Way to tap the zeitgeist. How could Toronto-based
writer/director Rob Stefaniuk have known years ago—when conceiving of
his new rock ‘n’ roll vampire movie Suck—that in 2009
bloodsuckers would be pop culture fixtures, more adored than even
zombies? He was ahead of the bloody wave, but he got the picture made
with actual rock stars: Henry Rollins, Iggy Pop, Alice Cooper, Alex
Lifeson, Carole Pope and famous vegan Moby, playing a Rob Halford-esque
leader of a Buffalo rock act called Secretaries of Steak.
The plot concerns a struggling Canadian rock band called The Winners
going on tour and seeing some unexpected success coinciding with the
increasingly vampiric tendencies of its members, while escaping from a
vampire hunter named Eddie Van Helsing, played by sterling British
character actor Malcolm McDowell. Stefaniuk acts in the picture, while
composing and playing all the band’s songs, with the help of former
Doughboy John Kastner.
But the real star of Stefaniuk’s Suck is Montreal-born
Jessica Paré, playing Jennifer, The Winners’ bass player and the
first to enjoy the nocturnal pleasures of the undead. Pare,
well-known from her roles in features Stardom, Lost and
Delirious and on TV in the miniseries Lives of the Saints,
is gloriously gothic in the part. It sure looks like she’s having
fun.
“It’s kind of a girl’s dream to play a rock star and vampire at the
same time,” says Paré, calling from the midst of a busy press
schedule at the Toronto International Film Festival where Suck is showing. “The thing that I loved about Jennifer is she’s an
addict…but unlike other addicts she has to murder people to fill her
need. She’s just a nice girl with a big problem.”
Learning how to play bass guitar for the role, Paré rehearsed
with the other actors in advance of the cameras rolling, though it’s
her good friend Sara Johnston of Bran Van 3000 whose voice and playing
we hear on the soundtrack. Paré had no trouble hanging with the
boys in the band. “I grew up with three brothers, so it was [the other
actors] who had to put up with fart and penis jokes,” she says,
laughing.
Paré signed up for Suck before she even knew the
stature of the rock gods she’d be playing opposite. At age 11, living
in Montreal, she received a mix tape from an uncle with Iggy Pop’s
songs on it, which she calls the basis for her taste in music.
“I have to tell you, I was a bit nervous” about meeting the Igster
and other musicians, she says. “Sometimes you meet somebody you looked
up to and admire and they’re jerks and it’s really disappointing. This
was the complete opposite of that. Everybody was so great, everybody
came to set with ideas about their character, and everybody wanted to
improvise. They’re performers. They’re really good at what they
do.”
Like her first big role in Stardom, the pitfalls of fame are
a big part of the subtext of Suck: vampirism as an allegory for
both drug addiction and hollow celebrity. Paré lives in Los
Angeles now, but clearly Hollywood isn’t keeping her from showing up in
Canadian pictures: She’s also in Jacob Tierney’s film The
Trotsky, also showing at the Atlantic Film Fest, and will be in
Halifax for the premieres of both movies. Nor has she done much
soul-selling to make ends meet. Or, so it seems.
“Well, thanks,” she says, when the observation is made. “I have been
guilty of taking a job just ’cause I needed the money, but I don’t feel
bad about that. We all do it. I’m one of the very few actors I know who
has been able to do this for 11 years and hasn’t had to get a day job.
I’m very fortunate and love what I do. For the most part I work on
things I’m really proud of and excited about, with people I adore.”
Paré admits that even though some say a Los Angeles home base
is key for a thriving film-acting career, she’d like to move back to
Canada. “There are more jobs [in Hollywood] but there’s much more
competition for parts. It’s a trade-off.”
And clearly Suck director Rob Stefaniuk features prominently
on Paré’s list of adorable Canadians. She’s actually a bit
melancholy talking about the movie as it finally comes out for people
to see. “I’m still really sad that it’s over. I wish I could go back to
set tomorrow.”
Suck
Friday, September 25, 7pm
Oxford Theatre, $15
Tickets at Video Difference, AFF box office atlanticfilm.com, ticketpro.ca, 422-6965
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This article appears in Sep 17-23, 2009.