Okay, now I can reveal who is in the cast of my movie, YEAR OF THE CARNIVORE. Here's our first bit of press that came out today:

Canada's Sook-Yin Lee starts shoot of Year Of The Carnivore
Denis Seguin in Toronto
25 Nov 2008 23:40

Canadian actress Sook-Yin Lee has begun principal photography on her directorial debut Year Of The Carnivore.

The film, which is shooting outside of Vancouver, is co-produced by Vancouver-based Screen Siren Pictures and Toronto-based The Film Farm, producers of Atom Egoyan's Adoration. Screen Siren's Trish Dolman is producer with Kryssta Mills as coproducer alongside Film Farm's Simone Urdl and Jennifer Weiss.

Lee, a popular radio personality in Canada, has built a reputation as a fearless collaborator in sexually provocative material, particularly for her roles in John Cameron Mitchell's films Shortbus and Hedwig And The Angry Inch. The new film, which she also wrote, would seem to be mapping similar terrain.

The off-beat romance follows Sammy (Cristin Milioti), a 21 year-old woman who has an unrequited crush on a scruffy musician, Eugene (Mark Rendall). When they do come together the first encounter is a disaster. Given that her job as a store detective requires her to deliver thieves to her employer so that he can beat them rather than prosecute, Sammy instead blackmails the miscreants into giving her sex lessons. Also featured are Will Sasso, Kevin McDonald and Sheila McCarthy.

The film is backed by Telefilm Canada, E1 Films Canada and British Columbia Film. It will be released in Canada by E1 Films Canada.

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Two days on set. Talk about an intense and amazing experience. Me and the crew began Day 1 by stacking our hands on top of one another and making a toast to beauty. Cristin Milioti and Mark Rendall who play Sammy & Eugene capture that for me in spades. Cristin is from NYC. She's mostly done theatre on Broadway so she's a newbie when it comes to film, but good golley, when people discover her, she will knock their socks off until everyone dances barefoot! Her Sammy is so sweet, vulnerable, tough and shy/bold. Mark Rendall is a big heart too. When he sings he sounds like Buddy Holley. Together they make me feel all sorts of good things.

Today Will Sasso arrived on set. He plays gentle giant psycho, Dirk Armstrong, the owner and operator of Big Apple Food Town. There was one point, when I was watching him I was laughing uncontrollably, I accidentally ruined the take.

We are shooting the movie in lovely Maple Ridge, also known as Haney. I have no idea why it has two names. When people shoot films here, they decorate it to look like somewhere else, like Chicago, but we are shooting it as is: Maple Ridge and/or Haney. It has an interesting mix of architecture, lovely beaten down factories next to strip malls and brand new condominiums. It's the far reaches of urban sprawl, possessing a peculiar charm.

When we first arrived we were put up in a motel by the side of the Lougheed highway. Mark, Cristin and I nearly died while crossing through whizzing traffic. My ground floor room smelled of cigarettes and sewage and an ear piercing fire alarm went off twice while I showered. Cristin wouldn't put her groceries on the floor for fear of mice and there was some anxiety over bed bugs. At the risk of sounding like a couple of divas we requested a better place to stay. Now we have been relocated to some nicer digs, conveniently located across the street from where we're shooting tomorrow morning.

Which reminds me, must catch some zzzzzs. Making movies is hard on my mind and body. I felt so stiff standing in the cold outside all day yesterday. I don't know how the crew does it. I think your body must acclimatize to this lifestyle, and for me, it's not even Day 3!

conk. good night.

sook-yin