Blizzard links Blizzardthemovie.com (official site with trailer) IMDB: Blizzard DVD at Amazon ABC Family Photos at Knightscove.com Photos at Modem-magazine.com Rottentmatoes Reviews CinemaClock viewer comments: Toronto | Montreal Awards: • 2004 Chicago International Children's Film Festival: Best of the Fest • 2004 Directors Guild of Canada Award: Outstanding Team Achievement in a Family Feature Film • 2004 Young Artist Awards - "Best International Feature Film" nomination • 3 Genie nominations: Christopher Plummer (supporting actor), costume design, song. • 2003 Heartland Film Festival - Award of Excellence 2003 Heartland Film Fest awards webcast (Blizzard filmclip at 38 min.) Toronto Star April 13, 2002 Knightscove.com Modem-magazine.com giffoniff.it

1. --> November 4, 2004, Multichannel News ABC Family Catches Holiday Fever
2. --> October 22, 2004, Chicago Sun Times, Burton puts kids first, especially in 'Blizzard'
3. --> December 18, 2003, Canada.com (Victoria), Movies in Brief, By Michael D. Reid
4. --> December 12, 2003, The Globe and Mail, Blizzard packs a wallop -- of warmth, By Rick Groen [Review]
5. --> December 12, 2003, The Calgary Sun, Blizzard Instant holiday classic, by Louis B. Hobson [Review]
6. --> December 12, 2003, National Post, A new reindeer yule love, By Chris Night [Review]
7. --> December 12, 2003, The Calgary Herald, Shakespearean Santa shines in Blizzard, By Jay Stone [Review]
8. --> December 12, 2003, The Montreal Gazette, Blizzard captures magic of holidays, By Kathryn Greenway [Review]
9. --> December 12, 2003 The Montreal Gazette Reindeer are Turkeys, By Kathryn Greenway
10. --> December 12, 2003, Toronto Sun, Blizzard of tears [Review]
11. --> December 11, 2003, Toronto Eye Weekly, Blizzard [Review]
12. --> December 10, 2003, Globe and Mail, Reindeer Nightmares
13. --> December 9, 2003, Ottawa Citizen, A very multicultural Christmas
14. --> December 6, 2003, Calgary Sun, Taking the reins
15. --> December 5, 2003, CTV Canada AM, [Transcript: Interview with Levar Burton]
16. --> October 16, 2003 Indystar.com Burton's busy with directing
17. --> July 5, 2002, Beck/Smith Hollywood Exclusive column
18. --> May 27, 2002, Playback Magazine, Mr. X creates a new model for movie animation
19. --> April 13, 2002, The Toronto Star, Blizzard conditions include a rinse and manicure
20. --> March 5, 2002, Toronto Sun, Blizzard Without Snow\How filmmakers coped with our not so frozen North
21. --> March 1, 2002, Toronto Sun, Snow Trek\Levar Burton Braves Cold and Uncooperative Reindeer For Film
22. --> March 4, 2002, Playback Magazine, More than Nothing at 49th Parallel
23. --> March 4, 2002, The Ottowa Sun, Burton Caught In Blizzard
24. --> February 4, 2002, The Hollywood Reporter, Four soar with Burton's 'Blizzard'

ABC Family set the lineup for its seventh-annual “25 Days of Christmas” programming stunt Thursday.

The network will air more than 150 hours of holiday-themed entertainment each day from Dec. 1-25.

Highlights include the U.S. television debut of Blizzard and the premiere of original movie Snow. Blizzard, which will air Wednesday, Dec. 1 at 8 p.m. (EST/PST), is a live-action movie featuring Brenda Blethyn, Christopher Plummer and the voice of Whoopi Goldberg as Blizzard the Reindeer.

And Snow, which makes its debut Sunday, Dec. 12, stars Tom Cavanagh (Ed), Ashley Williams (Good Morning Miami) and Bobb’e Thompson (The Tracy Morgan Show).

Two-time Emmy Award winner LeVar Burton says his career could have gone in a completely different direction, but his choice to focus on children's issues has been his most rewarding experience as an actor, director and producer.

"I am who I am because of my mother, who was a teacher. She taught me that the responsibility of preparing another human being to inherit the world is the most important job there is," Burton says from Los Angeles. "I have a 10-year-old, a 24-year-old and a 3-year-old granddaughter who've inspired the choices I've made."

It's no wonder that Burton, who has hosted PBS' "Reading Rainbow" for the last 21 years, agreed to serve as master of ceremonies at the opening-night gala of the 21st Chicago International Children's Film Festival, which will continue through Oct. 31.

Burton is thrilled the festival, which he calls "the highest level of entertainment for the young at heart" will premiere his film "Blizzard," a classic tale of friendship between Blizzard (voiced by Whoopi Goldberg), the most rebellious and gifted of Santa's reindeer, and an aspiring young skater named Katie. The movie also features actors Christopher Plummer and Kevin Pollak. Burton will attend screenings of the film at 10:45 this morning at the AMC City North 14 theater and Saturday at 1 p.m. at the Burnham Village Theater and speak with the audience after both.

Asked what professional experience means the most to him -- from his Emmy-winning role Kunta Kinte in the miniseries, "Roots" to the blind Lt. Geordi La Forge on the series "Star Trek: The Next Generation -- Burton doesn't waver.

"Look, I'm so grateful that I have had the opportunity to bring something to the table. Show biz has such tremendous impact around the world," he says. "Nearly every single day, someone tells me how much 'Reading Rainbow' has affected their lives. Last night, I was at a movie premiere and a young woman came up to me and said, 'I am going to medical school right now because of "Reading Rainbow"' -- and that's an incredible feeling."

The festival's cinematic celebration includes 22 world premieres, 42 North American premieres, 30 U.S. premieres and 57 Chicago premieres of the best children's films from around the world.

CHICAGO INTERNATIONAL CHILDREN'S FILM FESTIVAL
Through Oct. 31
Facets Cinema, 1517 W. Fullerton; Vittum Theatre, 1012 N. Noble; Burnham Village Theater, 826 S. Wabash; AMC City North 14, 1600 N. Western
Tickets, $6 children; $8 adults
(773) 281-2166; www.cicff.org

A sweet, lonely and impoverished girl who longs for a pair of figure skates so she can take part in a skating competition gets her wish with the help of a talking, flying and sometimes invisible reindeer (a mellowed Whoopi Goldberg) that can sense a child's despair from the North Pole and soar to her rescue. As hokey as its story, set in the 1940s and told in flashback by an eccentric aunt (Brenda Blethyn), may sound, director LeVar Burton's slight, engaging and unapologetically old-fashioned Canadian-made charmer is family-friendly fare as wholesome as it's visually impressive. And what's not to like about Christopher Plummer channelling King Lear as Santa Claus? Rating 3

Blizzard is a solid bundle of modest charm, one of those instant-mix classics of the season destined to gain an annual foothold on television's Family network -- schedule it right after Charlie Brown's Christmas and somewhere before It's a Wonderful Life.

Compared with the high gloss of Elf or the low scatology of Bad Santa, the script is as quaint as its setting, and the whole production has a likably old-fashioned feel, giving off the faint must of those crocheted doilies that granny used to haul out on special occasions -- all nicely knit together but, in a Nintendo world, is there still a market for this stuff? I hope so.

The picture comes with a thin contemporary frame wrapped around a tall tale. The snow is falling yet little Jess is sad, upset by the news that her best buddy has moved out of the neighbourhood. Enter her eccentric Aunt Millie (Brenda Blethyn) to start the tale spinning -- to tell a story about a girl just like her, and about a Santa who's hard of hearing and reindeer that won't stop talking and, of course, about friends who part, but a friendship that never dims because it's locked in the bright sanctuary of a sensitive heart.

Cue those quaint flashbacks, to the late forties when Katie (Zoe Warner) is the lonely only daughter of hard-working parents. Picked on by two rambunctious brothers, she finds her refuge and her passion at the outdoor rink. There, wearing hand-me-down skates, and coached by a crusty yet kindly ex-champion, Katie learns to cut quite the figure eight. But then dad loses his job, forcing the family to move to the big bad city, where the poor girl's troubles start anew.

Meanwhile, up at the North Pole, a half-deaf Santa is definitely violating the stereotype. His beard is grey and his suit is beige and his village is a medieval city run with an iron hand by a subordinate Claus, his bureaucratic elf-in-chief. In fact, as played by Christopher Plummer, our not-so-jolly one looks like a King Lear who wandered off the heath and onto the set of The Lord of the Rings. No reason to worry, though. Beneath the dour surface, he's a really nice soul and, when a reindeer babe is born, is quick to christen the tyke Blizzard.

