Joshua Jackson - Aurora Borealis Official Movie News & Updates
May 17, 2005
Aurora Borealis will be at the Maui Film Festival June 15-19th,
2005! Stay tuned for more details about dates and show times! visit mauifilmfestival.com
Also, a great write up about the film was published in the
Forest Lake Times (Minnesota):
When Brent Boyd told his mom Carol he was leaving Forest Lake and moving to Los
Angeles to become a screenwriter she was a bit worried for him.
"I told him either he is going to be really rich or really poor," Carol Trudeau
said. "There are a million writers out there and it's just the luck of the draw
a lot of times. You can be an excellent screenwriter, but it takes the right
person to pick up your script."
Boyd is one of the lucky screenwriters in that one of his scripts was picked up
by a film company and turned into a movie. Entitled Entertainment liked Boyd's
script "Aurora Borealis" and gathered a star studded cast to make the movie.
Aurora Borealis
The movie is loosely biographical for Boyd. He said he used to visit his
grandfather who had both Parkinson's and Alzheimer's at Birchwood Healthcare
Center in Forest Lake, giving him the idea for the movie.
The movie tells the story of Duncan Shorter, played by Joshua Jackson, who
hasn't had the best luck keeping jobs. While visiting his grandmother Ruth,
played by Louise Fletcher and his grandfather Ronald whose faculties are
failing, played by Donald Sutherland, at their new senior residence, Duncan
becomes the building's new handyman in an effort to keep him close to his
grandfather.
In the movie Ronald has a home nurse Kate, played by Juliette Lewis, who catches
the eye of Duncan and a love story ensues.
"I began writing the story about the guy and his grandfather and grandmother and
I started adding things to turn it into a cinematic story," Boyd said. "The
story is very Minnesotan."
To get the Minnesotan feel, various scenes were shot around Minneapolis.
"There is a great snowmobiling scene," Boyd said, "and since I now live in LA I
think I just wanted to remind myself of what it's like to be home and how much I
love Minnesota when I wrote this movie. This story is as much about the
relationship between a guy and his grandfather as it is about Minnesota."
One part of the story that certainly is not biographical for Boyd is Duncan's
relationship with his mother. In the movie Duncan's mother is quite neglectful
and doesn't want to have much to do with him. Boyd and his mother are quite the
opposite though.
"With parts of the movie autobiographical, the one part I want to make sure
people know is I am not like the mother in the movie," Trudeau said. "I said,
‘Brent, how could this be?' He told me he had to make some differences from
reality to make the story work."
Boyd noted that his mother was quite the opposite of the mother in the movie and
has always been very supportive of him.
Trudeau was able to visit Boyd on the set of the movie
"It was such a thrill to have her on the set and have her spend time with the
actors," Boyd said.
"I think just being on a movie set is interesting, but seeing the respect from
the actors and staff for Brent was amazing," Trudeau said. "I was in awe because
this is my son. It's a real different feeling to see that he's a big boy and has
the respect of all these people."
Premier
Aurora Borealis premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival April 22 to a full
audience.
"I was trying hard not to throw up during the premier," Boyd said. "I was pretty
nervous, but it was a lot of fun because people laughed in the right places, and
oddly enough, it's a great feeling to be in a room with a few hundred people
that are crying beaches of something you wrote. It made me feel like I had done
a good job."
Boyd was joined by his mom and other family members at the premier.
"The whole extolment of being at a movie premier was one thing, but since my son
had his own production made it really special," Trudeau said.
A national release date for Aurora Borealis has not been set, but Boyd said
Entitled Entertainment is currently in negotiations with distributors and the
movie could be in theaters by the end of the year.
"I think it will be exciting because there are so many people waiting to see the
movie," Trudeau said. "It will be exciting to see their reaction."
May 11, 2005
With the Tribeca Film Festival drawing to a close, a
buzz has been stirring about "Aurora" and while we wait to hear about
distribution to theaters, a nice comment was posted today at the official
production
website:
" entitled entertainment is proud to announce that
AURORA BOREALIS opened to sold-out crowds at the 2005 Tribeca Film Festival. The
film was also chosen as "Editor's Choice" and "Top Ten of the Festival" by Moviephone.com.
"
"Joshua Jackson is pitch-perfect as the kind of aimless
twenty-something whose sourpuss exterior hides a big teddy-bear heart. All that
changes after he decides to visit his crotchety old granddad (Donald
Sutherland), who talks some sense into the boy - - and introduces him to hottie
nurse, Juliette Lewis. Sure, it sounds cornier than greeting-card poetry, but
this emotional family drama is so satisfying, it could knock the stuffing out of
'Pieces of April.' " -- Moviephone.com
Update! - It appears that "Aurora" is
also scheduled to screen at Cannes as well! Thanks to Charise for
letting us know that it is set to screen Thursday, May 12.
April 27, 2005
Thanks to Chaz
for providing us with a wonderful
review and reaction to the film! *mwah*
April 25, 2005
The New
York Posthas posted a mention about the film:
SOME SMART film executive should pick the phone up right now and
call sales rep Andrew Herwitz. He represents the beautiful new film, "Aurora
Borealis" starring Donald Sutherland, Louise Fletcher, Joshua Jackson and
Juliette Lewis. The film premiered Friday at the Tribeca Film Festival, and the
word is wonderful.
April 19, 2005
The New York Daily News has
ranked, "Aurora Borealis" as one of the top 10 movies to see this year at the Tribeca
Film Festival:
AURORA BOREALIS
The sort of intimate indie film that does best in festivals, this gentle
drama stars a very appealing Joshua Jackson as a Minnesota slacker building
tentative relationships with his grandfather (Donald Sutherland) and girlfriend
(Juliette Lewis). April 22, 5:15 p.m.; April 25, 8:30 p.m.; April 26, 4 p.m.;
April 30, 7 p.m., all at Regal Battery Park.
