Egoyan, meanwhile, says that after Where the Truth Lies—“a film that had way too many twists and turns”—Chloe’s story will be served straight up. And so will the characters. In critiquing Egoyan’s earlier movies, Reitman liked the lead actors, “but with minor roles,” says the director. “He thinks I tend to cast more grotesque characters, as opposed to people who would just be those roles. I take glee in pursuing those paths. In this kind of movie I don’t need to do that.”
To observe Egoyan and Reitman together on the set, their stereotypes quickly fall away. Atom is at least as comic and playful as Ivan. As they pose for a Maclean’s photo, he jokes that Ivan is trying to recreate the poster for Twins. “So which one is Danny DeVito?” cracks Medjuck.
Egoyan says the previous night he took Reitman to dinner at Joso’s restaurant, whose co-owner once belonged to the famed ’60s folk duo Malka and Joso. Reitman, as it turns out, once competed against them in high school as part of a less illustrious folk group. “We got slaughtered—it got me out of the folk business forever.” Hmmm. Egoyan started out as a serious student of classical guitar. If this marriage of convenience over remaking a French movie doesn’t pan out, Ivan and Atom might work as a folk act after all. Failing that, they could always take a shot at Ghostbusters III.