It pains me to report that not all the reindeer at this polar extreme can fly. But Blizzard can. He can even talk (and a good thing too for Whoopi Goldberg). Better yet, Blizzard has the extra-special gift of "empathic navigation" -- in common parlance, he can hear the cries of distressed children and race to their rescue. Children like Katie. They meet, they mingle. Katie loves to fly across the ice, Blizzard loves to fly in the air -- theirs is a match made in Christmas-classic heaven. Sure, there are still more troubles to be overcome, but only the kind that make the happy ending all the sweeter.

Along the way, LeVar Burton, whose directing experience is mainly confined to television, proves that he hasn't strayed far from his small-screen roots. Mixing actual reindeer with their animatronic and computer-generated cousins, he gives the visual blend a seamless look. However, Burton comes up badly short when the antlered gang take to the heavens -- these aerial sequences should be kinetically thrilling, but they barely get off the ground.

Nevertheless, Blizzard is no snow-job. Too often, these family movies, brandishing their family values, seem to owe less to Tiny Tim than to Uriah Heep -- their sincerity feels false and their humility unctuous. But not here. This has got the right nice stuff, enough to inspire at least one Christmas wish: Dear Santa, just for a day, make my big girl little again, and we'll wait for you together, carving angels in the snow and seeking reindeer in the sky.

Blizzard

[Review]
December 12, 2003

One of the great holiday classics is Bob Clark’s 1983 Canadian charmer A Christmas Story.

It’s the story of Ralphie Parker’s quest to get his Red Ryder BB gun for Christmas.

In LeVar Burton’s Blizzard, Katie (Zoe Warner) longs for a pair of figure skates that will allow her to compete for a spot in an annual skating competition.

Katie’s family is poor and the rich girl in town (Brittany Bristow) is determined to keep her from that honour.

Katie’s ally is a North Pole reindeer named Blizzard (voiced by Whoopi Goldberg), who feels just as much an outsider in her world, as Katie does in hers.

Screenwriter Murray McRae has cobbled together his tale of friendship from numerous sources. The ballet slippers of Hans Christian Anderson’s The Red Shoes become figure skates and Rudolph morphs into Blizzard, but McRae does it with such ease and flair he’s to be congratulated rather than admonished.

McRae has given Burton a script rich in wit, charm and sweet sentimentality.

Even Goldberg tones down her sass to voice Blizzard, giving the reindeer a youthful exuberance instead of streetwise sting.

Writer and director are blessed with fine performances, especially from the supporting characters up at the Pole.

Christopher Plummer plays Santa with a kind of quizzical annoyance.

He’s a bit hard of hearing and his head elf (Kevin Pollak) is forever nattering away about rules and regulations.

Pollak’s elf is a stickler for obedience and Blizzard is one rebellious youth.

Not only does she fly at night, but she interacts with humans, a cardinal no-no at the Pole. Blizzard is a very special reindeer.

Flying is something all the reindeer can eventually do, but Blizzard can also make herself invisible and she has radar which allows her to tune into a child’s sadness.

Blizzard’s reluctant co-conspirator at the Pole is Jeremy (Jonathan Wilson), a lesser elf with a kind heart and carefree disposition.

The special effects that allow the reindeer to fly and talk and skate with Katie are seamless.

Blizzard is a winning character, who deserves to have many more screen adventures with other needy children and family audiences eager for films they can share together.

Blizzard is an instant holiday classic overflowing with the true spirit of Christmas that will bring as much joy on subsequent holiday viewings as it does the first time around.

[Sun rating 3.5 out of 5 stars]

BLIZZARD

Setting out to make a Christmas movie is risky for a director. The Yuletide genre carries a great weight of convention, and the foolish filmmaker who strays from the path is likely to be crushed by that glacial mass. Stick too closely to it, however, and the film stumbles into a crevasse of cliches. It is not a forgiving territory, which is why many so-called Christmas movies are really just garden-variety comedies or dramas dressed up in tinsel. Some of the best -- It's a Wonderful Life springs to mind -- are not even about Christmas, for all their seasonal charm.

First-time director LeVar Burton boldly goes into that realm, however, and emerges with something at once charming and unique. Blizzard opens with the Princess Bride gambit -- elder, slightly dotty relative arrives at home of skeptical youngster and spins intricate tale. We in the audience are, by proxy, the movie's 10-year-old Jess; we've heard a lot of drab tales in this darkened room, we tell Aunt Millie (Brenda Blethyn), so you'll forgive us a little cynicism.

The yarn is a good one, however. It starts many years ago, with another 10-year-old, Katie (Zoe Warner), growing up poor in the shadow of two obnoxious brothers. Above all else she loves skating, and one day at the rink a stern Germanic gentlemen stops her with the words: "You are wearing the wrong skates." Turns out he's an Olympic gold medallist in his twilight years, and wants to take on a pupil. He has chosen Katie.

Meanwhile, at the North Pole (which bears a striking resemblance to old Quebec City, with the Chateau Frontenac doubling as Santa's castle), a baby reindeer, Blizzard, is born. Her parents are Blitzen and Delphi (Mrs. Blitzen, I presume), and she has the voice and insouciance of Whoopi Goldberg. While Blizzard doesn't have a shiny nose, the fact that she's a girl with funny-looking hair is enough to cause the others in the herd to give her a hard time. (Ever notice that reindeer rival humans as the least tolerant species on the planet? Thank goodness they don't have opposable thumbs.)

Like many a mistreated ruminant, Blizzard is soon stirring up trouble, taking to the air without a flight plan, becoming invisible, what have you. The movie postulates three magic reindeer gifts: flight, which everyone knows about; invisibility, which explains why we never see them flying; and the ability to sense kids in woe and find them. This power is described by several characters as "empathic navigation -- but only the Donner lineage is supposed to have it," an unfathomably clunky line until you remember that director Burton used to play Lt.-Comm. Geordi LaForge on Star Trek, never a show to shy away from using multi-syllabic exposition to get out of a tight corner.

Blizzard has all three powers, and uses them to come to the aid of Katie, who has moved to a new town with her family and is having a similarly hard time fitting in. Blizzard flies her back to her old rink for a little night skating practice, gives her the confidence to approach the other girls, and -- in a strict breach of Polar law -- "borrows" some skates from Santa's workshop for the day of the big figure skating contest. For these transgressions, Blizzard faces grounding and possible banishment. (Banishment from the frozen north? Is that punishment?)

Santa is played by Christopher Plummer, and he cuts a stern, slightly terrifying figure, part Gandalf, more than a little King Lear. I'm not sure I'd be comfortable with him climbing down my chimney, but it's nice to see an actor put on the red coat and do something more than laugh and shake like a bowl full of jelly. Plummer is never less than imperious, and it makes for the most memorable Claus I've seen this season (caveat: I've yet to see Bad Santa).

His right-hand elf is Archimedes (Kevin Pollak) -- another refugee from Shakespearean central casting, he seems to be Malvolio from Twelfth Night. Sneering, bureaucratic and power-hungry, he would probably like to see Blizzard hang if the Pole allowed capital punishment. He's balanced out by Jonathan Wilson, the reindeer's best elf friend and oft-ignored conscience. Warner, who is 15 but looks younger, has a great deal of screen time but never grows shrill or tiresome through her travails.

Blizzard mixes the unhappy reindeer and unhappy child stories into a frothy concoction that never gets too syrupy. The special effects are wildly uneven: In most of the flying scenes the reindeer look like they've been slung under a crane, but there is also a pairs skating scene, Katie twirling about on the ice and Blizzard flying low beside her like a levitating Zamboni, that is a joy to watch.

Adults may find the story a little thin, and there is a revelation at the end that I'm sure even kids will see coming. But the movie has a sweet message about friendship, and if "empathic navigation" isn't as singable as "had a very shiny nose," it's still a worthy addition to the Christmas pantheon. Rating three

GRAPHIC: Black & White Photo: Alliance Atlantis; Christopher Plummer as Santa.

Katie Andrews (Zoe Warner) finds joy on skates in Blizzard.

