(Toronto) Originally from Newfoundland, director Christian Sparkes has made several films in his native province, but he took advantage of his new psychological thriller film The King Tide to explore a unique city that had so far eluded him.
With around 50 residents, the once bustling fishing community of Keels had a particular cinematic horror appeal for the director. Its irregular rocky banks were visually disturbing while its small wooden houses seemed frozen in time.
“The landscape is an incredible character,” Christian Sparkes said of the film, which opens in Canadian theaters Friday. “It’s difficult to recreate such authenticity. »
The St. Johns native had Keels in mind for several years, even though its isolated location made filming there expensive.
The King Tide, which he said had a budget of around 9 million, ultimately allowed him to accomplish this goal. He made it the setting for a hauntingly unnamed fictional island where the entire plot of the film takes place.
The island’s isolated villagers find their lives changed forever after a mysterious baby washes up on their shores, the sole survivor of a devastating shipwreck.
They name the baby Isla and raise her as one of their own. They also discover that the baby possesses inexplicable healing powers that promise immunity from injury and disease.
As the years pass, they come to depend on Isla’s abilities. When the girl’s powers begin to fade, panic sets in and the community begins to fracture.
The big tide is a refreshing new offering in the “folk horror” genre with sharp performances from a cast including Frances Fisher, Kate Winslet’s icy mother in Titanicand Aden Young, one of the lead detectives of Law & Order Toronto.
Based on a screenplay by Albert Shin, the film evokes The Village by M. Night Shyamalan or the Netflix series Midnight Mass by Mike Flanagan, two projects that dealt with sectarian “groupthink” in isolated contexts.
Christian Sparkes says he organized a screening of his film to make sure he didn’t get too close to anyone else’s ideas. He also modified part of the original scenario so that we could identify more with the inhabitants.
“People were even more hysterical and crazy,” he said while attending his film’s premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival last year.
“I worked hard to make it a little more grounded in reality […] It was important for me not to exaggerate. »
The choice of young Alix West Lefler
The authenticity of The King Tide was based on the choice of a young actress who would convey the complexity of Isla, an innocent 10-year-old girl trying to understand her abilities while the world around her collapses.
Christian Sparkes says he watched hundreds of audition videos for three months to find the right actress, but he wasn’t satisfied with any of them. It took a second viewing of some of them before settling on Alix West Lefler.
“I had to put my blinders on,” he said. Because something jumped out at me when I saw her for the second time. »
Alix West Lefler, who is now 12 years old and has already shared the screen with stars like Jessica Chastain and Eddie Redmayne in The Good Nurse, said it felt like a year had passed before she learned she got the role. In reality, it was only a few months.
When she was on site in Keels, she was quickly immersed in this fictional world thanks to the other actors.
“They were so warm and reassuring,” she says. It was quite easy to create a connection and get into the skin of the character. »
Around Thanksgiving 2022, Alix West Lefler and her parents joined her fellow cast members to share a crab dinner, one of her favorite memories of the experience.
“People from the community brought us soup or homemade dinners,” she adds.
That kind of camaraderie was felt in several aspects of the production, said Christian Sparkes, whose previous films include the 2019 crime thriller Hammerwith Will Patton.
The teams of The King Tidestaffed by 80 to 90 people, doubled the size of Keels at times, and many locals ended up getting involved behind the scenes or playing small roles.
“All the extras you see at city hall or on the streets are all real residents,” he stressed.
“Most of them are wearing their real clothes, which really reflects the real grounding of this universe. »
Capturing that realism on camera was only part of the puzzle, the director emphasized. The challenge continued into the editing room where every piece had to fit snugly to ensure the tension of the plot never wavered.
“Filming will always be difficult, everyone knows that,” he said. But in the editing room, trying to make sure all the performances come together and the world is believable so the stakes feel real, that’s always the biggest challenge. »