Anatomy of a Scene: Cottage-country comedy ‘The Lake’
The eight-episode Amazon Prime sequence set in northeastern Ontario begins streaming on Friday
Set in northeastern Ontario, Amazon Prime Video’s new eight-episode sequence The Lake is a cottage-country comedy loosely primarily based on author Julian Doucet’s life. The present follows Justin (Jordan Gavaris), who returns residence to Ontario from Australia for the summer time to reconcile his relationship with 16-year-old Billie (Madison Shamoun), the daughter he gave up for adoption when he was in highschool. Upon studying his late father left the household cottage to his stepsister Maisy-Might (Julia Stiles), Justin units his thoughts to scheming her out of the property. Right here, Gavaris, Stiles and Shamoun talk about the hijinks that ensue.
THE SCENE
After Billie drinks an excessive amount of at a group occasion, Justin tries to divert consideration by difficult Maisy-Might’s husband to a “tilt”—a camp sport that entails jousting your opponent off their canoe. The stakes are excessive: the winner will get to maintain the cottage. In the scene pictured above, Stiles’s character watches stonily from the sidelines together with her son Opal. “I’m strategizing about plan B, plan C, how we’re not going to lose the cottage,” Stiles says. “I need my stepbrother to lose. That’s just about Maisy-Might’s MO.”
THE LOCATION
Filmed in North Bay, Ontario, the present didn’t use soundstages however relied on the pure fantastic thing about Lake Nipissing. “I hope individuals can see the lake can be a lake and never a inexperienced display; every little thing you see is 100 per cent actual,” says Shamoun. She likens the expertise of filming on location to summer time camp. Gavaris, who grew up close to Toronto, additionally appreciated the surroundings. “Displaying as much as work and realizing in the event you flip, you’re positioned means up on a bluff, looking over the lake—it was fairly spectacular,” he says.
THE COTTAGE LIFE
The solid stayed on location for the length of filming, immersing themselves in native traditions. For many of their tilting scenes, Gavaris and Shamoun carried out their very own stunts. “Any time you see me hit the bottom, I hit the bottom—with gusto!” Shamoun says. Stiles discovered Canadian cottage communities fascinating on a social degree as properly—one thing the present takes care to depict. “Whenever you’re on the lake, it’s the one lake on the planet to those individuals,” she says.
THE COSTUMES
There was loads of room for the actors to contribute to their characters’ seems to be. One problem with Maisy-Might’s costumes was that Stiles was 4, 5 and 6 months pregnant throughout manufacturing. “That’s the place Maisy-Might’s kaftans got here in,” she says. Gavaris says his costumes developed alongside along with his character: “Whenever you first meet Justin, he’s within the hat and the Jacquemus shirt, and it’s all a bit Bondi Seashore,” he says. “Then, as we get additional into our story, his outfit turns into a bit extra cottagey.”
This text seems in print within the July 2022 situation of Maclean’s journal. Subscribe to the month-to-month print journal here, or purchase the problem on-line here.