Don't forget that the movie has its World Premiere this Friday in New York!
Also, don't forget that "Aurora Borealis" is
have its World Premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival this month! If you would
like to attend the festival, we strongly encourage you to purchase your tickets
as soon as possible, as some of the screenings have sold
out for Advance Tickets, but tickets will be available at the door on a
first-come, first-served basis starting one hour before show time.
Purchase tickets from
Tribeca Film
Festival's official web site.
Fri, Apr 22 / 5:15pm
Regal Battery Park Theater 10
Mon, Apr 25 / 8:30pm
Regal Battery Park Theater 3
Tue, Apr 26 / 4:00pm
Regal Battery Park Theater 5
Sat, Apr 30 / 7:00pm
Regal Battery Park Theater 6
Aurora Borealis: Movie News Archive
June 03, 2004
Whew! Nothing new till now?
Well, you're all in for a treat.
Here is the first look at Josh
directly from the film: (click for a larger image)
entitled
is in post-production on Aurora Borealis with an expected Fall release.
Aurora Borealis stars Joshua Jackson, Donald
Sutherland, Juliette Lewis and Louise Fletcher,
was written by Brent Boyd, produced by entitled's Scott Disharoon as well
as Rick Bieber in association with Rick Bieber Productions, and is directed by
entitled's James Burke with Alar Kivilo as cinematographer. Aurora
Borealis tells the story of a troubled young man struggling to right himself
after the premature death of his father.
By
JIM SLOTEK (edited for content
related to the movie and Josh)
Thanks to sarah_gellarfan &
ScarletGirl at the
Josh Jackson Message Board for the info!
On a rainy night a few weeks ago
outside the Great Hall, Toronto was pretending to be Minneapolis -- where, it
goes without saying, it never rains in December.
To that end, a production assistant on the romance feature film Aurora
Borealis was holding an umbrella over the head of Juliette Lewis, as she
prepared to kiss Joshua Jackson for the fourth time in 20 minutes. A
rain-soaked parka would tend to kill the illusion of a subzero canoodle.
This is about as close as Juliette Lewis gets to having an entourage. The
30-year-old actress, of Cape Fear and Natural Born Killers and Christmas
Vacation fame, is the daughter of character actor Geoffrey Lewis and grew up
on movie sets.
"I didn't read about movies in a magazine," she says. "My dad did westerns and
Clint Eastwood movies. So from an early age I knew it as a job, with long
hours, waiting and dust."
The upside? "I only work six months of the year," says Lewis, who has worked
in Toronto before on the 2003 thriller Cold Creek Manor, a TV movie called My
Louisiana Sky and Bruce McDonald's Picture Claire.
She might have the face of an ingénue (though she's convinced she takes "kind
of weird" pictures), but she disavows the rest of the package.
"I wasn't cut out to be an ingénue," Lewis says in her odd, dreamlike West
Coast drawl. "An ingénue is coy and very pretty and not very complex. That's
not my description. And she's always the girlfriend or the love interest. I
get to be a love interest in this movie, but she's very proactive, very strong
and funny."
In Aurora Borealis, Lewis's co-star Jackson plays Duncan, an aimless
Minnesota twentysomething who pays off an emotional debt to his late
grandmother by working as a caretaker at the seniors' home, where his
grandfather (Donald Sutherland) lives. There he strikes up a relationship with
his grandpa's homecare worker, Kate (Lewis).
"It's one of those slice-of-life movies where it's all about the little
lives of characters," Lewis says. "Joshua Jackson is stuck in this town, and
I'm kind of the inspiration, or I'm trying to be, to get him to leave or open
up his horizons a bit. People evolve and grow a bit by the end of the movie.
It's beautifully written and unsentimental."
December 30,
2003
Just got word that the film is
scheduled for a June 2004 release. Nothing is confirmed just yet, but
that's the first news I've heard about any timeframe.
December 3,
2003
December 2,
2003
Jackson Glows in 'Aurora Borealis'
LOS ANGELES - Forget the creek,
Joshua Jackson has his sights on the Northern Lights.
The "Dawson's Creek" actor will star in
"Aurora
Borealis" as a troubled young man who must come to terms with the premature
death of his father.
(article
continues as described below)
December 1,
2003
Dawson's
Creek alum Joshua Jackson is joining Donald Sutherland, Juliette Lewis and
Louise Fletcher in the independent Aurora Borealis, currently filming in
Toronto. James Burke is helming from a
script by Brent Boyd.
The film centers on a troubled young man (Jackson) struggling to right himself
after the premature death of his father. Sutherland and Fletcher play his
grandparents, with Lewis starring as the home assistant to Sutherland's
character who winds up as Jackson's love interest. Entitled Entertainment -- the production partnership
between Burke and Scott Disharoon -- is producing in association with Rick
Bieber Prods. Individual producing credits go to Disharoon and Bieber. Jackson
is repped by WMA and Michael Bircumshaw at Water Street Management. Since the
end of "Creek," Jackson has worked on the indie "Americano," with Dennis Hopper
and Leonor Varela, "I Love Your Work," for director Adam Goldberg, and as part
of the voice talent in "Racing Stripes."
November 2003
Alar
Kivilo ("Hart's War," "The Glass House") has committed to shooting "Aurora
Borealis," a drama directed by James Burke. The feature stars Juliette Lewis,
Joshua Jackson and Donald Sutherland. Shooting will take place in San Diego,
California, Minneapolis and Toronto.
Entitled Entertainment has snapped up the screenplay AURORA BOREALIS by Brent
Boyd for James Burke to direct. It centers on a troubled young man struggling to
right himself after the premature death of his father.
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