H’oh boy, the time has come! I am so damn happy to be releasing my latest directorial effort, SAVING FACE!
This film has an incredibly personal story to it for me, which I’ve shared further down the page, so for those of you who might be into that kind of thing, keep scrolling when you’re done watching.
SYNOPSIS: With the world watching, a mild-mannered pro-wrestler transforms into what he’s always fought against: the bad guy.
Ring the bell!
CREW:
Writer / Director / Editor: Glen Matthews ( GlenMatthews.ca ), Producer: Andrew Hicks ( fairfield-creative.com/ ), Director of Photography: Liam Higgins ( jellyphresh.com/ ), Assistant Director: Ian Burns ( ianburns.sqsp.com/ ), Wardrobe / Costume Design: Bonnie Archibald-Awalt, Sound Design & Mix: Dave Johnson, Data Management: David Fulde.
CAST:
Red – Glen Matthews, Blue – Bob Mann, The Wife – Becca Babcock, Red Jr. – Ethan Beck, Boss – Kevin Gerrior, The Ref – Chris Fitzgerald, Manager – Ralph Walton-Bone Urquhart, Flatbed – Troy Merrick AKA Sexton Phoenix, Big Rig – Jason Collier AKA Lumber Jack Johnson, Kontra – Chris Cooke AKA The Big Picture, Slambo – Ryan Mader AKA Lincoln Steen.
…Things got pretty weird there, eh?
Those of you who know me are well aware that I have a long-standing obsession with professional wrestling. It started when I was a child, continued through my teens, then, after high school, I sold my car and moved to Moncton, New Brunswick to pursue training in the squared circle.
After a week of my grappler-education, I called home from a terribly depressing pay phone at a Moncton strip mall, telling my parents I was quitting wrestling. Why? Long story short: my body sucks (bad knees, bad back) and I knew I didn’t stand a chance if my body was crapping-out on me already. The dream was over before it even began.
After a bit of career-experimentation (ie. working at Bluenotes for a year), I eventually found my way to acting, which I really enjoyed, and people told me I was good at. Acting eventually lead to filmmaking, and eventually, thanks to SAVING FACE, filmmaking brought me back, full-circle, to professional wrestling…
Our shoot consisted of seven days of straight shooting. It was a gruelling process for all involved (I owe many people on that crew many beers). Our final three days of shooting were in the Halifax Forum, where we would be shooting all of the wrestling scenes.
We spent hours setting up the ring, exhausted, but knowing it had to get done before the next day, and when it was, I started running the ropes, and all of a sudden I just started laughing my ass off. It hit me like a ton of bricks: this was the very definition of a dream come true.
The next couple of days, we had four professional wrestlers come in, all of whom I sincerely respect (and have long admired); they worked with us, we worked with them, and I was in absolute heaven getting tossed around.
Honestly, I could go on for hours about how much making this film meant to me, but I just want to say thank you to everyone who had a hand in helping me get to whatever point in my career that I needed to be at to say, “Hey, I don’t know if anyone’s gonna dig this, but I’m gonna go make this weird wrestling film anyway.”
There’s a lot of you who’ve contributed to my career, either directing me in a short, handing me a water bottle between takes, or just saying something nice (don’t forget you wonderful people who donated to the Saving Face IndieGogo), thank you for playing a part in allowing me to live this dream.
On to the next one.
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