In just a few days Alastair Connolly will be among the glitterati of Hollywood.
“It was probably about four years ago I thought, ‘What would it be like to go to the Oscars? That would be crazy wouldn't it?’ And here we are,” says the CTV Barrie sports anchor.
Connolly helped finance the short film The Voorman Problem.
That movie is nominated in the short-film, live-action category at the Academy Awards.
“It's a 12-and-a-half-minute short film in which a psychiatrist is sent to a prison to interview one of the inmates who is claiming to be god,” Connolly says. “And it's the psychiatrist's job to determine if he is in fact a lunatic (to be) sent off to the asylum or perhaps telling the truth.”
The story is based on an extract from David Mitchell's novel Number9Dream, and Connolly says "a brilliant script" convinced him to invest. That, and the involvement of former ITV co-worker Baldwin Li, who serves as writer/producer with writer/director Mark Gill.
The Voorman Problem is up against four other short films – from Spain, France, Finland, and Denmark – in its category. Since the nomination, the film and its crew have been getting lots of attention.
“I know Mark and Baldwin, our producer and director, have been just swamped with phone calls and request for their time and endorsements,” Connolly says. “It's just, yeah, crazy.”
Connolly won’t get to go up on stage if the film wins, but he gets to be in the audience. So far he isn't focusing on winning too much.
“It's just the case of going there and keeping our fingers crossed,” he says. “We're going to have fun, whatever happens. Obviously winning it would be, wow, the icing on a crazy, crazy cake.”
Connolly still has to pack, finish work, and make sure he doesn't forget anything back home in Barrie.
“More importantly than anything I'm taking for myself is what I'm taking for Laura, my wife,” he says. “She's reminded me at least four times so far about her shoes that need to come.”
In addition to collecting accolades on the festival circuit, The Voorman Problem was nominated for a BAFTA in 2013. Connolly recalls bumping into Samuel L. Jackson and Judi Dench at that awards bash, run by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts.
The film is pitted against Esteban Crespo's Aquel No Era Yo (That Wasn't Me), Xavier Legrand and Alexandre Gavras's Avant Que De Tout Perdre (Just Before Losing Everything), Anders Walter and Kim Magnusson's Helium and Selma Vilhunen and Kirsikka Saari's Pitaako Mun Kaikki Hoitaa? (Do I Have to Take Care of Everything?).
Connolly also helped fund a second short by Gill and Li, and has a stake in their film company. But he says he's not especially interested in a career change.
“I love movies and it's been a thrill to be involved in this but sports will always be my first love,” he says. “It's more (about) giving support to Mark and Baldwin at this stage and launching them on what I hope will be a long and successful career.”
The Oscars will be awarded March 2.
- With files from Cassandra Szklarski, The Canadian Press
