"Whole New Thing" Explores Young Boy's Crush On Gay Male Teacher

TORONTO, CANADA - There's been much talk in recent months about the success of Brokeback Mountain, Capote and Transamerica - films that focus on gay or transsexual characters.
In the midst of that dialogue comes Whole New Thing, a new Canadian movie about a 13-year-old boy who develops a passionate crush on his homosexual teacher.
During last September's Toronto International Film Festival, director Amnon Buchbinder said the film - shot under wintry conditions in Nova Scotia - came about during a discussion with Daniel MacIvor, with whom he co-wrote the screenplay.
"The idea to tell the story started with something Daniel had told me about an experience from his own life about having a crush on a male teacher when he was in Grade 5," said Buchbinder.
"He wasn't suggesting that as a film story, it was just in another context, but I thought that would be an interesting story for a film."
The subject matter is certain to make some moviegoers squeamish, yet that was exactly what drew Buchbinder to the project.
"It was the combination of the queasy, inappropriate potential with the, I guess you could say, wholesome aspect of first love," said Buchbinder, who teaches film at Toronto's York University.
"I was interested in how - in that idea - those things were kind of wrapped up together."
The result is a deft balancing act with nuanced performances from MacIvor, who also stars in the film as teacher Don Grant, and Aaron Webber, the novice actor who plays confused teen Emerson.
MacIvor's character lives a lonely life in the small community, seeking out anonymous sex in a local washroom.
Yet he is unequivocal when it comes to a sexual relationship with Emerson: it is out of the question.
"It was really important to me that the character of Don was not at all interested sexually in this boy. There was no struggle, there was no conflict in any way for him," said MacIvor in a telephone interview following the festival.
"That was incredibly important. As a gay man, I said I didn't want to do anything that was in any way going to implicate anybody. ... There is a certain group of people in society who have ideas that are wrong about this whole idea of pedophilia and how it's connected to homosexuality. I didn't want to be in any way contributing to that misinformation."
For Webber, a teenaged actor from Chester Bay, N.S., who'd only done local theatre before landing the plum role in Whole New Thing, the material was difficult.
"I loved the script," Webber said at the film festival. "Some of the subject matter, however, I was not so certain I would be able to take on such challenges."
But Webber was clearly up for the task.
MacIvor - a veteran performer who is renowned for his work in Canadian film and theatre - calls his young co-star "incredibly gifted."
"Aaron was such a professional without having any idea how to be a professional," he said. "We had a good time, we had lots of laughs and that to me is what it's about. It was a really charmed experience."
The film has already opened in Halifax and Vancouver and is set to open in Toronto next month.
from Canada.com