience and
the cast. Although Lochlyn Munro’s character, Randall, fears
heights in the film, in real life, that fear belongs to actor Kenneth
Welsh. It was Welsh who had to stand on the cliff and deliver calm,
reassuring lines about it being just like walking down a six-foot
wide hallway at the office.
The combination of a great cast and beautiful scenery makes the film
a delight to watch.
“We got a fabulous cast and an A-team crew,” says Frederick.
“That gives the movie a big-league, feature film look.”
The look can contribute to a film’s success, but the story and
the characters give a film its strength. The audience for The
Wild Guys can look forward to characters they can relate
to.
“These guys are the people you see every day. When there is
danger… when there is a problem… that’s when you
see what they are made of,” says Davies.
“This is about guys who are just kind of stumbling through the
woods and none of them have any special skill for it,” says
Welsh.
“They are very distinct characters and everyone in the cast
has really nailed their characters,” says Munro.
“People will laugh at what happens to these guys when they get
lost in the woods,” says Matthews.
“When the audience leaves the theatre, they’re going to
be smiling,” says Frederick, who adds:
“The Wild Guys offers women a guilty
pleasure. They get to listen in on what a group of men talk about
when they are away on a guys weekend — and it’s not just
sex and sports.”
The Wild Guys is produced by MVP Entertainment,
Inc. in association with The Movie Network and Super Ecran, Movie
Central — a Corus Entertainment Company, The New VI, a division
of CHUM Limited, produced with the participation of British Columbia
Film Television and Film Financing Program, The Cogeco Program Development
Fund, the Can West Western Independent Producers Fund, The Canadian
Television Fund created by the Government of Canada, and the Canadian
Cable Industry CTF: Licence Fee Program, with the assistance/participation
of the Government of Canada Canadian Film or Video Production Tax
Credit Program.
