Rare Birds

Directed by  Sturla Gunnarsson
Written by Ed Riche
ANDY JONES
He is a Newfoundland comedian.  Gunnarsson said, he had him  in mind for the role of Alphonse, Dave's best friend when reading the script.

MOLLY PARKER
The Canadian actress got her start with a spate of work in Vancouver-lensed TV-movies before earning a reputation for uncompromising and skilled portrayals in edgy independents.
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STURLA GUNNARSSON
He was born in Iceland and raised in Canada, where he
studied English literature and film production at the University of British Columbia. His first feature film, Diplomatic Immunity (91) won the Prix Grande at the Cannes Winter Festival.

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 Rare Birds was shot in wintermonth of 2000 in Newfoundland. When the Preproduction begun one year ago William Hurt agreed to play the main character. "
He wanted to have this chance to be a goof, to make a fool of himself," says Gunnarsson.
Rare Birds, based on the novel by  Ed Riche (who is Newfoundlander), tells the story of Dave Purcell, played by William Hurt, who comes back to his homecountry Newfoundland to open an upscale French restaurant on a rocky cliff, when he feels his mid-life-crises.
But a gastronomic establishment like that does not seem right in the wild terrain. When the bank want to to repossess his restaurant, Dave's friend (Andy Jones) has an idea to save it by trumpet the presence of a rare ducks near the restaurant to attract birdwatchers. The restaurant then becomes a great success so that Dave must ask his best friend's mysterious sister-in-law (Molly Parker) to help out. Dave falls in love to her soon.
 		 "Rare Birds is very much a buddy picture," says Gunnarsson. "It's a love story not only between William Hurt and Molly Parker, but a love story with his best friend and the depths they'll go to help each other out of trouble. Not only are the ducks a couple of rare birds, but so are all of the main characters. It made it interesting because William is a method actor, whereas Andy is a performing actor. They were both so dedicated. For me, it was really challenging because I'd never done comedy before. I didn't want the film to play for laughs, but for the humor to come from the situation."