Vancouver’s own feel-bad comedy Lawrence & Holloman takes Toronto tonight, with a premiere at The Royal Cinema on College Street followed by a Q&A with filmmakers & cast — plus an after-party.
Adapted from a play by Morris Panych, Lawrence & Holloman is a darkly funny, sometimes insane buddy comedy about Lawrence (Ben Cotton), a boundlessly-optimistic lewd-and-crude department store suit salesman for whom everything goes right – until he meets Holloman (Daniel Arnold), a suicidal credit collector and malcontent. Suddenly everything goes wrong for Lawrence. Very wrong indeed.
Daniel Arnold & Ben Cotton. Production Still from Lawrence & Holloman.
Lawrence & Holloman the play is just the two actors on stage together, with each scene marking a new injury for Lawrence. Director Matthew Kowalchuk took their story on location — with added characters like Katherine Isabelle’s “lesbo” — to make it work as his first feature film.
The director’s worst day on set? Turns out it wasn’t his cameo as a dumpster diver, but a Lawrence dreamscape shot in the rain and the wind. Blue sky had to be added in post-production.
After opening in theatres in Vancouver and Edmonton, Lawrence & Holloman is set for six screenings at the Royal Cinema in Toronto.