New movie starring Colin Mochrie being filmed in the Sault

Sault Ste. Marie will get to play itself in an upcoming movie that is being filmed and produced around town throughout the summer.

Called Magnetosphere, the coming-of-age film is set in 1997 and focuses on a shy, but curious 13-year-old girl named Maggie who can see sounds and hear colours.

When Maggie’s family moves to Sault Ste. Marie, she encounters a new school, new faces, new challenges, and her first love. Slowly making sense of herself, Maggie soon discovers that what makes her different has a name: synesthesia.

New York-based filmmaker Nicola Rose is the writer and director of Magnetosphere, and she says synesthesia, which occurs when an individual experiences one of their senses through another, needed to be brought to life on screen.

“Synesthesia was something I wanted to write about because it’s very cinematic,” she says. “It’s this thing that so many people experience, but we don’t know necessarily that we’re experiencing it because it’s just part of our natural perception.”

The cast includes a talented lineup of familiar Canadian names, including comedy icon Colin Mochrie from Whose Line is it Anyway?

Other actors include YouTube star Steven He, Patrick McKenna (The Red Green Show), Debra McGrath (Little Mosque on the Prairie), Mikayla Kong (Accused), and Shayelin Martin who plays the lead character Maggie.

Sault Film Festival co-founder Rebeka Herron (Rusty Halo Productions) is helping produce the film alongside co-producers Tierney Boorboor and Drew Martin (Pine Pathways Productions), as well as executive producers Ian Schulz and Mark A. Baum (Baum18 Media).

Originally from Vancouver, Herron has spent the past three years in the Sault, and she was incredibly excited at the prospect of having Magnetosphere filmed here.

“We kind of thought: 'Why not?'” she says. “The Sault has a certain charm with its beautiful scenery, and we didn’t want to hide all of that. It’s become a little bit of a love letter to the Sault.”

Among the many filming spots around town are Algoma University, Bellevue Park, White Pines, the Sault Community Theatre Centre, Northcrest Bowling Lanes, and the Sault Ste. Marie Canal National Historic Site.

Several theatrical Saultites are also part of the production, including Hanna Ellis (wardrobe) and Keith Bowser, as well as local actors like Shelley Gold, Trish Rainone, and Ryan Mauro.

The Sault Community Theatre Centre has even provided its illustrious costume bay to assist with the movie’s wardrobe.

“The theatre community is so big here, and it’s such a big part of the film,” Herron says. “That’s one of the things I love the most about working here in the Sault and the film and theatre community. There’s just so many artists here who really want to work and help out. It’s been great.”

Rose told SooToday that the decision to set the film in the 1990s was made because it was one of the last times where people weren’t glued to their devices.

“That was something that as we were writing and revising the script, it became clear that if this were happening today, the kids would always have phones or iPads in their hands,” she says. “This was a way to keep their faces out of those things.”

“It’s also nostalgic — everyone working on this movie grew up in the 1990s.”

The filmmaker believes her team is one of the very first to produce a film where synesthesia is at the center of the story, and she’s confident that many viewers will be able to recognize its traits.

“We’ve got a really fun cast of varying levels of time in front of a screen,” she says. “To see everybody arriving on set and realizing ‘wow this is really happening,’ and then watching everyone work together has been great.”

Rose is currently unsure when and where the film will be released, but she’s hoping to have a local screening for Saultites upon its completion.

Magnetosphere is looking for extras to play audience members at the Sault Community Theatre Centre this Friday. If interested, head shots and information can be emailed to [email protected].