When the New Yorker critic Pauline Kael reviewed 鈥淭he Exorcist鈥 in 1973, she wondered about the parents of the kids who had auditioned to play the demonically possessed Regan McNeil. 鈥淲hen they watch Linda Blair,鈥 she wrote, 鈥渁re they envious? Do they feel, 鈥楾hat might have been my little Susie 鈥 famous forever鈥?
I thought of Kael鈥檚 words two summers ago when I agreed to lend my then-one-and-half-year-old daughter, Avery, to an independent movie shooting in 海角社区官网titled 鈥淢att and Mara,鈥 starring Deragh Campbell and Matt Johnson. Not that she was going to be asked to rotate her head or levitate off the bed (her older sister, Lea, would have been perfect for that role). Instead, Avery had been cast 鈥 and not exactly against type 鈥 as an adorable, semi-verbal toddler.
Like such classics as 鈥淛ules and Jim鈥 and 鈥淢ikey and Nicky,鈥 鈥淢att and Mara鈥 is named after its two main characters: a pair of aspiring writers testing the boundaries of their long-standing and intensely platonic friendship. Still, I arrived on set with a proposition: I asked one of the producers, Candice Napoleone, if it would be possible to change the title to 鈥淢att and Mara and Avery.鈥 (鈥淟ike 鈥楾he Good, the Bad and the Ugly,鈥欌 I said.) The creative team wouldn鈥檛 budge. I had to remind myself that since Avery had gotten the part without auditioning, we didn鈥檛 have much leverage.
Nepo baby discourse is big these days, so in the interest of full disclosure, Avery鈥檚 acting ability (or lack thereof) was not really a factor (as NBA scouts like to say, the best ability is availability). Her casting was a gesture of friendship: I鈥檇 met the film鈥檚 director, Kazik Radwanski, back in 2009, when he and his producer Dan Montgomery were fresh out of film school with a short film (my wife, Tanya Koivusalo, was their first TIFF publicist).
Matt Johnson and Deragh Campbell star in “Matt and Mara.”
Courtesy of TIFFOther pals on set included the associate producer Samantha Chater, who had suggested that Avery had a face for cinema, as well as Deragh Campbell, who would be playing her onscreen mother. As for Matt Johnson, we had remained on speaking terms even after I dubbed him 鈥渢he evil Anglo enfant terrible twin to Xavier Dolan鈥 in print.
Because I teach Kazik鈥檚 work in my annual course on 海角社区官网cinema at Innis College, I was already familiar with his directorial methods, which are exploratory in nature. An avowed fan of John Cassavetes, he likes to put his actors into situations that force them to bounce off of various problems.
Cue Avery, who didn鈥檛 have to do much more to pressurize her scenes than go about her usual business of wandering, playing and having the occasional post-nap meltdown. Jean-Luc Godard once observed that every fictional film is a documentary of its actors, and it鈥檚 true. Every time I looked at the monitor to see Avery鈥檚 onscreen parents (including her frustratingly handsome stand-in dad, Mounir al Shami) trying to speak to each other in full sentences while mollifying the moody young ingenue with crunchy snacks and YouTube clips of 鈥淏aby Shark,鈥 it felt uncannily like cin茅ma v茅rit茅.
Whenever I would report back to friends and family about my adventures in showbiz parenting, I made exactly the kind of corny jokes you鈥檇 expect from a working film critic: that W.C. Fields knew better than to work with kids; that there were no small parts, only small actors; that Avery was ready for her close-up, Mr. DeMille. But in truth, I was deeply moved by our weekly ritual. Much of Avery鈥檚 first year had been spent under sporadic lockdowns, and she hadn鈥檛 met that many people in our friend circle, so chauffeuring her around to different locations felt more cathartic than anything else.
The production also provided Tanya and I with a very palpable and bittersweet way of marking time. By the last few shooting dates, it was obvious that Avery was growing up too quickly for script continuity. Clothes she鈥檇 worn during her first rehearsals were now bulging at the seams; in terms of her personality and performance style, she鈥檇 graduated from the silent era to the talkies.
Earlier this year, we watched the final cut of 鈥淢att and Mara鈥 and offered Kazik some well-reasoned artistic feedback: more Avery. Obviously, I can鈥檛 talk about 鈥 or review 鈥 the film in any kind of unbiased way; I enjoyed it, and I鈥檓 proud to have been of assistance. I didn鈥檛 get much in return, sadly, just beautiful moving images capturing a wonderful period of my daughter鈥檚 childhood, and wonderful, embarrassing stories about her pseudo-diva behaviour that I can tell her when she鈥檚 older.
The other day, I asked Avery if she remembered the time that she helped some people make a movie and she shyly shook her head, unsure of what to say. I realized that starring in so many of our Instagram stories probably made it hard to remember one more digital lens being dangled in her face. She also told me that she wasn鈥檛 sure she wanted to be in another movie, which is fine with me. It鈥檚 a tough business (just ask Linda Blair).
Honestly, I don鈥檛 mind if my little Avery isn鈥檛 famous forever. But I鈥檓 looking forward to this week.
“Matt and Mara” screens at TIFF on Sept. 11 and 12. Go to for more details.
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