What happens when the book is too
short to make a good movie? Hollywood movie
magic happens and Kelly McIntosh definitely created some in the 2014 remake of
Murder In The Cathedral. With a star-studded cast including Lorenzo Callegari
as Archbishop Thomas Becket, Amelia Cosco and Jacob Cuthbert as the murderous
knights, the acting in this movie is nothing short of spectacular. Four time
award winning and legendary director Kelly McIntosh brings life to this usually
boring story and captivates the audience with her amazing creative choices.
The inclusion of
a love story adds an element that most movies have bridging the gap between the
audience and the movie. The second knight, Hughgina de Morville (Amelia Cosco),
falls desperately in love with Archbishop Thomas Becket (Lorenzo Callegari) but
since his loyalty is to God the romance is completely one-sided. This helplessly
romantic and slightly unintelligent knight brings out the humor in this “based
on a true story”, definitely putting a lot of emphasis on the phrase “based on”.
Calcostosh Productions backed the
project to make it as realistic as a small town production company could. All
of the footage shown in the teaser trailer was filmed at Porcupine United
church, a poor man’s Canterbury Cathedral. While the set was exceptional for
the Northern Ontario based company, the
costume design was as authentic as it gets. Donated to the movie from the
Porcupine United Church Sunday School Prop Department the costumes were amazing
and push the movie over the edge into the award winning zone. Nominated for
Best Film of the Year, Best in Genre, Best Female Supporting Actor, Best Male
Lead and Best Soundtrack, Murder In The Cathedral is sure to win at least 3
titles. Songs included in the teaser trailer were Crusaders performed by Harry Gregson-Williams and Pretty Fly For A White Guy performed by
The Offspring. The soundtrack to the movie is just as impressive as the songs
chosen to set the mood in the trailer and definitely makes the movie more, and
more extraordinary.
Since this is
the first time Calcostosh has put their name on a budgeted film they had to
create a low-cost company intro which ended in director Kelly McIntosh spending
just less than an hour creating a slightly cheesy, but handmade title screen. When
interviewed McIntosh said, “We had to use the trial version of Aurora 3D Animation Maker and plan out each
scene, frame by frame! It was long and tiring work so I now have a new found
appreciation for the animators that work in the movie business!”
The producers have
not set release date more specific than summer of 2014 so we’ll all have to
wait until it gets closer to the launch date to book a day off work to go see
the movie!
Elizabeth McIntosh is a Blogger, frequent movie goer and Entertainment journalist for The Daily News where her articles are published every Monday and Thursday.
