Year: 2004
Language: English
Format: 35mm Colour
Runtime: 98 min
Director: Don McKellar
Producer: Niv Fichman, Daniel Iron, Jennifer Jonas
Writer: Don McKellar
Cinematographer: André Turpin
Editor: Reginald Harkema
Sound: Rob Fletcher
Music: Christopher Dedrick
Cast: Don McKellar, Mark Rendall, Dave Foley, Kristen Adams, Brendan Fehr, Eric Stoltz, Alan Thicke, Jennifer Leigh
Production Company: Rhombus Media

Deftly skewering the Hollywood North environment of today's Toronto with a raucous and cleverly-drawn cast of characters, Childstar follows America's most famous child actor Taylor Brandon Burns (Mark Rendall) as he is outsourced to Canada to shoot the big-budget action picture The American Son. Spoiled by his brash, flaky, over-indulgent mother (Jennifer Jason Leigh), the monstrously bratty but charismatic Taylor turns to his mother's latest conquest, his limo driver Rick (Don McKellar) B a former film professor and would-be experimental filmmaker B for advice on how to best navigate his pre-pubescent desires and anxieties. Emboldened by his newfound confidence and his burgeoning relationship with model/actress Natalie (Kristen Adams), Taylor runs away from the production, leaving the film's manic producer (Dave Foley) to send Rick in desperate pursuit.

Inspired by a conversation McKellar had with Haley Joel Osment at an Academy Awards party in 1999 and boasting terrific cinematography by André Turpin, Childstar had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival and went on to play at festivals around the world. It received four awards from the Vancouver Film Critics Circle Best Canadian Film, Best Director, Best Actor (McKellar) and Best Supporting Actor (Foley) and was nominated for five Genie awards. It was also named one of Canada's Top Ten of 2004 by an independent, national panel of filmmakers, programmers, journalists and industry professionals

By: Liz Czach