Christopher Plummer is a different sort of Kris Kringle in the family holiday movie Blizzard. Credit: Courtesy, Alliance Atlantis

[Review]
December 12, 2003

Also published as:
December 12, 2003 CanWest News Sevice / Edmonton Journal By Jay Stone
In Blizzard, it's the thought that counts
Small film wrapped in big special effects
BLIZZARD

One of the things about Christmas -- and God bless us every one, by the way. No, I mean it -- is that you don't know until the big day whether that lavishly wrapped box under the tree will contain yet another necktie or a lump of coal. It is the unique approach of the lavishly wrapped box that is the holiday film Blizzard that it contains both: yet another necktie, wrapped around a lump of coal. In this way, it is a movie for everyone.

Blizzard contains most of the ingredients of the classic Christmas stories, including a little girl who needs a friend, a contest that must be won, a kindly older relative, a magical minion of Santa Claus, and a fable about friendship that in some way turns out to be true all along. It is both a small film that takes its time to develop its characters, and a big, special effects movie that shows us reindeer that appear to really fly. I both liked it and didn't.

It is told as a story within a story within a story, like one of those comical presents that hides the lump of coal inside a box big enough for a refrigerator. The framing story concerns young Jess (Jennifer Pisana) who is inconsolable because her best friend has moved away. Her wacky Aunt Minnie (Brenda Blethyn) arrives just in time to engage her with a family tale that I personally don't believe a 10-year-old girl would buy. However, unlikely innocence is another part of the Christmas season, and I wouldn't have it any other way, at least not in public.

Aunt Minnie's story concerns Katie Andrews (newcomer Zoe Warner) who in the 1940s lives with two irritating brothers and a distant mother and father, and loves figure skating. Katie is taken in hand by a former Olympic champion and is taught how to skate, but then must move away from her small town to a city where she ends up competing against a group of accomplished rich girls who don't accept her because she is poor. Poor but honest. She also has yellow figure skates. Also, one of the rich girls has an abusive father -- a sort of figure-skating dad -- who also must be dealt with if everyone is to have a merry Christmas, which you can be sure they are.

At the same time, up at the North Pole, there is born unto Dasher and Prancer or somebody, a baby named Blizzard (voiced by Whoopi Goldberg). She is an ugly duckling, or whatever a baby reindeer is called, but it turns out she can do the three reindeer magic tricks, which are to fly, to become invisible, and to do something I heard as "empathic navigation," which means to hear the cries of little girls who need friends and new figure skates. The scene of Blizzard flying above the rink as Katie glides along on her skates is oddly unsettling.

The villain of the story is Archimedes (Kevin Pollack), a large rule-enforcing elf with too many principles; the saviour is Santa himself, played by Christopher Plummer, dressed in a long sheepskin instead of the traditional Santa gear and showing a regal authority that makes him the first Santa Claus in history to speak with the rhythms of Shakespeare. You keep waiting for him to say, "Ho ho forsooth." Plummer did the part just before his King Lear at Stratford two years ago and you can hear the Bard in every syllable.

Blizzard navigates between the faux-realist nostalgia of 1940s Port Credit, Ont., where all the figure skating is going on, and the North Pole, where computer-generated reindeer fly realistically, although it's kind of creepy, the way their legs hang down and all. Furthermore, Blizzard is sometimes called upon to be a sort of be-antlered Superman with a 10-year-old Lois Lane hanging on his back, which is an odd image. Also, while animals are excellent additions to Christmas films, reindeer are fairly unappealing as principal figures, partly because you can just imagine how they must smell. Still, Blizzard is a trouper and young Warner seems like just the kind of girl to befriend one.

At any rate, it all works out just fine. As in all Christmas gifts, it's the thought that counts, and Blizzard's thoughts are all on friendship. I think we've heard this message before but on the other hand, we all have a lot of neckties, too.

The family movie Blizzard makes you believe in the magic of the holidays all over again. The good part of the magic. The part about how wonderful it can be to selflessly give of yourself.

It is director LeVar Burton's first feature film and he has outdone himself.

The story of the reindeer Blizzard and her best friend Katie is told by Aunt Millie (the perfect Brenda Blethyn) to help her niece Jess (Jennifer Pisana) feel better after her best friend in the whole world moves away.

Katie (newcomer Zoe Warner) dreams of becoming an accomplished skater but her family's financial obstacles threaten to crush all her hopes until she meets up with Blizzard.

Blizzard is blessed with exceptional magical powers which she uses as she sees fit instead of following appropriate reindeer protocol. She's a bit of a rebel which is why casting Whoopi Goldberg as her voice makes perfect sense. Raspy, lippy and very amusing.

Katie and Blizzard forge a powerful bond which keeps them strong in the face of adversity and propels the story along to its happy denouement.

The original idea for Blizzard comes from producer Leif Bristow and his wife, Agnes, inspired by a conversation with their daughter Brittany. Brittany plays Katie's arch rival Erin-Scott Pierce.

The solid story serves to remind us of the importance of consideration, friendship and civil behaviour. But what sets Blizzard apart is its magical take on Santa's village and the attitude and look of its inhabitants.

(Accolades to special effects producer Ralph Winter (X-Men I and II) and teams at Walter Klassen FX and Mr. X. Inc. Visual Effects for convincing us reindeer can fly and talk.)

Santa's world (old Quebec City in the dead of winter) is bathed in gold and draped in otherworld fashion designed by visionary costume designer Abram Waterhouse. It is a world where the reindeer communicate with ease and elves comes in all shapes, sizes, colours and job descriptions.

And it is a world brought that much more alive by Christopher Plummer's outstanding performance as Santa.

Plummer's Santa is a man of letters, a gentleman of high breeding, excellent wisdom and the occasional hearing problem. He sports a wavy grey beard and wears an elegantly-tapered long coat with exquisite embroidery.

Santa's right-hand man is the elf Archimedes (Kevin Pollak) - an A-type personality in charge of administration and enforcing the many rules. Pollak is equal parts menace and hilarity.

Blizzard's bridging of Santa's world with the human world is a breach of Santa's most important rule and Archimedes will not let her indiscretion go unpunished. The adventure thickens, but holiday spirit triumphs and the clever twist in the final moments leaves you wondering if, just maybe, Santa really does exist. Wouldn't that be cool?
------
Blizzard
Rating 4
Starring: Christopher Plummer, Brenda Blethyn, Jennifer Pisana, Zoe Warner
Playing: in English at AMC, Cavendish, Colossus, Kirkland, Lacordaire,Lasalle, Sources, Spheretech and Taschereau cinemas, and in French at Boucherville, Chateauguay, Dorion, Lacordaire, Lasalle, Longueuil, Pointe Claire, Pont Viau, Quartier Latin, St. Bruno, St. Eustache, Starcite and Versailles cinemas.
Parents' guide: for all
kgreenaway@thegazette.canwest.com

LeVar Burton (left) and Christopher Plummer: Burton changed Blizzard's Santa from the jolly old mall visitor in red. Credit: Courtesy, Alliance Atlantis

December 12, 2003

It's a good thing LeVar Burton thrives on challenges, because the actor and director's goodwill and determination were put to the test during the shooting of his feature film directorial debut two years ago.

The challenge was to get a herd of skittish reindeer to perform on command. And it wasn't a one-scene sort of challenge. Reindeer play a huge role in his film Blizzard, opening in theatres today.

"Reindeer, I have found out, are not the brightest bulbs in the animal kingdom," Burton said following a preview screening of the film in Montreal last week. "What they do best is stand still."

The movie was filmed on location in the dead of winter in Toronto and old Quebec City. The reindeer scenes were shot in Quebec City.

The story is about a little girl's fierce bond with one of Santa's reindeer - named Blizzard. On screen, thanks to inventive technology, Blizzard and her reindeer friends talk, frolic and fly.

During filming it was less a story about frolicking reindeer and more a story about cast and crew doing everything in their power to keep the reindeer from bolting.

"It took a lot of patience," Burton said. "We had a mantra we'd use every time we walked on the set. We'd chant softly, 'Send love to the reindeer, send love to the reindeer.' "

The reindeer had reindeer specialist Michael Hackenberger of the Bowmanville Zoo and a veterinarian on site to care for them for the duration of the shoot. And as long as Burton didn't push them beyond their basic talents, things worked out.

Once Burton figured out what made the turkeys of the four-legged set tick, he had it made.

"Reindeer are motivated by two things," he said. "The instinct to herd and the food factor. If I wanted one reindeer to do something, I had to make sure a whole bunch of other reindeer were standing nearby."

Burton was catapulted into stardom with his portrayal of Kunta Kinte in the seminal 1977 television miniseries Roots and has won seven Emmys for his 20 years as producer and host of the children's literary television show Reading Rainbow.

