Perseverance Brings ‘Puny Sorrows’ From Novel To Film

Michael McGowan is a screenwriter, director and producer known for tackling complex material for the screen and making it look effortless. In his latest film, the Canadian filmmaker adapts the internationally acclaimed bestselling novel All My Puny Sorrows by Miriam Toews.

The movie, like the novel, unexpectedly infuses wry humor into a heart-wrenching story of two sisters: one a gifted pianist (played by Sarah Gadon) determined to end her life, and the other a struggling writer (Alison Pill) trying to understand her beloved sibling’s decision and, in the process, makes profound discoveries about herself. The film also stars Mare Winningham and Donal Logue as the girls’ strict Mennonite parents.

McGowan’s previous film, 2012’s Still Mine, starred James Cromwell, and was a New York Times
NYT
critic pick. It received accolades globally including six Canadian Screen Award nominations, including Best Picture.

With Score: A Hockey Musical, McGowan served not only as a producer, writer and director, but also the 2010 film’s lyricist. It was the opening night film of the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) and took the top prize at the Chicago International Music and Movies Festival. His other award-winning features include 2008’s One Week and the critically acclaimed uplifting coming-of-age feature Saint Ralph, which premiered in 2004.

Reached by phone at a location about “an hour and a half north of Toronto,” McGowan reveals he is hard at work developing his next project, which he prefers to keep secret for now, lest he jinx it. He was, however, eager to talk up All My Puny Sorrows, which debuted at TIFF last year and takes its title from a line from a Samuel Taylor Coleridge poem.

Momentum Pictures’ All My Puny Sorrows will be available On Demand and on Digital on May 3, which coincides with National Mental Health Awareness Month.

Angela Dawson: What drew you to this popular novel and why did you want to make it into a movie?

Michael McGowan: I’m a fan of Miriam’s (the author) and I’d read some of her other stuff. I read this and loved it. My wife, who also had read it, said to me that she thought it would make a great film. It certainly has three incredible, cast-able roles. You often hear that it’s harder for actresses, once they reach a certain age, to get good parts. So, I thought this would allow us to cast above our weight in casting because of the roles that were in this book.

I’d never seen suicide—the desire for suicide—written about in this way, and the fact that it was from Miriam’s lived experience made it something of a trifecta of wanting to go forward and trying to adapt it.

Dawson: Did you have trepidation over adapting such a beloved book because, obviously, some parts have to be left out and other things have to change to make the story more cinematic?

McGowan: Not really. Once you start going down that route, you have to leave (those concerns) behind. I thought that the adaptation would be fairly easy but that turned out not to be the case for various reasons. I got stuck on adapting it. I was almost ready to give up because I simply couldn’t crack it. That really surprised me.

In the process of me finding my way through it, I talked to Miriam about it throughout—she had read the script and talked with all the actors and the heads of departments (on the production). I was most nervous about whether Miriam would like it, and she loved the film. She couldn’t have been more generous in her praise and her enthusiasm for what we had done. That was really the highest compliment we could have received about the adaptation.

Dawson: Did she visit the set?

McGowan: She would have come to set but her mother, Elvira, is older and we shot this during Covid. I showed the (unfinished) film to Alison (Pill) and Sarah (Gadon) and got great feedback from them but I sort of didn’t want Miriam to see it until it was complete. At the beginning, I had asked her if she wanted to write the adaptation with me, and she didn’t. She was busy with other things and was generous enough to trust me enough to do it (on my own). I wanted her to see it in the form I was happiest with. So, she came to the opening at TIFF with her mother, her daughter and her partner.

Dawson: While you were writing the adaptation, did you visualize the actors for these roles?

McGowan: I never write for a specific actor. First of all, it took six years from the time I optioned (the book) to the time we got to camera, so we didn’t know who was going to be available, what the budget would be—the usual factors. I hadn’t (previously) worked with somebody that I thought could play that part. In the casting, the actors playing the two sisters could have been 10 years older but we eventually arrived at Alison and Sarah. We had a great casting director out of L.A., Heidi Levitt, who’s actually Canadian.

We went through a bunch of lists and it always was going to depend on who our Yoli was, and that was going to affect who Elf was, and the mom. So, once Alison signed on, Sarah was a natural choice. I had spoken to Sarah about the script a few years earlier, and she had some great notes on the script. I was hoping she’d be available and she was. Then, when we were considering the mom, we had pictures (of actresses) up on a board, and it was clear that Mare was the obvious choice.

Plus, Alison and Mare had worked together (previously) and Sarah and Alison had worked together. The fact that they all knew each other helped with the on-screen chemistry.

Dawson: Despite the grim topic of suicide, the film has many humorous lines and the conversations between the characters seem very real.

McGowan: That was the strength of the book. Miriam’s sensibility of undercutting (dramatic tension) with humor marries with my own. That’s one of the things that really appeals to me: it wasn’t just this grim, two-hour slog. There’s hope in the film, surprisingly. There’s light that’s juxtaposed with the darkness. That, to me, was really interesting to explore and recall in the adaptation.

Dawson: As the director, what were the challenges of following all the protocols and keeping everyone on the cast and crew healthy while filming during the pandemic?

McGowan: We were kind of isolated in this community up north. That helped. The protocols were fine, really. We figured out a way to make it as safe as we could without really infringing on our shooting time. The big sword of Damocles hanging over us was if we had gotten three positive cases, the entire production would have shut down, and there was no guarantee that wouldn’t happen.

We shot with one camera for 20 days. We were able to move quickly because it was a wonderful location. We ended up with three positive tests that turned out to be false positives, so they turned out to be negative, including myself and another crew member. I was being extremely careful. We were pretty sure, after the first test, that we really didn’t have it but there’s no guarantee, so we had to shut down for a day.

We kept thinking, “are we tempting fate shooting this film during this film during Covid?” We simply felt lucky to be working while so many people had lost their jobs. It was really a blessing to just be working. I really felt like people were taking it seriously. People knew our margin of error on Covid was razor-thin, and thankfully we didn’t have any real positive tests.

Dawson: After the positive critical and audience reaction at TIFF, was that finally the moment you could relax?

McGowan: I sat in the audience and watched it, which is always torturous waiting for the audience’s reaction. But now we know this film works. I’ve gotten some of the best reviews I’ve had in my career with it. It touches people in a really deep, emotional way. I’m excited for more people to see it when it’s released in May.

Dawson: What are you working on next? Are you planning to adapt your books for the screen?

McGowan: The stuff I’m working on now I can’t talk about because it’s in the development phase. I have a bunch of stuff that, hopefully, will go fairly soon.