Astronaut. Written and directed by Shelagh McLeod. Starring Richard Dreyfuss, Lyriq Bent and Colm Feore.
At first glance, Shelagh McLeod is nothing like the main character in her film Astronaut: Angus is a widowed senior and former engineer at odds with his family. One thing they do share? They both dream of going to space.
There are traces of the actor and now writer-director everywhere, in each one of her characters and in the film’s subtle but urgent message to seek a world beyond. “I think we are as human beings are meant to explore,” McLeod says. “I’m a little bit claustrophobic, so I’d need to be talked down from high anxiety by a therapist beforehand, but I can’t imagine anything more thrilling than going to space.”
McLeod’s debut feature stars Richard Dreyfuss as Angus, a 75-year-old man still grieving the loss of his wife when a heart condition forces him to leave his home behind. He moves in with his harried daughter Molly (Krista Bridges) and her family. Among the few items he brings with him are his telescope, which allows Angus and grandson Barney (Richie Lawrence) to spend nights together looking at the stars.
But son-in-law Jim (Lyriq Bell) is less than thrilled with the arrangement; another cardiac episode is all that’s needed to send Angus packing to a nursing home, where a motley group of seniors inadvertently inspires Angus to enter the contest of a lifetime: a reserved seat on the first-ever commercial flight to space.
The story was inspired by McLeod’s own visits to a care facility. “My mum died in a nursing home, and in the gardens there was this old guy in a wheelchair who was out there every day, always looking at the sky. And one day I said ‘What is it you’re looking for, what do you want?’ and he said ‘I want another go.’”
That longing for second chances stuck with McLeod, and after writing “the millionth draft,” a script was sent to Dreyfuss’ agent. “We’ll never get him,” McLeod remembers saying. But the Oscar-winning actor liked the film’s hopeful, uplifting tone. “He was doing a movie somewhere else, New Orleans I think, and we did a Skype call and he was such a warm, amazing, human I would’ve begged him – I think I did beg him, actually,” she laughs.
Dreyfuss’ character fudges his birthdate on the application, but it’s his knowledge of runway surfaces and road engineering that gets the spacecraft company’s attention. “[Seniors] have such a wealth of experience, not just in parenting but practical knowledge, too.” McLeod points to a line in the film where Angus talks about bringing in old guys to fix the Y2K computer bug problem. That tidbit came from real life: McLeod’s brother worked for a bank and when they were worried about the transition they brought in the 70-somethings who had originally programmed the systems.
This is Molly’s story, too. She is in a situation relatable to many: caring for an aging parent while keeping her marriage at an even keel and caring for a child of her own. “Molly is definitely me in terms of the guilt she feels and the unbearable problem you have of being the piggy in the middle in the family, having to care for everyone,” McLeod admits. It’s difficult for the caregiver and a minefield for the elderly, she says, “but having been through the journey with my mum I know that they need and deserve more respect than we give them.”
A family film is a rarity these days; McLeod says there were a few swear words in the script but “I just thought ‘there’s no need to use it here’ and I took them out.” The hope is to find a universal audience with the film, she says, “a grandparent taking a grandchild, children going with parents, or mates going to see it. ... Generations can connect with and perhaps talk about it afterwards, that’s our hope, anyway.”
McLeod was born in Vancouver, relocated to Montreal at age two and again to England at age six. She didn’t return to Canada until she performed at the Stratford Festival. And it wasn’t until she was filming Cold Front with Martin Sheen that she was able to return to her hometown of Vancouver. The actor visited Vancouver General Hospital, where she was born, and the home she lived in on Nelson Avenue. “I’d love to return to Vancouver, it’s beautiful!”
Having been an actor has definitely helped shape her directing style, McLeod says. “I’ve worked with a few amazing directors and a few that I wouldn’t want to emulate.” The best directors put their egos aside and did what was best for the story. “[Astronaut] is not a high-octane story. There’s a wholesomeness to this story, so we need to trust the tone of this film and stick by it. ... It was a collaborative experience and I learned that from being an actor.”
The film releases Friday, the same week as the 50th anniversary of Apollo 11 and the first moon landing. “I didn’t realize it at the time,” she says of the coincidental date. “It didn’t even cross my mind and then suddenly there it was! It was serendipity.”
The director’s next project is also about outer space. NEXUS, shortlisted for the Sundance Screenwriters’ Lab, is about a woman facing an existential crisis after she returns to Earth from space. “I always wanted to go to space, I’d still love to,” she admits.
Her love of science fiction and of worlds beyond are evident, but McLeod says that her stories are ultimately about very earthbound concerns. “I wrote Astronaut for every person who’s had a dream and worries that it’s too late. And it’s not too late.”