He has been connected with Star Trek productions, as either actor or director, for 15 years - probably best known for his role as Lieutenant Commander Geordi La Forge in the popular series Star Trek: The Next Generation.

Burton's Star Trek connection served him well when he took on the Blizzard project.

"I began my career with Star Trek so the 300 visual effects in Blizzard weren't intimidating at all."

Burton chose Blizzard as his first feature film venture based on the strength of the original story created by Leif and Agnes Bristow. That, and he's always been a huge fan of Christmas movies.

"The classic ones have a habit of reminding us of the finer things we are capable of," Burton said. "Look at Ebenezer Scrooge (in A Christmas Carol). He goes on a journey and comes to a realization that he must align himself with the greater parts of being human."

Blizzard has a Santa (played to perfection by Christopher Plummer) but Burton had fun distancing Blizzard's Santa from the image of jolly old mall visitor in fluffy cotton beard and red velvet suit.

"There's no red suit in Blizzard," he said. "I saw Santa as a highly evolved being who dedicated all his time to the well being and happiness of others.

"And the elves (in Blizzard) aren't funny little people in pointy hats. They come in every shape and size and are of every nationality."

Burton was also drawn to the story because its central character is a young girl. He wanted to make a holiday movie his own 9-year-old daughter would cherish.

"I wanted to make a movie that would become part of her holiday tradition," he said. "A movie that might still be around for her children and her children's children. Wouldn't that be wonderful?"

kgreenaway@thegazette.canwest.com
© Copyright 2003 Montreal Gazette

A five-hankie Christmas/figure-skating movie of primary appeal to young girls, Blizzard is an earnest fable awash in broken hearts, best friends moving away and the loneliness of persecuted "new kids." It also has the single weirdest-cast Santa Claus ever (or at least since Billy Bob Thornton) -- Christopher Plummer, whose vulpine features don't evoke Kris Kringle so much as Saruman from Lord Of The Rings.

The Canadian-produced Blizzard is, in fact, two Christmas films in one: An entry into the life-at-Santa's-workshop sweepstakes, complete with computer-generated flying reindeer and Quebec City passing as the North Pole, and a heart-tugging period piece that wants to evoke the mood of Norman Rockwell.

The former is less successful. Santa movies being kind of a cheesy genre to begin with, this one fails to measure up to the standards of The Santa Clause. The Santa story seems lifeless.

The child's drama wrapped around it, however, is sweet, involving and is much more authentic.

Told as a bedside story by a favourite aunt (Brenda Blethyn) to her mopey niece, Blizzard involves the intertwined lives of a rogue baby reindeer named Blizzard (voiced by Whoopi Goldberg) and a young skater in the '40s named Katie (winningly played by Zoe Warner).

Katie is taught by a kindly old ex-Olympic gold medallist and moves to the city. There, her tatty clothes and yellow skates mark her as a target by the skating girls, led by snotty Erin (Brittany Bristow). Katie must overcome her unpopularity with nothing but superior skills.

Well, skills and magic -- although given the bones of the story, the "magic" hardly seems necessary. Nonetheless, Blizzard needs a reason to offer up its version of the weird consumerist Santa myth that has replaced Christ as the symbol of the holiday.

Every Santa movie makes up its own rules, and Blizzard has plenty of them. This is a dark North Pole so larded with rules -- enforced by a Robespierre-like Frenchman named Archimedes (Kevin Pollak) -- that it seems almost fascist. Blizzard is a gifted free spirit, possessed of the ability to fly, to become invisible and to hear the voices of sad children around the world. This makes him scary to the North Pole authorities (let it be noted that X-Men producer Ralph Winter is executive producer of Blizzard).

There's a trial and vindication -- none of which has much to do with Katie and her problems. The whole Santa plot seems predicated on the notion that kids won't buy a movie about kids' lives unless there's CGI in it. I'm surprised there are no explosions. In the end, "Blizzard" is the weakest part of Blizzard.

BLIZZARD
Time: 1 hour, 30 minutes
Rated: F
Director: LeVar Burton
Stars: Zoe Warner, Whoopi Goldberg, Christopher Plummer
'Pass the tissues, Blitzen'
-- Jim Slotek, Sun
Sun Rating: 3 out of 5

Starring Brenda Blethyn, Whoopi Goldberg. Written by Agnes Bristow, Leif Bristow. Directed by LeVar Burton. (G) 99 min. Opens Dec 12.

The best career move Whoopi Goldberg ever made was realizing nobody wants to look at her. After voicing big-screen characters in The Lion King and the first Rugrats film, Goldberg decided her face isn't her best asset, and opted mostly for animated projects (regrettably, though, she's exported her mug to television for her NBC sitcom, Whoopi).

Blizzard is a traditional live-action Yuletide tale, decked with just enough CG garland for 21st-century multiplexes. Goldberg gives voice to a misfit reindeer named Blizzard, born of Blitzen and Delphi, two of Santa's heavies. Blizzard's a freak with bad hair and a smart mouth, which makes her an easy target for ridicule, and a fast source of irritation for Archimedes, the anal-retentive manager of Santa's Village.

The story is told in a Princess Bride/Edward Scissorhands flashback frame, a cheering tale related by Aunt Millie (Brenda Blethyn) to her heartbroken niece, Jess (Jennifer Pisana).

On top of Christmas myth, it involves a lonely girl (Zoe Warner) and her dream of being a figure-skater, which she does with the help of a crabby coach (Jan Triska). When she moves to the city, however, the cool chicks at the skating club mock her for wearing piss-coloured skates, and she needs Blizzard's friendship to find her confidence.

It's all very gooey, and the Babe-ish talking reindeer only works about half the time. But what could've been trite holiday pap is elevated by a solid cast of veteran character actors: Triska and Blethyn, plus Kevin Pollak as the rule-happy Archimedes and Christopher Plummer as a great avuncular Santa. First-time feature director LeVar Burton (he of Roots and Star Trek: The Next Generation fame) gives them plenty of license to be silly, but doesn't waste their talents on throwaway scenes.

The film was partially shot in Toronto, and it's amazing how peaceful and anachronistic the Cedarena ice rink north of Steeles looks. Santa's Village is equally quaint and cool, and although the film's too long and Goldberg's Blizzard is a bit of a prick, the overall tone is pretty and good-hearted. Like shortbread, Blizzard's a little too sweet, but also simple and satisfying -- a nice totem of old-fashioned Christmas sentiment. JM

Star Trek star LeVar Burton tells GAYLE MacDONALD that the 'stupid' animals were a challenge to direct in his upcoming family Christmas movie, Blizzard

Walking around film sets with a thing that looks like a woman's hair band clamped to your eyes can't be easy.

But LeVar Burton, known to legions of Star Trek fans as the optically challenged Geordi LaForge, says the weird glasses were nothing compared with the challenges he faced while directing his first full-length feature film, called Blizzard.

In Toronto last week to promote this upcoming Christmas movie (in theatres on Friday), the $11.5-million production is a heart-warming tale about a young girl and a talking reindeer (voiced by Whoopi Goldberg), who is the first female member of Santa's SWAT team.

Surely, making a feel-good family flick can't be that troublesome or difficult? "You try working with reindeer!" the 46-year-old actor practically snorts. "Reindeers are not the brightest bulbs in the animal kingdom you know," he says.

"Now don't get me wrong. I love them. They're God's creatures. But . . . they're stupid!," he says, with a belly laugh. "Making this film, I learned a lot about reindeer. They are their own species. They are their own phyla. They are neither equine, nor are they bovine," he continues, brown eyes twinkling.

"They are citizens. They are their own genus," he says in a booming voice. "And they are motivated for the most part by the instinct to herd, and by food. So to get one reindeer to do anything, we had to have other reindeer around so it felt safe and comfortable. And then we had to feed it a lot of something we called multichow. It required a lot of patience."

Burton, who shot his film in the old section of Quebec City and Toronto two winters ago, says the reindeer wrangler, a chap named Michael from Southern Ontario's Bowmanville Zoo, had assured him the reindeer could do every trick written in the script. "Well, the truth was these animals could do none of it," he adds. "It was hysterical in the end."

Clearly commandeering the Star Trek Enterprise was a simpler feat.

And, in Blizzard, the reindeer weren't the only hitches. Burton had to teach several of his Los Angeles-based stars to skate. He had to make snow out of every substance imaginable. "I don't know if you recall, but the winter of 2001 was the warmest in recorded history in Southern Ontario," he says.

