Movie Gets ‘Green’ in Vancouver

On the surface, “Everything’s Gone Green” might be mistaken for “Garden State”: it’s a thought-provoking comedy starring a twenty-something loner with a weird family, stagnant career, and girlfriend troubles. Indeed, based on the premise alone it could be one of many such films, which seem to be a dime a dozen nowadays. But its creators hope it will stand out.

“There are actually quite a lot of scripts like this that are flowing around,” says Steph Song, an actress from the movie, in a phone interview with The Crimson.

Song, who plays the love interest in the film, believes that there is an abundance of such coming-of-age works in the field. But for Song, one aspect of the film’s script elevates it above all others and convinced her to work on the project: “It was written by Douglas Coupland.”

Yes, that Douglas Coupland—best-selling novelist/social theorist and coiner of the term ‘Generation X.’

“Everything’s Gone Green” is Coupland’s first screenplay, and he again attempts to capture the voice of a generation trying to find its way in the new millennium.

NO BRAFF HERE

Director Paul Fox says he had not even seen “Garden State” before shooting.

“‘Garden State’ I watched after because I heard that from several people,” he says about accusations of similarity. “There was no subconscious effort to make it similar to those pictures.”

But Fox has no problem taking advantage of the connection with such popular films. “People like those movies,” he says.

The film follows Ryan (Paulo Costanzo) as he approaches thirty and begins to see others around him changing, though he stays the same. Contemplative reflection ensues.

According to Fox, the film’s content is universal. “Taking that moment, that pause, to think about who we want to be before we move forward,” he says, is something we all experience.

Ryan stops to think about his monetary situation as well. Is he really content with being middle class?

“The message that’s in Doug’s script is turning a mirror onto contemporary society’s craving for easy wealth,” says Fox.

WINGING IT

Like many struggling twenty-somethings, “Everything’s Gone Green” operated on a very tight budget and schedule, not that such constraints hurt the mentality on the set.

“I really enjoyed the fact that we had very little money making it,” says Costanzo. “With movies like that, you have to push yourself. It forced us to get creative with many different things.”

It certainly encouraged people to improvise. Shot in only 19 days, many scenes had to adjust to accommodate last-minute changes.

One of these improvisational scenes ended up being one of Costanzo and Song’s favorites. Their two characters, Ming and Ryan, sit beside a lake and talk.

“It’s a real moment in the film,” says Song. “Truthful and kind of nice, and it was done so fast and turned out so well.” Song says the scene was shot in 20 minutes.

HOMETOWN PRIDE

In the film industry, Vancouver is known as the location to make movies set in other places, but “Everything’s Gone Green” is one of the few films to actually be set there, with a focus on the city.

“It’s pretty specific to Vancouver, the plot’s very much interwoven with the place,” says Costanzo. Locals were excited to see their city finally being portrayed as itself, he says: “The people on the crew went crazy over it.”

Vancouver reflects one of the film’s central themes—not everything is as it seems. Several characters in the film mask their often shady means of earning money.

“The city itself was selling the tone for the movie,” says Song. “Vancouver sells out to the highest bidder in TV and film.”