'Closet Monster': Coming Out (With the Help of a Talking Hamster)

"Closet Monster," Stephen Dunn's refreshing take on the gay coming-of-age story, centers on a boy on the brink of adulthood, struggling with his sexuality and the inner demons that have been festering since he witnessed a horrific hate crime as a child. Alienated by his selfish and estranged parents, his only real solace is his relationship with his pet hamster as well as his dream of escaping the small town in which he feels trapped.

Connor Jessup (ABC's "American Crime") embodies the protagonist, Oscar, so wholly, that his work is revelatory. French actor, Aliocha Schneider plays Wilder the hot, possibly-bi boy on whom Oscar crushes. And Isabella Rossellini lends her earthy voice to Buffy, Oscar's maternal pet hamster.

This is young Dunn's first feature (he's 27!) and he proves to have quite a unique cinematic eye as well as a gift for storytelling that skirts seamlessly in and out of reality and blends dark comedy with the gritty side of human nature.

Since its premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival last year, "Closet Monster" has glided from festival to festival, picking up several prizes along the way including the prestigious Best Canadian Feature at TIFF.

EDGE spoke with Dunn on the eve of his film's release.

Dealing with Internalized Homophobia

EDGE: Can you discuss the genesis of this intimate project?

Stephen Dunn: I wanted to create a story that explores a complex experience I went through growing up dealing with internalized homophobia. I wanted to articulate that kind of struggle, that pain when you fear a part of yourself... My drive to make this film was to explore the kind of fear that lives within the body, the fear of yourself, the fear of what you may become.

It is very deeply personal (film) and inspired by my own experiences of internalized homophobia growing up in St. John's, Newfoundland. It was a more dangerous climate being different or queer...The film is about Oscar peeling back the layers and overcoming that fear and claiming his identity and learning to be proud and empowered by being himself.

EDGE: Do you feel you've reached a point where you feel empowered?

Stephen Dunn: Yes. Making this film was actually a really big deal for me. Before this I hadn't really made any films about queerness, in terms of orientation. I still did fear that so it actually really was empowering to be able to tell this story... to tell a story that is so personal for me was very difficult. It was a very emotional experience. But I definitely feel empowered by being able to do it.

EDGE: Describe the writing process. How long did it take?

Stephen Dunn: I workshopped it for about a year. I graduated from University and I started developing the script 2 weeks after I graduated. I developed it to a stage where it was a polished second draft. Then through this program I developed a teaser trailer, which I used as a sales tool to lock in my producers as well as funding and it may have actually catapulted it into production sooner than usual in comparison to a lot of Canadian films.

Casting Connor Jessup

EDGE: Were you afforded a rehearsal process?

Stephen Dunn: Yes. We brought Connor into St. John's about 2 weeks before the full shoot and more of the cast would trickle in, so we had at least a week of rehearsals, all before the shoot. I used the time to go over scenes, but we also built relationships and spent a lot of time together... it was about creating an energy of trust. And we would improv before and after each scene with all the actors... I was very pleased with how my producers structured the entire shoot. It was a really safe space.

EDGE: Tell us about casting and working with Connor Jessup?

Stephen Dunn: I wrote the entire film at a library on the University of Toronto campus. I spent my summer there writing. And every week a bunch of nerds would come in a play a board game in the same room where I was writing -- a total quiet space. And Connor was one of those guys.

As I was writing the character in the film, Connor was in the room with me... Many times. I knew who he was. I had seen his work. He obviously had no idea who I was. It wasn't until about a year later, when he was in Japan, that we sent him the script and we Skyped for the first time -- and I actually told him that story. We joke now that he incepted my brain as I was writing the role.

Connor has a very Hollywood-handsome, young look but he's very wise. (He's) mature beyond his years. That was really evident. He's a cinephile as well. We would talk about movies we loved and cinematic references for ("Closet Monster"). We were able to communicate on a whole other level... He brought something to the production that exceeded my expectations... When you're casting a role that's so personal, you're handing off your story for someone else to tell. It is very important to have mutual understanding and respect... I was very fortunate to work with someone so generous who elevated my first feature to a whole new level.

EDGE: What is your process like?

Stephen Dunn: Generally, my stories deal with elements of internalized or externalized magical realism... all these things that are not literal. So I have to work with people who trust me enough to know that this kind of storytelling is how we're going to be expressing the central emotion in the film.

I work very closely with actors, and build trust. I tend to allow myself be open and to become influenced by the collaboration of the people I work with. On "Closet Monster" it was a very positive collaborative experience.

Unsure of His Sexuality

EDGE: Watching the film, I was struck by the sense that everyone around Oscar is fairly certain of his sexuality except for Oscar. Was that deliberate?

Stephen Dunn: Not really, to be honest. The central piece of the film for me is Oscar and Wilder. Oscar is unsure of his sexuality and fears the truth that he might be gay. Wilder is someone whose sexuality is very fluid. We don't actually know much about him. He seems very assured and very confident. And he's everything Oscar wishes he could be. And his attraction to Wilder is more a desire to be like him. So it's a struggle with him realizing what it is that he wants in his life, and I think that's the central anchor of the story's sexuality.

EDGE: Where did you find Aliocha Schneider (Wilder)?

Stephen Dunn: That was the hardest role to cast. We did a massive search and it was the very last role that we cast. The way I found him was anticlimactic because my agent represented him! He sent me some scenes... and I Skyped with him. He was living in Paris at the time. He was in his Paris apartment smoking a cigarette, playing with his kitten. There was an effortlessness about him. He wasn't trying to impress me or put on a show or anything... He was so comfortable and confident, and that is exactly what we were looking for.

