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Rob Ford's Toronto

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thedeepend said:
Sadly, the likelihood of this story being botched by a Canadian television production company is very great. I fear we are in for some awful anodyne E1-style "docudrama" that sucks the marrow and guts out of the narrative. The story of the Fords is too intense, bizarre and tragic, and there is zero evidence that a Canadian screenplay or director would ever be able to capture it in all its perverse insane glory.
Leaving aside the obvious--Coen Brothers, Aronofsky etc, if we are truly blessed, an amazing script ends up in the hands of someone like Lars Von Trier or Michael Haneke.
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Personally I think it deserves the Werner Herzon treatment, imagine his narration while cameras go out and follow Ford around, as he tries to discover some form of relevance after his downfall and jail time.

But I don't think you need to be so harsh on Canadian directors... out of all of them, Cronenberg definitely has the most promise for giving it the perversity it needs - but you're right, it'll probably be a low-budget production and it won't hold a candle to some of the best ones, like the Maurice Richard story :( But I think the blame is more on the producers and budgets that production companies have, which don't necessarily allow for high-end production. And they're largely driven by a really small Canadian market. It's like architecture - you can only do so much with a low budget!
 
thedeepend said:
Sadly, the likelihood of this story being botched by a Canadian television production company is very great. I fear we are in for some awful anodyne E1-style "docudrama" that sucks the marrow and guts out of the narrative. The story of the Fords is too intense, bizarre and tragic, and there is zero evidence that a Canadian screenplay or director would ever be able to capture it in all its perverse insane glory.
Leaving aside the obvious--Coen Brothers, Aronofsky etc, if we are truly blessed, an amazing script ends up in the hands of someone like Lars Von Trier or Michael Haneke.
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oh ye of little faith...
Paul Haggis is a writer, director and producer. He won oscars for Million Dollar Baby and Crash.
And he is Canadian, born just down the road in London.
 
Irishmonk said:
I think Cronenberg is a fine filmmaker but I just don't think his style lends itself to long format serialized television which requires a lot of texture and richness of detail--esp with regards to dialogue and character development--something I just don't see a lot of in Cronenberg's work. The Ford saga would require a more novelistic approach, a "Dickensian Aspect" if you will. But of course this is entirely subjective. It also may be getting a little off topic. Sorry mods.
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Well if it's a serialized drama you're after, maybe they need to pursue the people who made Orphan Black - it's definitely one of the better low-budget, Canadian-produced series out there!
 
Irishmonk said:
I think Cronenberg is a fine filmmaker but I just don't think his style lends itself to long format serialized television which requires a lot of texture and richness of detail--esp with regards to dialogue and character development--something I just don't see a lot of in Cronenberg's work. The Ford saga would require a more novelistic approach, a "Dickensian Aspect" if you will. But of course this is entirely subjective. It also may be getting a little off topic. Sorry mods.
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While the kind of show you're describing is pretty rare in Canada it has been done before. Durham County was excellent and I've heard that Slings and Arrows was even better. I've been meaning to watch it. The Ford saga would have more screwed up episodes than the Sopranos.
 
I don't understand why the St. Patrick's Day email was leaked now. Is piling on like this seemly? Is it necessary? Has the Mayor made that many enemies at City Hall that they've been waiting for him to show any kind of weakness to go for his jugular (so to speak...the consistent pointing to the Mayor crying is mean, I think)?
I'm disappointed, too. I will never agree with the Fords' populist brand of conservative politics, nor their style, but I had always hoped we could weather Ford's mayoral term and move on. That he would be annoying, frustrating, divisive and disastrous for the City, but that we would recover. Who knows, maybe a term of fiscal conservancy would have actually been good for us?
I have always hoped the man would rise above his weaknesses, that Ford would meet the challenge of one of the most important public offices in Canada and lead the City. He's had some big files to shepherd: recovering from the recession, transit improvement, infrastructure maintenance and improvement, and housing. He has been barely able to accomplish much on these files, and what he has done has always been overshadowed, fairly or unfairly, by his personal antics.
Also, if love to see Chris Haddock or Stephanie Morgenstern get a shot at producing a miniseries about this.
 
downradio said:
Reading the reports about Lissi's alleged extortion, and who he called the night the story broke made me think of this Gawker story from June:

http://gawker.com/a-pipe-wielding-thug-stormed-the-rob-ford-crackhouse-s-511642073




Was this Lissi? Lissi's thugs?
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Recall that one of Lisi's bail conditions on the extortion charge is that he stay away from the Bassos. One imagines that Fabio would be on a list of witnesses to establish that Lisi (and ???) was on the hunt for the video.
 
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MisterF said:
While the kind of show you're describing is pretty rare in Canada it has been done before. Durham County was excellent and I've heard that Slings and Arrows was even better. I've been meaning to watch it. The Ford saga would have more screwed up episodes than the Sopranos.
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I wasn't too Impressed with Slings and Arrows.
Breaking Bad would be the tone to go for: lots of drama mixed with some dark comedy.
The Ford saga has been ridiculous at times, and Canadians do comedy so well, so it needs to be in there.
 
Forget a movie or miniseries, it's already a reality tv/radio/social media show playing out in real time. One that's funny on the surface but deeply tragic underneath.
 
thedeepend said:
Sadly, the likelihood of this story being botched by a Canadian television production company is very great. I fear we are in for some awful anodyne E1-style "docudrama" that sucks the marrow and guts out of the narrative. The story of the Fords is too intense, bizarre and tragic, and there is zero evidence that a Canadian screenplay or director would ever be able to capture it in all its perverse insane glory.
Leaving aside the obvious--Coen Brothers, Aronofsky etc, if we are truly blessed, an amazing script ends up in the hands of someone like Lars Von Trier or Michael Haneke.
Click to expand...

The Coens may be the most ideal of any American filmmaker I can think of--Fargo is almost the Great Canadian Film that, unfortunately, wasn't Canadian. Lars Von Trier's Kingdom was a great mini series and his surrealist approach would be completely appropriate for the Ford saga though he might have to tone it down a little. Haneke is just a bit too cold and arty for the context of this story, imo.

I would love it if a Canadian creative team could pull this off but, sadly, we don't really have any of the drama spinning heavyweights that this story needs. I can imagine a worst case scenario of the creators of "Little Mosque on the Prairie" ending up with this. We need our own version of a Simon, Weiner, Chase or Gilligan to really do justice to this incredible, real life, urban tragi-comedy.
 
Norm Kelly has asked for Rob Ford to resign. Ford admitted to problems and said that he'll stay Mayor and continue to work while getting help. He said his family has his back. What a bunch if idiots the Fords are. Their ignorance is going to be the death of Rob Ford. Addiction isn't a disease you treat on the weekends.

The executive committee is expecting nothing short of a resignation. If he doesn't comply, the exec is going to turn on him. This is really happening this time.
 
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