All that said, Burton, comfortable and relaxed in brown shoes, brown pants, a brown shirt and brown jacket in a suite in Toronto's Four Seasons Hotel, says this directing gig was a gas. "Directing is really the thing that pretty much floats my boat," says the actor, who shot to superstardom in 1977, at the age of 19, as the black slave Kunta Kinte in the Alex Haley classic, Roots.

"I'd been looking for a script that would mark my entrance into this world of feature-film directing," Burton adds. "When I read this story, I was just overjoyed. It has such a huge heart. And it's a movie that combines some very complicated elements. There are over 300 visual effects, there are kids and animals. And it's a movie that takes place in a modern context, a period context, as well as the fantasy world of Santa's village."

So 25 years after his break-out performance as a rebellious black slave, Burton says he's finally found his roots -- and they're in the director's chair. "There were huge challenges with this project that were really exciting to me. I was waiting for the right story and I've been trying to develop the skill set so that when I stepped out there, I hopefully knew what the hell I was doing."

Blizzard stars the Oscar-nominated British actress Brenda Blethyn, Christopher Plummer, Kevin Pollak, Burton's long-time pal Goldberg, and Zoe Warner, as the movie's lead character, a 10-year-old named Katie.

Mr. P., as Burton calls Plummer, is Santa. "I was very determined to reinvent the Santa Claus mythos," Burton says. "I wanted to say something different about not just Santa Claus, but what that office is really about from a spiritual standpoint. And I think Chris embodied that incredibly well. We are so accustomed to seeing him as the captain of industry, or the head of state, or as an assassin. But he has this amazing well of compassion that I don't think audiences get to experience much of."

Before his landmark role as Kunta Kinte, Burton had studied for the priesthood for four years, but obviously never pursued that course. In the past two decades, he's written a novel, Aftermath, had a few small roles in features films such as Ali. And through his own company Eagle Nations, has directed a slew of TV shows including episodes of Jag, Star Trek: The Next Generation, and Deep Space Nine. He's starred in four Star Trek films, and also hosted and produced Reading Rainbow, PBS's Emmy-winning children's TV series.

Burton, who has a 23-year-old son, is a grandfather, and has a nine-year-old daughter with his wife Stephanie, says he made this film because, well, he loves Christmas movies.

"It's about friendship, family, and loss. And it stars a girl, Katie. Today we live in a gender-biased society so whenever you can hold up the image of the feminine in the popular culture, I think that's a good thing," Burton shrugs. "Also, there should be a balance to Christina Aguilera and Britney Spears. And this is a great antidote to that."

Santa Claus is dressed, not in a red suit, but in the leggings and waistcoat of Norse myth. His elves -- who are black, white, and Asian -- wear costumes that draw on elements of tribal dress from all over the world. In the family film Blizzard, Christmas is multicultural.

"This was an opportunity to reinvent the Santa Claus mythos and make it much more inclusive," says LeVar Burton, the 46-year-old director of Blizzard, which opens Friday.

Burton is best known as Lt. Commander Geordi La Forge on Star Trek: Next Generation and as the host of the PBS children's show Reading Rainbow, and he combined those two interests -- special effects and dealing with kids -- in the movie about a little girl who wants to become an ice skater but who needs a friend to help. She finds that friend in Blizzard, a magical talking reindeer who, with the help of computer effects, flies down from the North Pole with ice skates and encouragement.

Burton has never directed a movie before, although he has been directing Star Trek TV programs for a decade, and he said he wanted to make a Christmas classic, like A Christmas Carol (the Alistair Sim version) or It's A Wonderful Life. But he wanted to add something new to the mix.

"When I grew up, it was very rare for me to see people on TV who looked like me," Burton said. "It was a big deal to see Clarence Williams III on Mod Squad or Sammy Davis Jr. on an episode of The Rifleman. These were causes of celebration for me when I was a kid.

"So to have the opportunity to create a holiday movie that I hope becomes a Christmas classic that has a point of view that Christmas is for everybody and that everybody can recognize themselves in, on a physical level as well as an emotional level, that was really important to me as a filmmaker."

Blizzard's Santa, played by Christopher Plummer, has a beard, but he is not fat and he wears a long, embroidered sheepskin coat. Burton said the old Santa image is a creation of Coca-Cola advertising; he wanted his Santa to reflect "the spiritual nature of that office," which he calls a vocation.

"For me, there was no place for the red suit," he said in a telephone interview from Toronto, where Blizzard was filmed (the North Pole scenes were shot in Quebec City). "Again, for me, Santa is sort of like a bodhisattva (a Buddhist sage). He is a very high evolved being, and all of the elves of the North Pole are there for a very specific and committed purpose. They have all dedicated their lives to making Christmas happen for everybody worldwide."

Blizzard was created by veteran film producer Leif Bristow and his wife Agnes, who wrote the original story based on an idea from their daughter Brittany. The family wanted to make a Christmas movie about friendship, and, secondarily, to create a vehicle for Brittany to star in. That part didn't quite work out. Brittany plays Erin, a rich girl and champion skater who torments the heroine, 10-year-old Katie (newcomer Zoe Warner) until they reach an understanding, with the help of the talking reindeer, of course.

Burton says Brittany wasn't quite right for the lead role, and the parents were "pretty good about letting go, surrendering to the reality." He says Warner, who was discovered during an audition in Los Angeles, is "a stone cold pro through and through. She has some of the most unerring instincts of any actor I've ever worked with. She's awesome."

He was also excited working with Plummer, who he refers to as Mr. P. Burton says there are two Mr. Ps in his life: the other is Sidney Poitier, who was "the inspiration and 90 per cent of the reason I became an actor. Lilies of the Field, 1963. It was eyeopening. Eyeopening."

Whoopi Goldberg provides the voice of the reindeer. She is a friend of Burton's, and when he called her to tell her he got a job directing a movie, he recalls, "she was like, 'Well of course I have to be the voice of Blizzard.' And I'm no dummy. When Whoopi says 'Can I?,' the right response is 'Yeah'."

Burton came to acting through what he calls a side door. Born in West Germany, where his father was a military photographer for the U.S. military, he grew up in Northern California and entered a seminary at 13 to study for the priesthood. He quit in 1974 to become an actor instead, and at the end of his second year at UCLA he auditioned for a role in "this television show that was the beginning of the long form of television. And Roots was not only my first audition it was my first professional gig, and launched my career." He was 19 when he got the role of Kunta Kinte, the slave brought over from Africa, and he says people still recognize him on the street from that groundbreaking series.

"It was a gift from God, that whole scenario."

TRADITIONAL ... Christopher Plummer plays Santa Claus in Blizzard, opening December 12.

For the past five years, Murray McRae has had visions of reindeer dancing in his head.

Not just any reindeer but talking, flying reindeer that can make themselves invisible and tune in to the distress signals of children.

In McRae’s mind such reindeer could only belong to Santa Claus.

Two years ago, McRae finally tamed these thoughts into the family movie Blizzard that opens December 12.

McRae, a former lawyer who was born and raised in Calgary, moved to Toronto in 1986 to further the writing career he began here.

It was Lief Bristow, the Toronto producer behind such family fare as Virginia’s Run and Kart Racer who approached McRae with the idea of a girl and a reindeer who both felt like outsiders.

Part of the story would take place in a contemporary setting with flashbacks to the 1960s and then a third location in the North Pole.

“I immediately asked Lief how much rein I’d have if I committed to the project what with computer-generated reindeer and a period setting,” says McRae from his offices in Toronto. Bristow told him to write what he wanted and let the producer worry about budget.

In his early drafts, little Blizzard was going to be so radically different than her fellow reindeer she’d make Rudolph and his red nose seem positively normal.

“I wanted her to be green or white,” recalls McRae. That was a simple matter for computers when it came to the flying sequences but the production was also going to use live reindeer whenever Blizzard and her friends were grounded.

“They couldn’t find a green dye that would hold on the reindeer and the only white reindeer was in Finland and there was the mad cow scare so Blizzard couldn’t be coloured.”

Before McRae could actually feel disappointed he got the good news.

Santa would be played by Christopher Plummer.

“From the beginning I’d written Santa with flaws. He has a hearing problem and a bit of a temper but he also has great wisdom.

“I knew if anyone could make that work it would be Plummer so the colour of the reindeer didn’t matter.”

On the first page of the script where Santa appears, McRae had typed in bold letters that the venerable old guy could wear anything but red.

“I didn’t want him in that department store costume. I was thrilled when I saw that the costume designs had him looking much more Scandinavian,” says McRae.

Blizzard is opening only in key Canadian markets this year.

It will have another release next year in the US and all Canadian markets.

