Paris-based Loco Films has acquired the rights to “Paying For It,” Canadian director Sook-Yin Lee’s (“Octavio is Dead!”) adaptation of Chester Brown’s best-selling graphic novel. The film will have its world premiere at the Toronto Film Festival in the competitive Platform section.
Written by Lee and Joanne Sarrazin (Backspot, Tammy's Always Dying), the film stars Dan Bern (Twentieth Century, Priscilla), emerging actress Emily Lee (Riceboy Sleeps), and celebrated activist, author and artist Andrea Werhn (Modern Whore, Thriving: A Dissociative Reverie).
The film explores themes of love, sex, and intimacy for adults. Set in the late 1990s, it follows Chester, an introverted cartoonist who begins having sex with sex workers and discovers a new kind of intimacy after his girlfriend Sonny decides to redefine their committed relationship.
“Paying For It” is produced by Matt Code of Wildling Pictures, whose credits include “See for Me,” “Mary Goes Round” and the upcoming “Young Werther”; Sonya Di Rienzo (“Brother,” “The Young Arsonists,” “The Players”) and Aeschylus Poulos (“Mr. Dressup: The Magic of Make-Believe,” “Brother,” “Sleeping Giant”) of Hawkeye Pictures; in association with Telefilm Canada and Ontario Creates and in association with Bell Media’s Crave and CBC Films. Co-producers are Natalie Urquhart (“Suits,” “Stardust”) and Lee; executive producers are Dan Beirne and John Cameron Mitchell (“Hedwig and the Angry Inch,” “Shortbus”).
The film was directed by Emmy Award winner Gayle Yee (“You Can Live Forever,” “Bria Mack Gets a Life”), produced by Olivia De Oliveira (“Dreams Are Special,” “Woman in a Drunk”), costume design by Cameron Lee (“Close to You”) and edited by Anna Catley (“We Forgot About the Breakup,” “Infinity Pool”). Dylan Gamble of Hot Garbage and Lee composed the original soundtrack.
Pay for It brings together comedians, performers, authors, activists and multimedia creators in front of and behind the camera.
Here's a trailer for “Paying For It”:
