Sarah grew up with a family joke that she did not look anything like her siblings. Ten short years later she discovered the secret that her mother had kept hidden all Sarahs life, Michael Polley was not her father. [33] In June 2016, the series was confirmed with Polley writing and producing. She already has a classy track record as a film director. And then she relates how Michael made a speech that "sounded like it would go somewhere really nice, then didn't. He looked up to his kids. Its been more than six years since Sarah Polley was struck on the head by a fire extinguisher, one that was unwisely hung over a lost-and-found box at her local community center, leaving her with a debilitating concussion. Polley in the present day, with her Super-8 camera. I decide it cannot be Sarah. Diane is a socialite, who feels hemmed in by her introverted husband. In a strange way, I contributed to that, he said. [23] Polley ended her run early claiming complications from scoliosis. She used existing footage from home Super 8 movies and old photographs with confessional interviews from her brothers and sisters. She remembers staying up until the small hours talking about books with Michael "and smoking" she laughs and "not wanting to be anywhere else". Those reminiscences about an elusive mother turn into a search for clues that will literally explain how this filmmaker came into the world. [17][18], Polley attended Subway Academy II, then Earl Haig Secondary School, but dropped out at age 15. And as her youngest daughter processes all these contradictions, an exercise in family navel-gazing becomes something more meta less about the stories themselves than about the often uproarious ways in which people tell stories. Polley also revisits her work as a child actor in an essay called Mad Genius, about the making of Terry Gilliams 1988 fantasy The Adventures of Baron Munchausen. That film, for which she was cast at the age of 8 to play the Barons young companion, Sally Salt, left her deeply traumatized. [4], While working as a casting director Polley helped discover the comedy group The kids in the hall, and later guest starred on their show. 34 year old Sarah tells of how the news started many family conversations at the dinner table and she noted how everyones story was different with each family member highlighting a different aspect of the tale. She took care of us brilliantly. Stories We Tell was produced by the National . Polley has written numerous essays over the years about her experiences as a child star. There were four or five very close years we had together then. By Dave Itzkoff. And it includes a stunning secret (it would spoil the film's delicate detective work to spill it). In 2022 she revealed she had in fact been suffering from intense stage fright, something that continued to plague her into adulthood. Its different if somebody else is indiscreet about you.. His quirky, engagingly self-deprecatory commentary contributes hugely to the film's charm. What is different is that she is hospitably voluble. The results knocked me on my ass, says Polley, sipping cider in a caf around the corner from her Toronto home. The revelation sent Polley reeling: If her father was not her father, then who was her mother, and what did that mean about her own identity? She did so much perhaps it is not such a surprise she died at 53.". As she grew up in Toronto under the care of her father, Michael, Polleys conception of her mother was fuzzily constructed from memories, photographs and family stories. In 2006, she directed Away From Her, about a woman suffering from Alzheimer's (Julie Christie was nominated for an Oscar). Her first career was an actor. The youngest of five children born to actress Diane Polley, Sarah learned that she was the product of an affair her mother had with a Montreal movie producera secret Diane took to her grave when she died of cancer just after Sarahs 11th birthday. "And Dad joked about it.". Sarah now smarts on her mother's behalf to think of the "shame" she must have felt. What they have in common, she said, is that they chronicle events from the past that have been fundamentally changed by my relationship to them in the present., They were things I didnt talk about, because I didnt know what the stories even were, Polley, 43, added. "[46] [47] Polley was nominated for Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay at the 95th Academy Awards, and the film was also nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture. At least that was her story. The film is a loving but complicated homage. The seriesat least in the beginning, before Polley lost interest in acting and left the showfocused on Polley's character, Sarah Stanley, a girl who had lost her mother and was sent to be raised by her maiden aunts. Another friend, Mort Ransen, speaks of her fear of cancer and likens her to a trembling bird. But being candid doesnt mean that you always know what the truth is. Stories We Tell revolves firstly around Diane Polley, the director's energetic mother and sometimes stage actress, who died of cancer when Polley was eleven years old. Privacy PolicyTerms and ConditionsAccessibility, To read this article in full you will need to make a payment. Diane Kucera stands in her usual spot behind the sleek, May 11, 2013 7 AM PT. "Stories We Tell" is about Sarah Polley's family - in particular about her mother - Diane - who died of cancer on January 10, 