“The American distributor wanted the delay but Alliance Atlantis had already put the ball in motion in Canada so the film will get a small release this year and, hopefully, a much bigger one next year.”

McRae has already penned another Christmas film.

“These Christmas movies are tricky because they have such a narrow release window.

“We won’t be ready to shoot the new movie until next year so we’ll have to wait until 2005 for a release.”

He hopes to see his soccer movie in front of cameras early in 2004 as well.

“It’s about a girl who gets to play on a boys’ soccer team. Because of movies like Bend it Like Beckham there’s quite a bit of interest in it.”

Blizzard won the audience favourite award at this year’s Heartland Film Festival and his earlier film Touching Wild Horses with Jane Seymour was a favourite on the festival circuit last year.

“It’s so difficult working in the family film genre because studios keep asking for the scripts to be more edgy but no one seems to know what they actually mean by that.

“I’m still of the belief that a family movie should mean you can take everyone from preschoolers to grandparents and they’ll all be entertained.”

That's right, I got it.

BURTON: That's right, Bev, you got it all out. You got it right.

THOMSON: [laughs] You know, I have to tell you, and I got a chance to sit and watch "Blizzard" with my children, nine and six. And it was such a breath of fresh air because I've been saying for so long, "Why can't we make a new movie that's like the old classics?"

BURTON: Wow.

THOMSON: And this was exactly that.

BURTON: Well, I really wanted to make a Christmas movie in the classic tradition of Christmas movies. You know, movies like "It's a Wonderful Life", "Miracle on 34th Street". Holiday movies have the opportunity and the ability, I think, among all genres, to really remind us of the magic of the season and what's possible for human beings when we really rise to our highest level of expression. And I wanted "Blizzard" to follow in that tradition.

THOMSON: Well, and it's wonderful. There are so many terrific scenes in it. And I remember, as we take a look at some of the scenes from it as she's forging this relationship with the reindeer. But in the early part of the film and she's skating and there's this older championship skater who's teaching her. And then she has to move and has to leave him.

BURTON: Right.

THOMSON: And there's this wonderful scene where he sits there and tells her, you know, "When you skate you're going to fall. And you get back up."

BURTON: Right, you always get back up. And he tells her, as he is saying goodbye to her, he says, "Keep getting up, Katie. Keep getting up." And those were his last words to her.

THOMSON: You have a daughter.

BURTON: I do.

THOMSON: And she's nine?

BURTON: Nine years old.

THOMSON: Was she in your mind when you put this movie, when you directed this movie, put it together?

BURTON: Absolutely, absolutely. Again, I had really a couple of goals going into the project. And one was I really wanted to make something that everyone involved could be proud of. We live in a culture today that is dominated by, you know, Britney Spears and Christine Aguilera and, you know, Sponge Bob Square Pants. Not that there's anything wrong with that, but I think there needs to be a balance as well. And so, I wanted to make a movie that I knew my daughter would be able to embrace without reservation.

THOMSON: Well, I think a really good, telltale sign -- and we sat down to watch the movie, we turned it on, and my daughter and my son were both immediately taken. I mean, it starts out right away, you see a child whose best friend is moving away. And the emotions that go with that. And it's something that almost everybody can relate to.

BURTON: Can relate to. Absolutely.

THOMSON: And from that point on, they were glued.

BURTON: One of the remarkable things about the movie is that it seems to cut across all generational lines. I've shown the movie to audiences of senior citizens, to obviously families. Boys seem to like the movie as well as girls like the movie. I even showed it the other night to a college class, you know, a roomful of 300 24-year-olds. Males and females. And they all found value in it as well.

THOMSON: And you directed this. You've been directing a number of television episodes for 10 years.

BURTON: Right, mm-hm

THOMSON: But do you bring acting to the directing side of it? Is that what makes these -- you know, because it's been done many times to a great degree of success.

BURTON: Sure, yeah, there's a huge track record of directors who started their careers as actors. And, I don't know, I guess a large part of it has to do with the way that actors who are now directors have a language in common with actors. And also I think if you're an actor, you know, you're not stupid. And directing is a job that requires a lot of mental capacity. So I'm happy to be in that tradition of successful directors who were once actors.

THOMSON: And speaking of success, Star Trek. I mean, do you still get stopped in the street always --

BURTON: Oh yeah.

THOMSON: -- and asked about it? Because it's such a different fan base.

BURTON: No, Star Trek is much beloved, you know. All over the world. And to be a part of that universe is pretty cool. I enjoy it.

THOMSON: Well, it's great. So, "Blizzard" opens here I think --

BURTON: Dec. 12. Dec. 12, nationwide.

THOMSON: Yes, okay, great. Thank you for coming in and sharing your movie.

BURTON: My pleasure, Bev. Thank you. And thanks for sharing it with your family.

THOMSON: Oh, absolutely. We'll do it again and again, I know we will.

And you will, too, when you see it.

Christopher Plummer (right) plays Santa Claus in “Blizzard,” which debuts tonight. -- Knightscove Entertainment

October 16, 2003

LeVar Burton's arrival at tonight's Heartland Film Festival world premiere of "Blizzard" will be by a conventional mode of transportation -- automobile.

No beaming aboard Hilbert Circle Theatre, even though he's still associated with the "Star Trek" franchise. He has directed episodes of "Next Generation," "Deep Space Nine" and "Voyager," and played the sightless Lt. Cmdr. Geordi LaForge on "Star Trek: The Next Generation," and in four "Star Trek" films.

"Blizzard" is a family film about friendship and a talking reindeer. Whoopi Goldberg provides the voice of the reindeer.

By cell phone on his way to a shoot recently, Burton politely advised, "we've got about five minutes" for the interview.

Here's what we scored during the 5-Minutes-or-so-Drill:

Question: Were you offered the "Blizzard" directing job because of your Emmy-winning work as host and executive producer of "Reading Rainbow" (the PBS children's television series promoting books and reading) and other successful ventures?

Answer: Because of the nature of the story and the requirements of its filming, we all agreed it was a natural first film for me. A large part of my franchise is family entertainment, and I cut my teeth as director in the medium of special-effects photography on "Star Trek." And "Blizzard," at its center, is a movie with, I believe, a lot of heart. In the telling of that story, we have to use all of today's modern technologies, where motion picture visual-effects photography is concerned.

Q: So, there are some pretty neat visual effects in this film?

A: I looked and tried my best to find reindeer who could do their own talking and flying. And at the end of the day, I was unsuccessful.

Q: How big ARE the visual effects?

A: This movie has some really complicated, complex and spectacular visual effects. But it's not just the visual effects themselves; it's how they blend seamlessly into the storytelling. On a budget like ours, we had to use cleverness as well as technology. We were working with live reindeer, animatronic reindeer and computer-generated effects. We had to work smart because we didn't have the budget of a "T-3." My goal here was to make a movie in the classic tradition of Christmas movies. I think we really succeeded on that level.

Q: What are you doing now?

A: I'm directing a lot of TV. Right now I'm on stage with an episode of "Star Trek: Enterprise." When I leave Heartland on Sunday, I'll start an episode of "JAG." (on CBS). Then, immediately on the heels of that, do another episode of "Enterprise" while we're setting up my next feature film.

Q: You're still acting?

A: I just finished an episode of 'Boomtown' (on NBC) as an actor and will probably direct an episode of that later this season.

Q: What do you play on "Boomtown."

A: I can't tell you. That would give it all away.

Q: What role do people most associate you with?

A: It depends on how old you are. For people of a certain age, it would be "Roots" (as a 19-year-old, he played the young slave Kunta Kinte in the Alex Haley classic about slavery in America). For people of a different age, it's certainly "Reading Rainbow." In the 20 years we've been on the air, we've had contact with a couple of generations of children in America. And there's a whole body of folks out there who love "Star Trek."

Q: What propelled you to "Reading Rainbow?"

A: The opportunity to use the medium of television in the way I think the medium should be used. Not just as a means of entertainment, but as a tool for education and enlightenment. I believe we have a tremendous opportunity with this very powerful tool. You know, if we're doing our jobs right, we can entertain -- that's always part of the mission -- but we can bring something more to the party. We can lift ourselves up and light the way for one another with this remarkable technology.

Q: Are there not enough really good movies out there that are family-oriented?

A: There are not enough really good movies out there, period. There's a lot of mediocre product coming out of this town, a lot of mediocre stuff.

Q: Is it because people have become so used to going to movies, they'll see anything?

