Jay Baruchel takes his chances in role of ‘Mad Canadian’ in The Stunt Driver

In Michael Dowse’s The Stunt Driver, Jay Baruchel plays Ken Carter, a real-life stuntman who attempted to drive a rocket-powered car over the St. Lawrence River in the 1970s.

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It’s outlandish, the Montreal-born actor admits, the morning after the film’s world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival. But it’s still more likely to happen than the Toronto Maple Leafs winning the Stanley Cup, Baruchel jokes.

“Nobody in this room will live to see the Leafs make it out of the second round of the playoffs,” the lifelong Montreal Canadiens fan quips.
Jokes aside, Baruchel says he found himself drawn to the fearlessness of Carter, who was known as “The Mad Canadian.”

“This was an era when empires were falling and different countries were finding self-determination. So, you actually thought, for the first time in a thousand years, I can swing for the fences,” Baruchel says. “It really felt like that. So, I get where it comes from. It is incredibly earnest and pure and he’s taking this big swing for anyone that’s ever had a dream. But it’s also an insane thing with zero chance of success.”

Written and directed by Dowse, who also collaborated with Baruchel on the 2011 hockey comedy Goon, The Stunt Driver adapts the 1981 documentary The Devil at Your Heels, which chronicled Carter’s repeated attempts to jump the river.

“I love how big he dreamt,” Dowse says. “I related to him, myself, trying to do something big as a filmmaker. But anybody that’s got something big that they feel is impossible will relate to this story and how Ken just threw everything at it and just sort of stuck with trying to do it.”

The film delves into Carter’s fractious relationship with rival stuntman Evel Knievel (Ben Foster), who he refers to as a “Yankee doodle dandy.”
It also shows his no-quit attitude as he assembles a team around him that includes engineer Dick Keller (Ed Helms), sports agent Bill Wilkins (Dan Bakkedahl), and his young protege Danny Lafortune (Marc Beaupré).

“I love how big he dreamt. I related to him, myself, trying to do something big as a filmmaker.

While the film has plenty of laughs, there’s a sadness to Carter, who died after a failed jump in 1983.

“There’s damage in that man that he’s compensating for,” says Helms, who plays the engineering whiz behind Carter’s rocket-powered car.

“He’s compensating for something, but it’s also what makes him so endearing and inspiring.”

After breaking out during the 2000s, starring in Hollywood features like Million Dollar Baby, Knocked Up (alongside fellow Canadian Seth Rogen), Tropic Thunder, How to Train Your Dragon and The Sorcerer’s Apprentice, Baruchel has gravitated toward acting in Canadian stories, over the last decade.

In BlackBerry, he starred as Mike Lazaridis, the co-founder and co-CEO of Research In Motion (RIM). Baruchel also booked a role in Mile End Kicks, which was released last year and centres on the Montreal music scene.

As Canada finds itself in a trade dispute with the U.S., Baruchel and Dowse think that The Stunt Driver will help the country get behind wanting to see more Canadian stories on the big screen.

“There’s no animosity, but it’s timely,” the London, Ont.-born Dowse says.

“The timing wasn’t obviously planned, but as we were shooting, stuff was bubbling and it’s developed into this certain other level. I think we have always been telling these stories, I just think our exhibitors haven’t always done a great job of letting us know they’re there,” Baruchel adds. “I think that now, if a certain political and cultural environment means people engage more with their local culture, that’s a good thing.”

Helms, an Atlanta native best known for his roles in The Office and The Hangover movies, says trade tensions shouldn’t hamper Canadian and American actors from working together.

“Look, there’s just brilliant storytelling going on here. I’m really proud to be a part of it,” he says. “I’m in two Canadian movies and I produce one of them. Incredible, deep, moving, powerful stories come from every place.”

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