1990 when Sarah was eleven years old. A snap of Sarah and Michael shows them smiling alongside a tall snowman they had created: an image of playful togetherness. [12] During her childhood, Polley's siblings teased her because she bore no physical resemblance to Michael. Stories We Tell, written and directed by Sarah Polley, is a film of the life and subsequent loss of her mother, the Canadian actress and casting director Diane Polley. Though Polley did not express misgivings about the films she made with him, Egoyan said he still felt guilty for her tenuous relationship to her past acting work. But now she has unveiled the puzzle of her parentage in an enthralling documentary, Stories We Tell, which premiered at festivals in Venice and Toronto to the acclaim of critics. Michael Polley is the Anglo-Canadian actor best known for his connection to the actress-director Sarah Polley, the offspring of his late wife, Diane Polley.Michael Polley was born in England in 1933 and studied acting during the 1950s; one of his classmates was Albert Finney, who compared the profession of acting to that of bricklaying. I think its a lot to absorb and kinda difficult.. [13] Meeting with Gulkin as just someone who could provide information about Diane in Montreal, he informed Polley of his affair with Diane. It was heartbreaking.. One shop promises to waylay passers by and teach them how to knit. The filmmaker Atom Egoyan, who directed Polley in his movies Exotica and The Sweet Hereafter, said that not even his long friendship and past collaborations with her had fully prepared him for what he read in early drafts of her book. I dont have this need for secrecy around almost every part of my life.. On the upside, the experience afforded her the opportunity to more intimately understand her mother. Sarah Polleys biological father also took to the computer, creating his own narrative of the events that eventually led him to reveal his identity to her in Montreal. Polley's mom died in 1990 of cancer, and her father remembers bonding then with his youngest daughter. However, I have since learned that my film is also being used to promote a product. Anyone can read what you share. Her father, Michael, is a transplanted British actor; her mother, Diane, was an actress and casting director. [1][2][3] Characterising a parent is an odd business because it involves detaching from the early, unquestioning relationship and, on one level, becoming your parent's parent in the process. She used to think her "vibrant but distracted not engaged enough with me". ", Polley in the present day, with her Super-8 camera. Polley, who became a mother herself during the making of this familial drama, found herself needing breaks during the long process, at one point leaving Stories We Tell for seven months to write and direct Take This Waltz, a narrative feature starring Michelle Williams and Seth Rogen released in the U.S. last year. All families, she suggests, do. As I get older, Im realizing its OK for stories to be messy or go down circuitous paths that dont lead anywhere., She added, We create these clean narratives to make sense of our basically bewildering lives. Sarah grew up with Michael Polley in Toronto and after a while her memories of her mother became vague and misty. A tiny figure, with a tentative tread, appears on the pavement opposite. Subsequently this led to her role as Sara Stanley in the Canadian television series Road to Avonlea (1990-1996). . There was an intense claustrophobia involved, and I often felt like, OK, Ive processed this stuff personally, so what the hell am I doing continuing to make this film about this topic and having to go into it every day?. Her film may be her story but she gets others to tell it. I find that really gratifying. He said he was. Copyright 2023 Elsevier Inc. except certain content provided by third parties. At nine, her role in the Canadian television series Road to Avonlea made her name and enough money with which, much later, to think about making a film. Her first appearance on screen was at the age of four,[20] as Molly in the film One Magic Christmas. "In December 2009, I made a film to be aired during the Academy Awards that I believed was to promote the Heart and Stroke Foundation. She emerges as a woman who had the gallantry to treat life like a party even when it did not return the compliment. [21] The show was picked up by the Disney Channel for distribution in the United States. In December 2020, it was announced Polley would direct Women Talking based upon the novel of the same name by Miriam Toews for Orion Pictures. He wound up saying that when he married, in 1967, his one hope was that his children would never feel they had to participate in something so absurd. And, looking back, Sarah acknowledges that "taking care of me became the centre of his life". 