A: I think that going to the movies is a large part of our culture. It is a very seductive and enjoyable activity, to walk into a darkened room and surrender yourself to light and sound. Pictures that are larger than life. What I'm interested in doing is using this medium as a way to remind ourselves of the possibilities that exist for human beings. That we are really remarkable. That it really is worthwhile to aspire to our highest and best.

Q: I'm waiting to hear that voice (Whoopi Goldberg) come out of that reindeer. A: It's a pretty good moment.

'Blizzard'
• What: Heartland Film Festival world premiere of "Blizzard," starring Brenda Blethyn, Christopher Plummer, Kevin Pollak, Whoopi Goldberg as the voice of the reindeer Blizzard, Zoe Warner, Brittany Bristow.
• Location: Hilbert Circle Theatre, 45 Monument Circle.
• When: 6:30 p.m. today, reception featuring select cast and crew members; 7:30 p.m., film, question and answer session after screening.
• Tickets: $15 adults, $10 children, call 1-317-639-4300 or 1-800-366-8457 for availability, or go to box office.
• Rating: Not yet rated.
• Heartland Film Festival information: heartlandfilmfestival.org

The TOPIX feature film arm has many new projects up its sleeve - but for now, it's reindeer all-around

Entering into the state-of-the-art Mr. X studio and surveying the scene, one can't help but notice the many sets of eyes gazing back at you. Big reindeer eyes, that is, looking out from pretty much every one of the 28 computer screens in the room. For many of these sleigh-pullers, it's time for their close-up, and their faces - with lips moving - fill the screens. Other buck and doe are playfully flying through the CG-magical midnight-blue air. Meanwhile, in the corner of the studio, a large life-size puppet reindeer with soft brown eyes is watching over the proceedings. These reindeer games are all part of Mr. X's large-scale assignment to create the animation for Blizzard, a US$10 million live-action/CGI family movie from Toronto's Knightscove Entertainment. Brenda Blethyn, Kevin Pollak and the voice of Whoopi Goldberg star in this tale of a girl and her aunt who develop a friendship with an eccentric reindeer named Blizzard.

Christopher Plummer plays Santa Claus and LeVar Burton directs. The film, which shot in Toronto and Quebec City this winter, is expected to be released - via distributor 20th Century Fox - across North America for November/December. While live reindeer were used on location, more than 200 visual effects will be incorporated into the finished product, including many scenes where CG effects are added to footage of live reindeer to make their lips move.

Blizzard is the first large-scale project since Mr. X - TOPIX' feature-film arm - opened its doors a year and a half ago.

"Mr. X was built to work on large projects that would take eight months to a year - that was our plan in setting up our work stations and bringing on the talent we did," says Dennis Berardi, Mr. X president. After opening, Mr. X took on five smaller projects before landing Blizzard, creating effects for films such as Ararat and Men With Brooms.

"Blizzard is on a different level than anything we've done before," continues Berardi. "The studio is involved, there's big talent, and it will open on a couple of thousand screens, not a couple of hundred."

Mr X. won this animator's dream job after five competing shops made a pitch for the assignment.

"We pitched purely on the creative," says Berardi. "We showed on our tape how reindeer fly, while other shops did things on more of a technical front. Ours really captured the imagination and the magic of it all. We asked ourselves, "What is the attitude of reindeer when they fly? What's the color palette? How can we really capture the spirit of reindeer flying and playing tag in the air?" They loved it. LeVar Burton said, "Wow. Now I really get that we're making a movie about flying reindeer."

The Mr. X mandate is to get involved with projects at the ground level. For example, before shooting began on Blizzard, the Mr. X team storyboarded the visual effects sequences, doing some rough animation. "A lot of the shots that we created and pitched got into the movie because LeVar liked them. We did 3D scenes where there are eight reindeer and five actors, and two of the reindeer are talking and the camera is moving. It's tough to do that kind of blocking and it helped LeVar as a director visualized the scene. That's one of the main reasons he went with us - we weren't taking a post approach, and we obviously were going to be helping him make his movie."

And that, says Berardi, is why Mr. X exists: "To partner with filmmakers, not just to be a location-based post service."

Berardi admits that Mr. X doesn't yet have any market presence but believes it soon will. In the meantime, it "benefits from the TOPIX vibe."

"I don't think Mr. X would be possible anywhere else," he says. "It's a great collaboration. There is high energy at an artistic level here and a real åcan-do' vibe."

Mr. X is currently looking at scripts, and getting involved in new projects by partnering with a producer or director, and creating one-minute advance teasers or "stings," to help new films pitch to get funding.

Meanwhile, as that part of Mr. X grows and begins to bring in new business, in-studio, it's pretty much reindeer all around.

Copyright 2002 Brunico Communications, Inc.
Playback

BRRRR. Four hours in unheated stables.

We've all laughed at the apocryphal stories of Americans who show up in Toronto in summer with their skis.

But what about winter? Don't they deserve a little cold comfort then?

It is five below last week on the first certifiably sub-freezing day in weeks, and there is a warm mood on the location shoot of the feature film Blizzard.

The film has set up on the quaint vintage open-ice rink Cedarena, a little-known gem, hidden in the trees north of Steeles Ave. near the zoo. The cast are happily lacing their '40s-era blades secure in the knowledge that at least they are not heading out for a de facto swim.

"It was just terrible yesterday," says Marijane Stong, the film' s skating tutor and a veteran skate choreographer (she selected the Love Story musical theme for Canadian Olympic gold medallists Jamie Sale and David Pelletier).

"It got up to 12 (Celsius), and they were skating on three-quarters of an inch of water. They were all soaked by 11 a.m."

Director LeVar Burton -- a lifelong Californian -- has become the subject of some jokes for his overinsulated polar clothing. Today he's the coziest one on set. The only thing missing is a beaver pelt he bought while scouting locations in Quebec City (the production moves there after wrapping in Toronto). "I've worn it before, though. Everyone's seen my beaver," he says with a laugh.

In fact, the warmest person in the cast would be Whoopi Goldberg, who provided the voice of the title character -- Santa's most misbehavin' reindeer -- from inside a warm sound studio in New York.

In the movie, Blizzard comes to the rescue of a little girl figure- skater (Zoe Warner) who moves to a new town, away from her beloved skating coach (Jan Triska). There she is persecuted to the point of misery by the nasty local ice princess (Brittany Bristow).

In reality, California girl Warner and Toronto girl Bristow are anything but enemies. Zoe had bought some ski clothes at an L.A. outfitter, but was still underdressed for real cold. Brittany gave her some of her own stuff, including a sweater and scarf "and my first pair of mittens."

Bristow had other helpful hints, knowledge acquired from years of skating lessons (she does her own skating in the film, while Warner used a skating double extensively).

"Whenever I go on the ice and I feel really cold, I just say, 'I'm a hot dog!' and I imagine I'm a hot dog and I feel warmer," she says.

Not a hot dog, but a gamer, was Triska, who this day is skating a little awkwardly for someone playing a coach. After a spill and some rough skates into the boards, someone quips: "Okay, let's wrap this up before he kills himself."

But the real strange interlude is the snow -- the real stuff, that is. As they have every day, crew begin hosing down the trees with a soap-based foam and covering the cabin/holding area with a giant white batting mattress. Soon however, flurries of the real stuff begin falling in waves. I notice that some of the flakes on my jacket are real, others are sort of sudsy.

The on-again, off-again blizzard plays havoc with Blizzard. Scenes are shuffled for continuity. Wardrobe is ordered to move its shop closer to the set to facilitate quick changes on the fly. This being his first feature film, you expect Burton to freak out a little under the circumstances, but he actually seems calmer than when the day started.

"He's become the Buddha of weather," says unit publicist Cynthia Amsden.

And he might want to give deep-breathing exercises to the next director that comes here looking for Old Man Winter.

ILLUSTRATION: photo\ON THE SET of the film Blizzard where they had to pulverize ice into snowbecause of the unusually warm winter here in Toronto.

Blizzard in Toronto

A Blizzard has descended on the province, but unfortunately it isn't the meteorological kind. The producers of the theatrical Christmas flick Blizzard have had to manufacture a whole lot of fake snow to make Toronto in February look like Toronto in February.

The Toronto-based Knightscove Entertainment feature marks the directorial debut of LeVar Burton, best known for his role on Star Trek: Voyager, but who has also helmed many episodes in the Star Trek franchise. The Feb. 18 to April 4 shoot will take place mostly in Toronto, followed by four or five days in Quebec City, which will sub for the North Pole, with the Chateau Frontenac as Santa's digs.

