Rock 'n' roll glory

This article was originally published during the 2010 Toronto International Film Festival.

A few years ago, director Bruce McDonald made a film called The Tracey Fragments. His latest one, Trigger, could as easily have been titled The Tracy Tour-De-Force — the late Tracy Wright blazes brightly in McDonald’s intimate rock ’n’ roll drama, which premieres at the Toronto International Film Festival.

'I was very aware that this was the time I was going to get to spend with Tracy, and that we were spending that time doing the thing we really loved.' — Molly Parker

That’s as should it be, considering the film was intended to give a showcase role to the gifted actress. What’s remarkable is that she delivered such a potent performance while suffering from the pancreatic cancer that killed her in June at the age of 50.

In Trigger, Wright and Molly Parker star as the erstwhile rock duo of the title, who reunite a decade after an acrimonious breakup. The screenplay, by Daniel MacIvor, was written specifically for the two women; when Wright was diagnosed last December, the project was rushed into production. McDonald shot the entire feature in just nine days, spread over four weekends, with an urgency born of necessity. Yet, despite Wright’s condition, the mood on the movie’s set was the opposite of morbid.

"It was really joyful," says Parker, recalling the feverish winter shoot in a quiet Toronto hotel room. Although she’s the better known of Trigger’s two stars, she happily spends most of our interview discussing Wright. "Personally, my feeling was one of immense gratitude" while making the film, she says. "I was very aware that this was the time I was going to get to spend with Tracy, and that we were spending that time doing the thing we really loved."

"We really didn’t have time to think about swan songs and endings and that sort of thing," McDonald says.

"And Tracy was at the top of her powers as an actor," observes MacIvor, pointing out that Wright and Parker even have a scene where they wrestle each other to the ground.

Kat (Parker) and Vic (Wright) are a pair of successful but troubled Canadian indie rockers who fell out publicly and violently – complete with some Pete Townshend-style guitar smashing – during a concert. A decade later, the two have worked their way through men, addictions (booze for Kat, heroin for Vic) and the difficulties of finding their feet post-fame. They’ve agreed to finally meet again for dinner when the Los Angeles-based Kat flies back to Toronto for a women-in-rock benefit.

Kat, who now makes a good living writing music for television shows, comes on sweet and conciliatory. Vic, who has stuck stubbornly and unprofitably to her indie roots, reacts with wariness, like a wild animal disturbed in its den. Over the course of a long night that winds its way from a swank restaurant to a hip rock club to a suburban high school, the pair bicker and open old wounds. But they also open up to each other and engage in philosophical talk.

"These are two old friends, who’ve known each other a really long time, and the drama is over," Parker says. "They already snorted the whole bag. That part of their relationship is done. And they are both at this place where they’re searching for some serenity and some kind of spiritual experience. I mean, we talk about God in this movie."

That couldn’t help but resonate, given the circumstances. "This is not a movie about Tracy’s illness or her dying," Parker says, "but thematically, there were things that we were dealing with that were very much about those big questions."

The two actresses modelled their characters partly on some real musicians. The slim, auburn-haired Parker based Kat on Melissa Auf der Maur, the Canadian bassist of Hole. The dark, androgynous Wright, who was a Patti Smith fan and look-alike, used the punk icon as a jumping-off point. There may be some of the real Parker and Wright in there, too. Parker, like Kat, now lives in L.A. and has enjoyed mainstream success (like in the HBO series Deadwood). Wright remained in Toronto and worked in small indie films and alternative theatre.

Like Kat and Vic, Parker and Wright also hadn’t performed together in more than a decade. They, along with MacIvor, appeared in the late-’90s CBC-TV cult comedy Twitch City, which starred Wright’s husband, Don McKellar, and was directed by McDonald. Parker says Trigger felt a little like a Twitch City reunion, especially since McKellar was on the set the whole time, watching out for his wife. He even served as prompter for the actresses during their dialogue-heavy scenes – in a very McKellar-like way. 

"The first day, when we shot at Canoe [the Toronto restaurant where the film opens], Tracy and I were sitting at the table," Parker says, "but Don was lying under the table with the script, in case we forgot our lines. Or just as a kind of moral support."

McKellar also played a cameo role in the film, as did MacIvor, Sarah Polley, Callum Keith Rennie and others who knew Wright and wanted to contribute. In fact, Trigger was a labour of love from the get-go. Producers Jennifer Jonas and Leonard Farlinger, who’d worked with Wright and McKellar on Monkey Warfare (2006), stepped forward to back the project. Monkey Warfare director Reg Harkema loaned his apartment as one of the sets. "It was an incredible response from the community," McDonald says. "People were literally lining up to help."

Brendan Canning of the band Broken Social Scene — the subject of McDonald’s recent concert film This Movie Is Broken — composed Trigger’s poignant score. He also taught Parker and Wright to play the duo’s signature song during the benefit scene. Parker, who has no musical background, says that was part of the exhilarating experience of shooting on the fly.

"I don’t play the bass guitar, I don’t sing in a rock band. Tracy maybe played a little bit of guitar, but certainly not this much. We had two hours with Brendan and that was it," she says. "You have to do it, so you just do it. There’s a freedom in that which I don’t often allow myself."

Trigger brings out the best in Parker, but in the end, it’s Wright’s movie.

"The minute she stepped in front of the camera, the camera just loved her," says McDonald. "And she’s true — you never feel like she’s acting. That’s what you always hope for, that truly natural performance."

Trigger opens Sept. 30 at the Bell Lightbox in Toronto.

Martin Morrow writes about the arts for CBC News.