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Polley was in the midst of another film project, an adaptation of Miriam Toewss novel Women Talking that she wrote and directed, when the pandemic forced its temporary suspension. Seriously, one of the most jaw-dropping revelations occurs halfway through the final credits. When actress mom Diane Polley died, Sarah was just eleven. Sarah has related how the discovery of her biological father made her physically ill. She was bedridden for two week and had a fever. She adds that she was never under any illusions about her mother's "devastation and guilt at losing Johnny and Susy". Sarah Polley news, gossip, photos of Sarah Polley, biography, Sarah Polley boyfriend list 2023. . [57], In January 2012, Polley endorsed Toronto MP Peggy Nash in the 2012 New Democratic Party leadership race to succeed Jack Layton. Science fiction is really about now', "Netflix Nabs Sarah Polley Miniseries Based on Margaret Atwood True-Crime Novel", "Sarah Polley will adapt and direct John Green's 'Looking for Alaska', "Amy Pascal, Sarah Polley Team on 'Little Women' Remake at Sony (Exclusive)", "Why it's a perfect time for Greta Gerwig's version of 'Little Women', "Why Rebecca Thomas Directing John Green's 'Looking For Alaska' Is A Big Deal", "John Green Dodges Questions About Looking for Alaska Movie Replacement", "Putting Timothy Olyphant in a silly Santa hat only makes him more menacing", "Frances McDormand to Star in 'Women Talking' From Director Sarah Polley", "Telluride Unveils Lineup of Films to "Fight About", "https://deadline.com/2022/11/women-talking-christmas-release-date-rooney-mara-sarah-polley-1235175344/", https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/women_talking, "When a Single Conversation Can Mean Life or Death", "Nominating Peter Kormos for the Ontario NDP leadership was the proudest moment of my life", "Sarah Polley's new work gets Oscar debut", "Sarah Polley pulls her name from Heart and Stroke film over Becel sponsorship", "The matter with The Heart is product endorsement", "Sarah Polley strips name from Oscar short", "Sarah Polley picks Peggy Nash for NDP leader", "Sarah Polley: The Men You Meet Making Movies", "Sarah Polley makes only movies she'd see - from indies to zombie flicks", "Sarah Polley talks of her 'whole new level' of breastfeeding while screening latest film in Colorado", http://alumni2.westernu.ca/fam/western-law/2018/western-law-welcomes-new.html, "Sarah Polley breaks silence about traumatic encounter with Jian Ghomeshi", "2010 Inductees for The Canada Honours Announced", "NFB shorts: Stories Sarah Tells, Canadian Famous and Daniel Lanois", "Sarah Polley, Blue Rodeo founders join Order of Canada", "Sarah Polley named ACTRA's Woman of the Year", "Sarah Polley's 'Stories We Tell' wins Writers Guild award", Boston Society of Film Critics Award for Best Supporting Actress, Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Adapted Screenplay, Critics' Choice Movie Award for Best Screenplay, New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best First Film, Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Breakthrough Filmmaker, San Francisco Bay Area Film Critics Circle Award for Best Adapted Screenplay, Satellite Award for Best Adapted Screenplay, Writers Guild of America Award for Best Documentary Screenplay, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Sarah_Polley&oldid=1142761912, Best Actress Genie and Canadian Screen Award winners, Best Director Genie and Canadian Screen Award winners, Best First Feature Genie and Canadian Screen Award winners, Best Screenplay Genie and Canadian Screen Award winners, Best Supporting Actress in a Drama Series Canadian Screen Award winners, Canadian people of Russian-Jewish descent, Directors of Genie and Canadian Screen Award winners for Best Live Action Short Drama, Directors of Genie and Canadian Screen Award winners for Best Documentary Film, Governor General's Performing Arts Award winners, Articles with unsourced statements from September 2022, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, Main role (seasons 15), guest (seasons 67), Outstanding Achievement by a Woman in 2007, Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Supporting Role in a Dramatic Series, Best Performance in a Children's or Youth Program or Series, Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Supporting Role in a Dramatic Program or Mini-Series, Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Dramatic Program or Mini-Series, Best Performance by an Actress in a Continuing Leading Dramatic Role, Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role, Katie Galloway & Kelly Duane de la Vega (2011), This page was last edited on 4 March 2023, at 06:30. [13] Gulkin, the son of Russian Jewish immigrants, was a Quebec-born film producer who produced the 1975 Canadian film Lies My Father Told Me, and had met Diane after attending a play in which she acted in Montreal in 1978. At age eight, she was cast as Ramona Quimby in the television series Ramona, based on Beverly Cleary's books. She also peels back the filmmaking process, filming set-up shots and voice-over sessions while obfuscating other details, particularly her personal response to the shocking revelation. Thats always going to be with me.. Yet the pressure was on because I wanted to get it all right and authentic for Sarah and the story that was unfolding for her.. Diane Polley was used to harsh judgment. He was holding her on his feet as she couldn't stand and she started crying. [17] In 2017, Polley executive produced the film A Better Man (2017),[31], In late 2012, Polley announced that she would be adapting Margaret Atwood's novel Alias Grace. I sit in the shade and wait. To be reintroduced to her world with such detail and such a brilliant sense of self-observation, so many years later, was really shocking.. Crombie's sister Carrie confirmed to CBC News on Saturday (April 18) that her brother had suffered a brain haemorrhage and died in New York on Wednesday .