Written by Murray McRae (Touching Wild Horses) from a story by Knightscove CEO Leif Bristow and his wife Agnes, Blizzard tells the story of young Jess (Bogus' Jennifer Pisana), who is consoled by her Aunt Millie (Secrets & Lies' Brenda Blethyn) when her best friend moves away. Millie tells her the story of how another lonely girl, Katie (newcomer Zoe Warner), formed a magical friendship with St. Nick's oddball reindeer Blizzard (voiced by Whoopi Goldberg).

The cast of Blizzard also includes Kevin Pollak (The Wedding Planner) as Santa's nasty elf Archimedes and Christopher Plummer. Exec producers are Ralph Winter (X-Men) and Robert Schwartz (Iron Will) of Wardenclyffe Entertainment. Producers are Bristow and J. Miles Dale (Wolf Girl) in association with New York's Holedigger Films. Overseas Filmgroup is handling international distribution. Budget is US$12 million.

Knightscove is also finishing post on the theatrical kids releases Virginia's Run, to be screened at Berlin Kinderfilmfest, and Kart Racer. The company is seeking to finalize theatrical distribution for both. In 1999, Knightscove raised capital to form a $100-million production fund to produce or finance a minimum of eight family films.

HOLLYWOOD -- Television actor LeVar Burton will make his movie directing debut with the family movie Blizzard, according to the Hollywood Reporter.

Whoopi Goldberg, Christopher Plummer, Kevin Pollak, and Zoe Warner are already signed on for the cast. Brenda Blethyn is in negotiations to join the production, which mixes live action and computer animation, and is being filmed in Toronto and Quebec City, the report said.

The story concerns a young girl (Warner) who befriends Blizzard, one of Santa's reindeer (a character voiced by Goldberg). The girl loses her dream of figure skating, and Blizzard reaches out to help -- which triggers a conflict with Santa (Plummer) and his chief elf (Pollak), the report said.

Blethyn is in talks to star as Aunt Millie, who narrates the story, the Hollywood Reporter said.

Burton first found fame in the mini-series Roots. He later went on to star in Star Trek: The Next Generation.

More recently, he appeared as Martin Luther King Jr. in Ali.

MORE FANTASY FOR RING-ERS

HOLLYWOOD -- Flush from an estimated $700 million in worldwide box office for The Lord Of The Rings, producers New Line have snatched up the rights to another fantasy trilogy.

Variety reports the studio has acquired the rights to author Philip Pullman's best-selling series His Dark Materials.

The trilogy includes The Golden Compass, The Subtle Knife, and The Amber Spyglass. The books centre on two children who live in parallel worlds, and the dark-toned books embrace magic, science and themes of childhood, innocence and sin, Variety said.

The Amber Spyglass recently became the first kids' book to win Britain's Whitbread literary prize. The report said 1.3 million copies of the trilogy have already sold in the U.K., and a similar success is anticipated for the U.S.

With the next two instalments of author J.R.R. Tolkien's Rings trilogy due over the next two Christmases, New Line production president Toby Emmerich hopes His Dark Materials will follow.

"We can take advantage of the CGI effects available now (and) bring this world to life in a celluloid universe. When The Lord Of The Rings is over, hopefully we won't miss a beat."

ILLUSTRATION: 2 photos\. photo of WHOOPI GOLDBERG\Reindeer voice\2. photo of LORD OF RINGS\Heavy earner

Dressed top-to-bottom in Arctic-wear -- as any Californian would when working in Canada in the winter -- LeVar Burton has one more thing to keep him warm as he directs the feature film Blizzard.

Taped to his camera monitor is a picture of his seven-year-old daughter Michaela, in a party dress and proudly holding an Emmy (which he won for PBS's Reading Rainbow, not as you might guess for the role of Kunta Kinte in the ground-breaking miniseries Roots).

"The nature of what I do means I have to be separated from my family, and she is the centre of my universe," Burton was saying this week between location skating shots in Markham, at the storied outdoor rink-in-the-woods Cedarena.

"I don't go anywhere without her," he says with a laugh.

With episodes of various Star Trek series under his directorial belt (and his longtime persona as engineer Geordi LaForge on Star Trek: The Next Generation), you'd expect Burton's first feature film to involve the crew of the Starship Enterprise. After all, Jonathan Frakes, Leonard Nimoy and William Shatner did the same.

"That was Jonathan's thing," Burton says of being a Trek director. "I wanted to go in a different direction, and I found the perfect launching pad for my feature directorial debut."

The perfect project was Blizzard, from Canadian producers Knightscove. It's a family feature with a herd of digitally enhanced reindeer from the Bowmanville zoo, and Oscar nom Brenda Blethyn as a storytelling aunt. Whoopi Goldberg is the voice of the title character -- one of Santa's reindeer who goes AWOL to come to the aid of a 10-year-old figure skater (Zoe Warner), who is miserable when she moves to the city and is persecuted by the cool-girl figure-skating princess (Brittany Bristow).

More's the fit for someone like Burton, who is used to space travel. "Due to the nature of the story -- talking, flying reindeer -- over 200 visual effects shots are called for (including the Babe treatment on the reindeer's mouths). And that's also a large part of my background. I cut my teeth on Star Trek, and that's part of the film world I'm really familiar with."

Goldberg -- whom Trekkers know as the wise old alien Guinan on The Next Generation -- was more amenable to the role when she found out her boss would be a longtime friend.

"She's been one of my best friends for a very long time," Burton says.

Not as cooperative were the reindeer. "I actually can't say I' ve directed the reindeer. You ask them to do something and they don' t do it. There are actors like that, but them I can fire. The reindeer really don't care whether I love them or not. All they want is monkey chow."

"We have quite a few moments where the reindeer need to do specific behaviours -- not necessarily to convey emotion, but to give us a canvas. The good news about reindeer is they have huge eyes, you can read emotion into them very easily."

Still, various planets had to align for Burton to jump between Star Trek X: Nemesis (which is still filming) and Blizzard. He began pre-production on Blizzard even while acting in the Star Trek film. "Also, they kind of frontloaded all my scenes at the beginning so I was able to get my work done early."

Trek fans will want to know: LaForge has a large-ish role in this one. "It's a lot of Picard and Data," Burton says. "But something extraordinary happens to Data. And Geordi being his best friend, there' s a lot of strong scenes with me."

Indeed, in this film -- with Romulans as the main bad guys -- rumours abound that the android commander actually gets killed off.

Not that Burton is telling. Asked for his synopsis of the film, he says, "The universe is in great peril and the crew of the Enterprise comes to save the day. It's a whole new direction for the series," he says, erupting in a loud, jovial laugh.

Good one.

ILLUSTRATION: photo by Ernest Doroszuk\LEVAR BURTON on the set of Blizzard.

POST-PROD: Whoopi Goldberg is, for all intents and purposes, the lead in Blizzard, the family flick directed here this month by LeVar Burton.

But she's not so much as setting foot in Toronto. She was in New York last week voicing the title character, one of Santa's reindeer. Meanwhile, Christopher Plummer -- a terrific actor, but by no stretch of the imagination a jolly old elf -- has been cast as Claus.

Whoopi Goldberg, Christopher Plummer, Kevin Pollak and Zoe Warner will star in the indie family feature "Blizzard," which marks the directorial debut of actor LeVar Burton.

Additionally, Brenda Blethyn is in talks to join the live-action/CGI project, which will shoot in Toronto and Quebec City beginning Feb. 18, with Canadian company Knightscove Entertainment producing with Ralph Winter Prods. No domestic distributor has yet been secured, though the filmmakers are planning for a Christmas release date.

Written by Murray McRae, the project is a Christmas story about a young girl (Warner) and her relationship with Santa's most magical reindeer, Blizzard, voiced by Goldberg. When her heart is broken after her love of skating is taken away from her, Blizzard comes to help the girl find her way back to what she loves most. Along the way, Blizzard is in danger of being banished from Santa's kingdom by the chief elf (Pollak). The little girl must convince Santa (Plummer) otherwise.

The entire story is told through the eyes of Aunt Millie (Blethyn) who relays the story of Blizzard and the little girl to her niece, whose heart has also been broken.

"This movie is about the greatest gift of all _ the gift of selfless love," Burton told The Hollywood Reporter. "It's about the power of friends and how important it is to get back up again when you fall down."

J. Miles Dale and Leif Bristow are producing the project, with Ralph Winter and Robert Schwartz executive producing. More than 200 visual effects are expected to be used in the movie, which will employ a live deer and animatronics and computer-generated effects.