Brent Butt: Face Of Corner Gas, Now Available On Events Edge

Fans of Corner Gas who have pestered Brent Butt for years about a movie are finally getting their way.

In an announcement on his website, the actor and comedian said Tuesday he has been hearing, “Is there ever going to be a Corner Gas movie?” since the show last aired in 2009.

Its six-season run ended with one long tracking shot across the faces of the main characters and a documentary-style freeze frame of what they went on to do. The movie will pick up five years later, Butt told the Star from Vancouver.

Turns out those characters — whose lives intersect around the Corner Gas station — haven’t left the fictional town of Dog River, Sask., or even really changed all that much. But the town certainly has, leading gas station proprietor Brent Leroy, Butt’s character, to lead a charge to save it from mismanagement and devious corporations.

The beloved town “might be on its last legs,” Butt said. “It’s about making that decision to move or fight for the town.”

In the unusual deal, Corner Gas: The Movie will be released in theatres, on television and on DVD before Christmas. The original cast, including Butt, Gabrielle Miller, Eric Peterson, Fred Ewanuick, Janet Wright, Lorne Cardinal, Tara Spencer-Nairn and Nancy Robertson, will descend on Rouleau, Sask., to start filming June 23.

“I wouldn’t have wanted to do it if we were missing one or two. It wouldn’t have felt right,” said Butt, who has been working on story ideas for the script with co-writers Andrew Carr and Andrew Wreggitt for three years.

In order to give back to and solicit from “diehard fans,” the production team has enlisted crowdfunding site Kickstarter to raise $100,000 in 30 days for some of the film’s special effects. In exchange, fans can receive autographed scripts and other memorabilia.

It will be released across Canada in Cineplex theatres, followed by The Movie Network, The Comedy Network, CTV and then on DVD.

Executive producers Butt, Virginia Thompson and David Storey, who is also directing, are distributing the film themselves.

The overall budget for the film has not been made public, but Thompson said it was comparable to other Canadian comedies like Trailer Park Boys: The Movie. Financing comes from Bell Media, Telefilm Canada, Cineplex, the Canada Media Fund, Tourism Saskatchewan, Creative Saskatchewan and the Ontario Film Tax Credit Program.

Numerous members of the cast and crew are from Ontario, Thompson said.

“We kind of had to bring the country in to make this film,” she said.

The final episode of Corner Gas aired April 13, 2009 and drew 3.02 million viewers. That number remains the largest ever for a Canadian scripted TV series.

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For more information Read Original Source http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/television/2014/05/20/corner_gas_the_movie_starts_shooting_next_month.html