Director Peter Chelsom’s return engagement at the Toronto International Film Festival has been a long time coming, although he’s had plenty of other stops on the international festival circuit during the interim.
Chelsom’s feature directorial debut, Hear My Song, was well received in Toronto, won him British Newcomer of the Year distinction at the London Critics Circle Film Awards, and earned Chelsom a Best Original Screenplay nomination at the BAFTA Film Awards.
Fast forward to today and Chelsom will next month find himself back in Toronto, this time around with Hector and the Search for Happiness which he directed while also serving as co-writer of the adapted screenplay. The title character is a quirky psychiatrist who has grown tired of his mundane life. Looking to break out of his dull routine, he embarks on a larger-than-life adventure in hopes of uncovering the elusive key to true happiness. The cast includes Rosamund Pike, Toni Collette, Christopher Plummer, Simon Pegg, Stellan Skarsgard and Jean Reno.
Based on the novel by Francois Lelord, Hector and the Search for Happiness is cut from a comedy-drama cloth reminiscent in some respects of Chelsom’s early work such as Hear My Song and Funny Bones, the latter a Grand Prix winner at the 1995 Paris Film Festival. “Judi Tossell, a producer on Hector and the Search for Happiness, has known my work for a long time and she saw it as a return to my roots–creating to the beat of a little different drum like Funny Bones,” said Chelsom. “She helped get me the opportunity to take on this film–to put my writing hand and directing to good use. I had fallen into the romantic comedy mode for a while which is an easy button for me to push as I did with Serendipity. But I didn’t want to get stuck in a place where that was all I could do–or all that I would be asked to do. Hector and the Search for Happiness enabled me to change gears. Writing this script made me think about my life–just as the story itself makes people think about their lives, to ask themselves pertinent questions about what’s truly important. Writing the screenplay was a process that promoted personal growth. I came out of that process feeling quite lucky and glad to be who I am.”
As a co-production with mainly Canadian and German money, Hector and the Search for Happiness had Chelsom drawing collaborators from Canada and Germany, translating into some happy discoveries of talent. “Rather than a drawback, I saw this as an opportunity to shake things up, to work with people I hadn’t known before,” observed Chelsom who cited German cinematographer Kolja Brandt as a prime example. “I had never met the guy and suddenly he’s become my favorite cinematographer. We considered different cinematographers and I found myself more influenced by their commercial reels than their feature work. I have always done commercials. I did a short film [Treacle] that earned a BAFTA nomination. Before Hear My Song, I spent two years directing commercials in London and I continue to take on commercials today in the U.S. [via iM, a,k.a. Independent Media]. I hold such value in a commercials reel because a DP has to maximize each frame while getting to the point very quickly. To hold viewers’ attention and interest, the DP has to make sure there’s a charismatic element to the work. Kolja impressed me that way.”
Chelsom similarly came away impressed with several of his other first-time collaborators, including German editor Claus Wehlisch and Canadian production designer Michael Diner. “Claus was brilliant,” related Chelsom. “And this was the first time I was without my regular production designer [Caroline Hanania]. Claus and Michael both helped me to extend my reach creatively.”
Chelsom is gratified by the selection of Hector and the Search for Happiness to play at the Toronto International Film Festival. “Toronto is a very generous audience. The festival is a high-profile platform. Relatively Media [U.S. theatrical distributor] loves the film and has big plans for it. Toronto could help in those plans, giving exposure to a film that needs a little help yet has the potential to connect with a wide audience.”
Spots
Just as commercials lent a new dimension to DP Brandt’s work, so too has the ad discipline enhanced Chelsom’s filmmaking. “It’s more than a gym,” said Chelsom of commercials. “I do them not just to keep fit but to move forward. It’s a place to grow visually, to combine humanity and photography, to create a reality with actors and images.”
Chelsom’s spot directorial credits in the U.S. span such clients as Match.com, Tide, an avant garde campaign for the American Egg Board, and Live Earth PSAs with Tobey Maguire and Emily Blunt.
Advancing Chelsom’s visual language has been the opportunity to collaborate on commercials with such celebrated DPs as Janusz Kaminski, Robert Richardson, ASC, Bruno Delbonnell, ASC, and Matthew Libatique, ASC. “Independent Media has put me together with these cinematographers and it’s been a wonderful filmmaking experience,” affirmed Chelsom.
