THE VILLAGE THE VILLAGE

interview |
SEX
ANDTHE
COUNTRY
Is filling the screen with boobs,
buns and lovely Canadian vistas
the best way to sell a movie to
young Canucks? The folks at
CHUM hope so
I BY INGRID RANDOJA
The fact that the raunchy, 1982 teen
sex comedy Porky’s remains the
highest-grossing Canadian film of
all-time (more than $100-million [U.S.]
worldwide) is not lost on the producers
of Going the Distance.
You see, Going the Distance is Canada’s
From left: Ryan Belleville, Christopher Jacot,
Mayko Nguyen and Joanne Kelly in Going the Distance
new and improved raunchy teen sex
comedy!
It’s the brainchild of CHUM
Television Limited, which operates a
stable of channels nationwide, including
MuchMusic. CHUM decision makers
felt the time was right to get into the
movie business and, taking a cue from
MTV south of the border, they decided
the safest avenue to boxoffice
gold was through the
teen market. After all,
flicks such as Porky’s, the
American Pie series and
Road Trip never lost anyone
any money.
“It was a natural outgrowth
of the fact we
have an audience with
MuchMusic that we’re used
to talking to,” says Going the
Distance executive producer
Diane Boehme on the
phone from her home in
Toronto. “Here’s a bunch
of people we reach through
famous 26 | august 2004
Director Mark Griffiths
music, but haven’t had opportunity to
reach in a narrative fashion, so we
thought we’d combine the two.”
The film follows Nick (Chris Jacot),
Tyler (Shawn Roberts) and Dime (Ryan
Belleville) as they hit the road, travelling
from their West Coast home in
Tofino, British Columbia, to Toronto.
Nick has only five days to get to T-dot
and the MuchMusic Video
Awards, where he’ll ask his
girlfriend to marry him.
Cruising along in their RV,
the excitable boys pick
up aspiring singers Sasha
(Joanne Kelly) and Jill
(Mayko Nguyen), and, as
you’d expect, the gang
engages in a variety of
naughty antics.
“I was amazed how
funny it was and how far it
went,” says Chris Jacot,
who plays the sexually
naive Nick, on the line
from his Toronto digs. “I
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