A writer-director is showcasing Centretown has to offer in film production through the newly released Donkey, a feature film which premiered in Ottawa Jan. 27.
Adrian Langley, one of the film’s three filmmakers, envisioned a western-flavoured, contemporary crime drama shot entirely in his hometown. All of Donkey’s elements – the talent, the technical, and the crew – are locally based. Together they highlight the features of Ottawa that metropolises such as Vancouver and Toronto might not offer.
“The city is not just accommodating but it’s kind of fresh,” says Langley, who shot on Queen Street, Elgin Street, and driving scenes throughout Centretown.
“(Ottawans) are very eager, talented, and unchallenged at the moment but I think they can do it. They’re going to add to that overall idea of what Ottawa can do.”
One of the film’s major sets was Hooley’s Pub on Elgin Street. The bar’s sky light made the pub an easy choice, since it naturally lights up the normally dark scene.
“They were fantastic,” Langley says of Hooley’s staff. “They accommodate and for the most part they enjoy it. It’s a novelty half the time.”
Donkey follows Don Keyes, a “two-bit” thug who has just been released from jail and gets caught up in a kidnapping plot. Langley’s goal was to make a high-intensity film that audiences aren’t use to – a drama without the cookie-cutter hero and instead an unassuming, loud character.
It took more than two years to produce the film at a cost of around $5,000. Langley’s Fluke Films, in association with Ottawa’s Parktown Productions, is still waiting for a distribution deal.
“I hope that it does well enough that we can continue to do more so we have the work pay for itself,” Langley says.