By Christian Cotroneo
Josephine MacFadden is raising the dead—and a few eyebrows.
But if she can’t raise enough money, she will have to lower the curtain on her epic film about Ottawa’s canal builder, Colonel John By.
Despite a finished script, Hollywood interest and $60,000, The Water Man is still about $40,000 away from production.
After spending nearly three years on the project, MacFadden isn’t ready to call it quits.
“Heritage and history tend to die if people don’t make a big effort,” she says.
Ironically, some of the project’s strongest support comes from outside of Canada.
While peddling the project in England and Ireland, MacFadden was greeted with open arms – and wallets.
“It was very well-received in London by a company that actually offered a third of the money,” she says.
The deal, however, is contingent upon MacFadden finding major financial backing in Canada. That’s where The Water Man’s fortunes have ebbed.
Even if MacFadden manages to meet development costs, a major production company will have to take up the reins. And so far, no one has even tugged.
“Canada’s a little leery about historical [films] just because it’s a little more expensive to make,” she explains.
André Loiselle, a professor of Canadian film at Carleton University, says it’s more than that.
“It’s in great part due to bad timing,” he says. “A few years back it was easier when there was a greater devotion to cultural products.”
Over the years, government funding has fizzled, pulling the plug on several arts and cultural agencies.
Agencies like Telefilm Canada, he says, are not as interested in historical films as they are in commercially viable products.
Since Telefilm is “more interested in supporting an industry than a culture,” Loiselle says filmmakers often resort to the small screen.
MacFadden’s vision is too big for TV, he says.
But she has already brought a version of By’s story to television.
In 1994, MacFadden teamed with Ottawa historian Robert Leggat to produce a documentary on By. Now, she hopes to carry the torch a little further, and light up the silver screen.
Hollywood has lent glitter to the enterprise. Dan Ackroyd, Christopher Plummer and Donald Sutherland have all expressed an interest in the project.
But so far, all the glitter has not proven gold.
Without that, commercial demands will conspire to keep Colonel By far away from a theatre near you.