Like a lot of genre fans, I’ve loved the work of Michael Ironside for a very long time. He’s a true icon, instantly familiar to audiences from his Scanners and Total Recall, to Top Gun and Starship Troopers. For me, my fandom started when I was 7 years old and totally caught up in the world of V, which starred Ironside as Ham Tyler, a badass who was always at odds with Marc Singer’s Mike Donovan.
Over the years, when films have come my way starring Michael Ironside, I’ve begged and pleaded (usual in a professional manner…usually) with our PR reps to let me interview the man. Finally, with Ironside starring in the new film Knuckleball, the opportunity came my way this week, and I jumped on it. As you’ll hear in our interview, Ironside is selective these days about doing press, but for him, the suspenseful Knuckleball is a special film, and one he’s impassioned about supporting.
When a young boy visits his isolated grandfather, tragedy follows, and a murderous storm of family secrets is unleashed, in Michael Peterson’s Knuckleball.
Henry isn’t thrilled about alone-time with his farm-owning grandpa Jacob. There’s no wi-fi, not even a phone. It’s winter, and the most interesting thing to do is shovel manure. But his parents are at a family funeral, and that sounds even worse. Still, mom has a nagging, worried feeling about the visit, and Henry soon discovers her intuition was literally dead-on.
After briefly bonding with the old fellow over their shared interest in baseball, Henry wakes up one morning to find Jacob has died in his sleep. And a neighbour – who’d glowered at Henry as he began to enjoy his time with his grandpa – suddenly turns predator.
Knuckleball is a tight thriller, starring Munro Chambers, Luca Villacis, and Ironside. As you’ll hear in our call, though the material is dark and speaks to the lack of communication on the world today, the camaraderie on set was just the opposite.
A bit of a heads up – there’s a lot of echo during the interview, and I apologize for that. I debated about transcribing versus posting audio, but at the end of the day, in the interest of both time and really conveying the emotion Michael Ironside feels for Knuckleball, I thought audio was the way to go. So throw on your headphones, turn up the volume, and enjoy this chat with one of Canada’s greatest actors. As you’ll hear, it was a real treat for me. Thank you to the incomparable Ingrid Hamilton and everyone at GAT PR for making this interview happen
And, for the V fans out there, make sure you listen to the entire chat for a great, revealing anecdote.
See Knuckleball:
October 12 – Toronto – Carlton Cinema (one week)
October 12 – Ottawa – Mayfair Theatre (one week)
