Don McKellar’s status as one of Canada’s most ubiquitous media presences—TV and radio personality, film director, actor-for-hire with David Cronenberg and Atom Egoyan, Tony-winning playwright, and Odd Job Jack voice—somehow eluded first-time feature director Dilip Mehta until shortly before filming their movie, Cooking with Stella.
Claiming ignorance of McKellar’s career until the casting process, Mehta says, “I never met him until I got to India. In the initial casting of the film, we shortlisted Don, but he was unavailable at the time. And we had our days of principal photography allotted, and we went with another actor, and we soon, about two weeks prior to principal photography, chose to part ways…” Mehta says this last comment in a tone of voice that sounds simultaneously diplomatic and exasperated.
“So we got back to Don about his availability and he was on a number of projects—one amongst them was an opera—” McKellar smiles and cuts in, “That’s what I was doing at the time…” He seems to suggest that the opera was just another pleasant lark.
“And it turned out to be un-play acting,” Mehta continues, “because his role calls for someone who has just arrived in India for the first time, which is exactly what happened to Don. Don enjoys cooking, and is adventurous—not someone who is outwardly adventurous, but enough to say, ‘Why am I on this compound? I would rather be out in the mountains.’”
In Cooking with Stella, a jaunty comedy of manners about a Canadian-Indian culture clash, McKellar plays Michael, a chef who has been relocated to India through his Canadian diplomat wife (Lisa Ray). Frustrated by being housebound, Michael asks his servant Stella (Seema Biswas) to give him lessons in Indian cooking. He is not quick to notice that Stella is also an amateur con artist. For McKellar, who specializes in weak or nebbish characters, the self-aware and bemused Michael is an intriguing departure.
Mehta referred to McKellar being a last-minute replacement. Was there a disagreement with the previous actor over his interpretation of the character?
“Not so much as he started making suggestions on changing the lines of the other actors, and I thought that was the director’s prerogative…and if you ask me his name, I’ve forgotten it!”
“Forgotten…” says McKellar.
Doesn’t being thrown into a character just two weeks before shooting present a major challenge? “Totally,” says McKellar, “but I think I respond to that kind of fear and challenge, and I think I know enough about myself that I like being forced to sink or swim. I wouldn’t necessarily do it for every part, but in this case I did feel it would help feed the part because it was being thrown into a new culture. And I knew Lisa a little so I thought, ‘Well, she can be my wife. I’ll allow that.’”
“Do you remember when she asked me, ‘How come we don’t kiss?’” asks Mehta.
“Yes, yes, she kept wanting to put kissing in. I was not objecting, I want to point out…”
“I put my foot down on that. ‘You do not need to kiss each other!’ If you’re comfortable with each other, it shouldn’t necessarily have to be kissing. I mean you do not have to get into [frenching] each other, it’s alright…”
Mehta co-wrote the screenplay with his sister, the esteemed Deepa Mehta (director of Water). What was the creative dynamic of this collaboration?
“A lot of screaming,” says Mehta cheerfully.
“He’s not joking. They’re brother and sister,” says McKellar.
“We would fight. There is disparity. She has worked on my projects, I’ve worked on her projects, we love each other, and we are comfortable with each other’s contributions.”
“They weren’t fighting on the set, I’d like to add,” says McKellar.
“Oh, never. Never on the set, because we had actually finished the script before we started filming, which is sometimes not the case…it was truly a collaborative thing. I have lived more in India than Deepa has, so I think as far as what is happening with Stella’s character was perhaps more of my contribution, and Deepa’s contribution was more in terms of Maya and Michael, the Canadians, and their interactions with her. So those were definitely some clearly defined areas where her experience is far greater.”
“Of course, I would be a fool not to draw from Deepa’s experience,” Mehta continues. “At one point, I was also mooting the idea of the two of us co-directing the film and she said, ‘Why would do you want to do that?’
“I said, ‘We can be Canada and India’s answer to the Coen Brothers.’ She said, ‘You’re insane!’”
Cooking With Stella opens in theatres March 19.
