Plan C is a feature film, shot in Ontario, by performer, writer, and filmmaker Scott Anthony Cavalheiro.
We subsequently had a chance to sit down and have a conversation with Scott Cavalheiro.
HNMAG: What’s new with you, Scott?
Scott Cavalheiro: It’s been chaos. My wife and I had a baby during production. She was pregnant the whole shoot.
HNMAG: You couldn’t tell.
Scott Cavalheiro: Well, she did a good job, and wardrobe did a good job of hiding it. We did a reshoot when she was eight and a half months, which is also crazy. Claire and I decided to take part in the Toronto Fringe with a show that she wrote, and I’m going to direct.
HNMAG: When is the Toronto Fringe?
Scott Cavalheiro: It’s June 30th through July 12th.
HNMAG: How did you become interested in performing?
Scott Cavalheiro: There was an innate need inside of me to want to perform. It was one of those ways to get me out of trouble. As a kid, I would act out and try to make people laugh. In my town, there weren’t many opportunities.
HNMAG: What town was that?
Scott Cavalheiro: Bradford, an hour drive north of Toronto. We filmed quite a bit of of Plan C in Bradford.
HNMAG: Do you still have family and friends in your hometown?
Scott Cavalheiro: My dad still lives there and some friends. In terms of my desire to perform, since I wasn’t getting the opportunities, the absence made the heart grow fonder. I always wanted to do it. After high school I told my mother I would go to school for science, because scientists have jobs. I did an audition for one theatre school, which was Windsor. I miraculously was accepted.
HNMAG: Did you study both theatre and science there?
Scott Cavalheiro: I was doing my bachelor of fine arts but I dropped out after my second year because I wasn’t a big fan of actors. It seemed like a very competitive and catty industry. The theatre kids were mostly pretentious and conniving. I wasn’t used to that. Then I did a degree in neuroscience and did a job in a lab for a couple of years.
HNMAG: Where was that?
Scott Cavalheiro: At York University.
HNMAG: Ok, in Toronto.
Scott Cavalheiro: Then I ended up finding my way back to the arts.
HNMAG: Where did you meet your wife?
Scott Cavalheiro: I played a firefighter on a sitcom in 2013 called Satisfaction. One of the stars of the show was Leah Renee, who was a friend of Claire’s. Claire happened to be there for my first day. She was so radiant and extravagant. I thought she must be so famous from her aura. I was too chicken to ask her out. I didn’t see her again till a forty-hour film challenge. She trolled me at that festival.
Claire Cavalheiro: I saw you at the festival, and you still didn’t ask me out!
Scott Cavalheiro: I was nervous! I was a twenty-four-year-old guy,
Claire Cavalheiro: Twenty-five!
Scott Cavalheiro: Ok, twenty-five, in Toronto… and we have been together ever since. We’ve been married now for nine years.
HNMAG: Congratulations. Now you have a child as well.
Scott Cavalheiro: We do. He’s amazing. He’s going to be a good kid.
HNMAG: How did the transition to writing and directing happen?
Scott Cavalheiro: This could be controversial, but the fact is I was sitting down with a beer with Claire, Jamie Spilchuk, who plays Dr. Ings in the movie, and Daniel DeSanto, who plays Clare’s brother, Daniel (Danny). We were contemplating the state of the industry and how poorly our union copitulated all the funds that come in from US productions, and they slowly lowered the amount of Canadian Audio-Visual Certification Office (CAVCO) tax credit points required for a production. Everything is outsourced. Canadians have a glass ceiling. It seems like the opportunities are crumbs. We were all upset about it. During the pandemic, I did an online UCLA writers’ course. I then said, “Hey guys, what if we make a movie that we want to be in, not the ones that are four people at a lake with a camera, and we are shooting some horror?” The idea was, could we make a movie that we wished we were cast in? Something thrilling and exciting. Something that we’d want to watch. The boring reason is that our industry gave us no choice.
HNMAG: How did you fund the film?
Scott Cavalheiro: Also a boring answer, it came largely out of my pocket and my wife’s pocket.
HNMAG: So, self-funded. Your movie is called Plan C and has nothing to do with the abortion pill.
Scott Cavalheiro: There is no relation whatsoever on the metaphorical sense. The only relation is the polarizing and provocative nature of what it would be like to name a movie with something that people recognize as being something else. In a way, that’s what these characters are doing. They are completely doing something else that would be considered normal and completely outside of what is provided by the healthcare system. The silly meaning was that Plan B was for the boat, which didn’t work out, and Plan C was for cosmetics, which she ended up stealing or holding hostage.
HNMAG: The movie was set in the US and the story wouldn’t happen in Canada due the difference in our health care system. The crime is forced due to the high cost of the best health care access.
Scott Cavalheiro: Correct. I did a degree in neuroscience and we talked a lot with Berkley. I was privy to a lot of stuff on the scientific side. Yes, it would structurally not make sense to be set in Canada. However, our health care system needs to be better as I’ve lost people here due to the long waits.
HNMAG: Most characters in the film had a standard American accent where Claire’s sounded more New York. Was there anything with that choice?
Scott Cavalheiro: Claire and Dan’s accent is from the South side of Chicago. We spent a lot of time there. We did a road trip, developed the accent from several people who lived in the area. Claire and Daniel both used a dialogue coach to develop the diphthong.
HNMAG: What are you now focusing on?
Scott Cavalheiro: I’m excited to get the opportunity to show the film. Canadian indie film doesn’t have a large enough voice. We want to screen at Canadian film festivals. We have played at Cinefest and Beverly Hills. It’s an honour to share and talk about movies.
Plan C is a feature film that is action packed with intense drama and high stakes. It’s worth seeing when you see it playing near you, hopefully soon.
Scott Cavalheiro and his wife Claire put a lot in the project. Scott has a long acting resume and is a well established Canadian talent. We look forward to finding out about their future projects.