Vancouver has a knack for playing scrubbed-up versions of American cities, but she’s at her best when given the opportunity to play herself.
Free from CGI and set dressings, she’s a complicated character, a heady mix of beauty and ugliness, good intentions and self-destructive tendencies.
And yet, as fascinating as Vancouver is, we so rarely get to see her in all her nuanced glory on the big screen.
Such is not the case in Down Here. Vancouver’s many moods and flaws are on display in this gritty crime thriller set and filmed in the Downtown Eastside.
Dean Wray (Insomnia, Reindeer Games) stars as Roy Harris, a troubled detective who works the Eastside streets by day and drinks himself into oblivion each night.
The film follows Roy as he battles his demons and hunts for a serial killer who is preying on the DTES’ most vulnerable women.
Down Here co-stars Martin Cummins (When Calls the Heart) as Roy’s beleaguered partner, and legendary actress Tantoo Cardinal (Dances with Wolves, Blackstone) as a grandmother with whom Roy forges a potentially lifesaving bond.
Wray co-wrote the indie feature with actor-director Teach Grant. The duo met on the set of Arctic Air; with Down Here, they wanted to shine a light on a side of the DTES that is rarely seen on screen.
“It’s a special place down there,” says Wray in a recent phone interview. “You can feel it. It’s a different type of place. A lot of those people down there, they aren’t there by choice. And yet, there’s a community. Life goes on down there.”
Wray knows the DTES well. He grew up within its borders.
“I know that area like the back of my hand, and I did it all down there as far as what you do when you grow up,” says Wray. “I went to school, partied, got in trouble, and saw a lot of people die, or go to jail.”
There was a long stretch where Wray worked as a switchman on the railroad.
“When we were working nights, we used to see a lot of hookers bring their clients down to the tracks,” says Wray, who now calls Vancouver Island home. “It’s been going on there for years, and I slowly watched it get worse and worse and worse.
“It used to be a lot of working people down there, and it’s changed a lot,” he adds. “It’s gotten a lot meaner, and a lot tougher. It’s a war zone.”
There are other echoes of truth within Down Here, besides the realities of DTES living. Like Roy, Wray once battled addiction.
Thus, the 13-day location shoot took a particularly heavy toll on the veteran actor.
“I got down to 170 pounds, and it wasn’t on purpose,” laughs Wray. “Even though you’re pretending and you’re acting, your subconscious doesn’t know that. Your body starts to believe it.”
But the meatiness of the role more than made up for any challenges he suffered during filming.
“It’s the juice we go after as actors, because we don’t get a lot of opportunities to do that in TV land,” says Wray.
One thing Wray didn’t have to pretend was his admiration for Cardinal.
“As soon as Tantoo’s name came up, it stopped there,” says Wray of the prolific actress, who has more than 100 credits to her name. “We really hit it off. She’s just real people. She’s solid, and I love her to death.”
Down Here had its Vancouver premiere at a charity screening at the Rio Theatre in April. Many in the sold-out crowd that night live and work in the DTES.
“You would not believe the vibe. Everybody who came to the movie, it felt like everybody was part of the night, and it wasn’t just about the film,” says Wray.
“They got caught up in the emotional part of it. A lot of people, they wanted to take Roy and give him a hug. A lot of my friends who are ex drug addicts, they wanted to punch him in the head for living in self pity, but the reaction was all positive in a way that they were moved by it.”
Down Here also features Michael Rogers, Viv Leacock, Brent Stait, and Sarah-Jane Redmond.
“I wanted this thing to look good, and I wanted it to be honest and truthful, and I think we achieved that,” says Wray.
Down Here is now available for purchase on Amazon Prime.
