CHRISTIAN LAFORCE - Edward Burns takes a break on the set of The River King 
at Fleming Park in Halifax on Thursday night. 

Mystery in the making 

Actor Burns plays a cop in supernatural thriller in production in Nova Scotia 

By ANDREA NEMETZ / Entertainment Reporter

GROWING UP, there was one career path Edward Burns knew he wouldn't take. 

"My dad let us know early on we weren't going to be cops. We had no say in the matter," says the boyishly handsome star who leapt into the public eye with the Brothers McMullen, the 1995 indie film he wrote, directed, produced and starred in. 

Burns is playing police investigator Abel Grey in The River King, a supernatural thriller being filmed in Halifax, Windsor and surrounding areas. And though his father, also named Edward Burns, was a New York police officer, Burns doesn't believe that's influencing his performance. 

"I know my way around the world and maybe there are things I'm unaware of, certain manners, inflections when I ask questions that I'm bringing to the role," he muses during a dinner break in his trailer parked amidst the melting snow in Halifax's Fleming Park. 

With the U.K.'s Myriad Pictures and Spice Factory, the project is a co-production of Kismet Film Company, a U.K-based indie firm and Halifax's imX Communications. 

Directed by Brit Nick Willing (Photographing Fairies), The River King, is based on the best-selling novel of the same name by Alice Hoffman. 

The $16-million movie, also stars Tony winner Jennifer Ehle (Possession, Sunshine) as Burns's love interest Betsey, Montreal's Rachelle Lefevre and locals Jeff Wright, Thomas Gibson, Jackie Torrens, Nikki Barnett, Stacy Smith and David Christoffel, among others. 

A 35-day shoot began in Halifax last week, and is slated to wrap May 4. 

Burns plays a small-town cop called in when a student drowns at an elite prep school. Even though the headmaster insists it was suicide, Grey suspects foul play when he finds clues seemingly left by the dead boy's spirit. 

Abel is a bit of a loner, Burns observes, but he's not tortured. "He's the sort of a loner who's carrying around a lot of hurt that stems from when his brother committed suicide as a boy - he never got over it. He's a strong silent type." 

Which is unlike Burns himself, whose broad smile and easygoing charm instantly put those around him at ease. 

"Playing someone unlike yourself is what's fun," says the blue-eyed actor. "I did 15 Minutes (a 2001 thriller with Robert DeNiro as a homicide detective and Burns as fire marshal investigating a crime spree) and that character was closer to me. Since then I've made a concentrated effort to find acting roles with no parallels between my self and the characters, it's part of why I wanted to be in this movie." 

The River King has a great script, he continues, adding he admires the supernatural element and is a fan of "wonderfully creepy movies which rely on smarts, not blood and gore" like the Exorcist, the Shining, Don't Look Now and the Sixth Sense. 

It's the first time in Halifax for Burns, who is in town with his wife, supermodel Christy Turlington and infant daughter, Grace. 

"Fatherhood changes you in all the great ways people tell you it will and then some," he says before switching the topic from private to professional. 

River King filming in Halifax until May 4 

He bounces between acting and directing and right now is thrilled with a project he's just finished, a movie called Looking for Kitty, that he wrote and directed. A comedy-drama set in New York City about a baseball coach (Burns) whose wife has left him, and who hires a hapless P.I. played by David Krumholtz (10 Things I hate About You) to find her, premieres at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York City the day after River King wraps. 

"I had the time of my life on that movie, but here the circumstances are different," Burns says earnestly. "I'm not responsible for all the shots, I'm just responsible for the performance. Being less responsible frees you up to play with acting. But I don't prefer one to the other." 

He says he doesn't direct himself. 

"There's one person on the set, a producer I trust, that keeps an eye on my performance. I know after a take whether I've done a good job or not. I'm so familiar with what I'm trying to say, it doesn't feel like I need to direct myself." 

Looking for Kitty is not Burns' first foray into sports films. The first script he wrote in film school was for Apple Pie, a movie about a high school basketball team. 

"It was a revisionist autobiographical story - the team was better than my high school team," laughs the former shooting guard, who started off in university at SUNY Albany as an English major planning to be a novelist before he fell in love with old American movies and switched to film school. 

These days, the diehard Knicks fan has given up the roundball in favour of fishing and snowboarding. His favourite fishing hole is the southern tip of Gardner's Island off Long Island and he likes to board at Sun Valley. But he's thinking of giving Wentworth a try in a couple of weekends - if there's still snow. 

Producer Michele Camarda who heads up Kismet Films, which also produced the UK hit This Year's Love, and Wonderland, which premiered in offical competition at the 1999 Cannes Film Festival, is hoping the snow lasts another couple of weeks. 

The River King is close to her heart. Not only is her husband directing, but Hoffman - who contacted Willing personally about filming the story - is one of her favourite authors. 

"We had David Kane adapt the book - he's worked with us on This Year's Love and Born Romantic, and a couple of smaller English romantic comedies - and Alice said it was the best adaptation of any of her novels. 

"We wanted to come to North America because it's an American novel set at a very elite prep school and we wanted a New England feel and the opportunity to work with an American movie star. When we were able to secure Edward, it really took off for us. 

"He really responded to the material and he and Nick Willing clicked immediately. Edward has been very loyal. He stuck with us through all the production delays (there were financing issues in Britain, now resolved). 

"We were incredibly lucky. He's great, he's doing a wonderful job. He's very empathetic and believable in the role - and he's a really down-to-earth guy." 

imx's Zimmer says having a lead actor of international stature like Burns - his credits include Saving Private Ryan, Sidewalks of New York, Life or Something Like it and most recently Confidence with Dustin Hoffman - was absolutely essential to the project. 

"It's a good story. It's a little scary, a little mystical, a little spiritual," says Zimmer, noting the shoot involves about 120 people, 97 locals. 

"And from what I've seen of the rushes, the actors and production team are working out well. Nick Willing is doing a bang-up job." 

Camarda is equally enthusiastic about the Halifax talent. 

"We cast a lot of fantastic local actors, including a a young boy, Thomas Gibson, a student at Dalhousie, who plays a signficant role. He's just an extraordinary find. He's a rising star. 

"And we're shooting in the most wonderful locations, Halifax, Windsor, King's, Dalhousie. The first week we shot on the Meander River near Windsor, the entire river was frozen and it was just the most beautiful scene. It was a magical winter wonderland," she says cheerily, praising location manager Gary Swim and his great eye. 

The film already has distribution - through Odeon Releasing (Alliance Atlantis) in Canada, Momentum in the U.K. and Movision and Myriad Pictures internationally. 

Zimmer expects the River King to be released in the fall of 2005 after a few stops on the festival circuit. 

Copyright © 2004 The Halifax Herald Limited