EDGE: It was quite a coup getting Isabella Rossellini to voice Buffy.

Stephen Dunn: Originally in the script, Buffy the hamster was supposed to be voiced by Siri, a robotic, female/androgynous voice. So we'd almost finished the film and I was finding the humor was coming through. It was really funny, but the maternal nature of what Buffy represented in Oscar's life just wasn't there.

I'm a big fan of Isabella Rossellini, obviously. I had been recently watching her "Green Porno" series (about the sexual reproduction of animals where she plays all the animals). It's brilliant. In one of the episodes she actually plays a hamster. And I realized, holy shit, her voice has such a silky smooth, maternal quality to it that is very animated and passionate... Also, she has her own quirky sense of humor. So I approached my producers, thinking they would laugh me out of the building, because at this point we'd spent literally all of our money... And I said, 'What do you think about hiring this Hollywood legend?' And, to my surprise, they were thrilled by the idea. And agreed with me wholeheartedly that it was the absolute right fit. So we approached her.

My producer, Niv Fichman, had worked with her before on a Guy Madden film called, "The Saddest Music in the World" and "Enemy," so I knew it wasn't totally out of the realm of possibility. So he sent her a note from me with the script and, I believe, a cut of the movie. And she got back to us right away, she called and said, (does accent) "Of course I will play the 'amster." ... And we did the recording, and she made me lunch and took me on a tour of her farm, and I met her geese, goats, sheep, guinea hens, pigs -- she has every animal. She's like Snow White, such an extremely nurturing person... I feel so lucky to have worked with her on my first feature.

The Festival Circuit

EDGE: How has the festival circuit treated you?

Stephen Dunn: Really great. We premiered at TIFF, a year ago. There, we won the Best Canadian Feature, which was a big surprise. And since then we've played upwards of 60 festivals... I find it thrilling how different the readings are of the film in different countries. And cultures. Different languages. The most eye opening experience was in Marrakech... I had a much more liberal impression of what Marrakech might be like, being the stomping grounds of Yves Saint Laurent and whatnot. We had a really positive screening. And it wasn't until I was doing press and I was being interviewed by a feminist paper in Marrakech, and they asked me how do you feel that the film was so well received... and they asked, What advice can you give to young gay people?

This is the toughest question. In a country where it's illegal to be gay, what advice can you give to a young person who may be struggling with their sexuality? What do you say in that situation where you want to say, Be yourself. It is na�ve to say be yourself. And do what you want and self-actualize. Or get out and move. You want people to be safe but you want people to be able to be themselves.

So that was a really eye-opening experience, especially growing up in Canada where gay marriage has been legal for two years. It's really shocking to see how urgent these issues are all around the world.

EDGE: You referred to your film as queer-themed. Do you mind that tag?

Stephen Dunn: I understand the issue people have with it. Queer films tend to get ghettoized, or treated as if they're defined by sexuality... No gay person out there feels like the defining factor of their personality is being gay. That's an element of your personality and of who you are. But it's not the only part of you. I have no problem admitting that "Closet Monster" is a film about queerness, but it's not the only thing the film is.

During TIFF last year there were a number of queer films, and they kind of lumped us all together. They were like, "Closet Monster," "The Danish Girl," "Stonewall," "Freeheld..." Yes, it's amazing to see these stories about queer people existing. But to unify them just based on queerness is doing all films a disservice because they're all so different and their voices are so different and stories are so different.

I'm proud to have contributed to the queer canon... but no one watches "Transparent" because they're in the mood for a queer sort of thing. No. You watch "Transparent" because it's just fucking great! It's a compelling story of human nature. And cinema struggles from the ghettoization of these stories more so than television... the landscape of television has broadened considerably.

I did make this film because I wanted to contribute to the voices of queer coming of age, and I'm by no means shying away from that discussion, but we need to re-look at the way we categorize film based on the content.

His New Film

EDGE: What is up next for you?

Stephen Dunn: I'm casting my next feature right now. It's called, "What Waits for Them in Darkness." It's also set in Newfoundland, where I'm from. It's very different from "Closet Monster." Where "Closet Monster" is showing the modern landscape of this island community, this (new) film goes back 50 years to explore this phenomenon that happened, beginning in the '50s, in Newfoundland, to 50,000 people who lived on very small remote island communities around the coast of Newfoundland, which is already an island. These people were forced to resettle on the main land.

The vast majority were not given enough resources or compensation to move. So they were forced to float everything they owned, including their houses, across the Atlantic Ocean onto the mainland of Newfoundland in order to have better lives. Or so they were promised. It's still a very controversial moment in history, and something that no one, outside of Newfoundland, really knows about.

EDGE: Was it the government that made them do it?

Stephen Dunn: It was. It was a government incentive. Once Newfoundland joined Canada, these people needed to have access to resources, legally. It was too expensive to get education, running water, electricity, health care out to these remote islands, so instead they made a really difficult situation worse. People had to decide whether they were going to stay or leave. It was very strong-handed and left a lot of people devastated.

My film is about a family, and as they float their house [they] get separated. The men are in a boat and the women are inside the house, and the boat gets separated from the house, and the film follows a mother and daughter trapped inside their floating house, stranded and floating aimlessly on the Atlantic Ocean. So it's a survivalist adventure story about women and the displacement of a culture.

"Closet Monster" is in limited release. To find out where the film is playing, visit the film's website.

Watch the trailer to "Closet Monster":